Thales

With such a vast array of applications for its technologies, it’s unsurprising Thales recruits for all manner of roles within engineering and business management. The company takes on up to 130 graduates in the UK every year from a huge range of disciplines. Specific engineering roles include: systems, software, electronics, hardware, mechanical, manufacturing, design, RF, mathematical modelling, and research.

If you’re looking for ‘varied’ and ‘interesting’ work with – as one candid software engineer explains – a ‘high salary for someone with no experience’, then look no further. Thales provides aspiring engineers and business professionals the chance to work on the ‘design, build, test, install and support’ of the company’s own products.

The Business Management Graduate Programme provides the opportunity to experience the spectrum of business activities undertaken across Thales UK. The programme comprises four six-month placements, including programme management, commercial, purchasing/procurement, sales and marketing, and head office functions. If numbers are more your thing, then the specific finance stream provides the graduate an opportunity to develop during four six-month rotations around the company’s various businesses. If you impress during the two year placement, then there will most likely be the opportunity of a permanent role at one of the company’s UK sites.

To give yourself the best possible chance of joining Thales’ legions, you’ll first need to be technically astute and have reached a fairly high level of academic achievement – ‘generally a 2:1 from a good university is required’. The company covets ‘enthusiasm’ and ‘drive’; and those eyeing Thales’ graduate engineering route will need a ‘good engineering/science based degree’ and ideally ‘some prior work experience (i.e. a year in industry)’. During the recruitment process ‘be yourself’, ‘bring your own ideas to the table’ and be honest – ‘if you do not know something’, say so.

Thales employs a three round hiring process. After the initial application has been accepted and screened by a recruitment agency, the first hurdle to clear takes the form of a series of online psychometric tests. Tackle these successfully and expect a 30-45 minute telephone interview with an HR representative, with generic competency questions on team work, company knowledge, etc. An assessment centre awaits those that impress, comprising a couple of group tasks and a presentation (normally on your final year uni project), rounded off with a technical interview held by a manager from your chosen discipline. The sentiment echoed throughout our survey responses emphasise that knowing the answer is not the be all and end all; it’s ‘more [important] how the problem is discussed’. On the whole, the assessment day is described as ‘enjoyable’ and gives candidates the opportunity to meet recent graduates and ‘gain a better understanding of the company’.

Once ensconced in the Thales machine, recruits do seem slightly disillusioned with the opportunities for progression. One software engineer describes the company as ‘very top heavy’ with another concurring ‘it seems very difficult to move up’. Conversely, one commercial officer lauds Thales’ ‘formal training’, ‘mentoring scheme’ and ‘accessible’ managers, although ‘technical training is more difficult to come by’.

Thales also offers internships to students wanting to get that all important foot in the door. ‘Students get a very good feel for life and work at the company... tackling real projects’. Impressing during a placement is ‘certainly an aid to future graduate employment’; as one programme manager impresses, ‘the majority of the graduate intake in my year had previous [company] involvement... through placements’.

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