What is it?

BP is one of the largest producers of oil and gas in the world, with 17 refineries, tens of thousands of miles of pipelines and a fleet of more than 80 ships. It employs about 100,000 staff globally and made an annual profit of $21 billion (£13.3 billion) in 2008.

What graduate jobs are on offer?

Each year BP recruits up to 150 graduates in Britain for 19 different entry-level programmes in engineering, science and business. These include geoscience, offshore & subsea engineering, petrophysics, naval architecture, chemistry, finance and trading. A relevant degree is required for many of the programmes.

Where are the jobs?

BP has offices and operations across the UK, but graduates are most likely to be based in Aberdeen, Sunbury-on-Thames, Hull, Pangbourne or at Canary Wharf in London.

What’s the pay?

The minimum starting salary for graduates in 2010 will be £32,000 and new joiners are paid a “settling-in allowance” of £2,500.

What’s the competition?

More than 7,500 people applied for a place on BP’s graduate programmes in 2009 and competition for vacancies in 2010 is expected to be equally tough. The programmes are open to graduates with at least a 2.1 degree who graduated in 2008, 2009 or 2010.

How is it rated?

BP has appeared within the top 20 of The Times Top 100 Graduate Employers for eight of the past ten years and its present ranking of sixteenth place is its highest since 2003. Shell and ExxonMobil, its rival oil companies, are rated twelfth and fifty-fifth, respectively, this year.

How do I apply?

The application deadline for BP’s trading programme is Friday November 13. All the company’s other graduate schemes close on February 12, 2010, but job offers will be made on a first-come, first-served basis, so applying early is strongly recommended. For more details see www.bp.com/ukgraduates

The Times Top 100 Graduate Employers book is based on research with more than 16,000 final-year university students. The 2009 edition is available from www.Top100GraduateEmployers.com

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