Graduate Programme

**Graduate Placement Scheme - Internal Communications**
- Scheme duration - 12 months
- Handforth based, with opportunity to work from home.
- Salary and benefits - £22k rising to £26k at 6 months
- 28 days holidays, in addition to 8 days statutory leave, Birthday leave, paid charity day, £1000 personal development fund and other benefits

**About Us**

“We put pets first” is our number one value at Pets at Home. Every colleague has a part to play to ensure that we deliver on this value every day. Our love and understanding of pets led us to develop our long-term goal to improve the life of every pet in the UK.

This covers not only the pets in our care, the pets of owners that use our products and services but also the pets that we can help through our charity work and through educating and advocating for change in society and the wider pet care and veterinary industry.

**We put pets first**; it’s not simply a statement, its’ our driving principle.

**About your placement opportunity**

Our 12-month graduate placements in the Internal Communications team, aim to provide a dynamic and hands-on experience for recent graduates seeking to develop skills in internal communications, within a central support office environment.

You will work as part of a team on a wide variety of campaigns and projects, developing your understanding and technical expertise daily as you work on some compelling brand work for either external or internal stakeholder groups. Your work could see you involved in campaigns for our clinical teams and vet practice owners, across our retail store network or in support of our wider group and support office teams.

You will have immediate exposure to real assignments which will draw on your imagination and creativity as well as your ability to analyse data, create compelling messaging and present results. These experiences will help build your technical knowledge and overall industry expertise while you benefit from more structured learning interventions.

This position is designed to give you hands-on exposure to various aspects of internal communications, helping you to kickstart your career in the field.

**An overview of some of the aspects of our Internal Communications placement programmes**

The primary focus will be on enhancing internal communication strategies to foster a cohesive and informed organisational culture. As such, your day-to-day work could include:
**Employee Engagement Initiatives**: Collaborate with the team to plan and execute initiatives that boost employee engagement, such as town hall meetings, employee recognition programs, and team-building activities.

**Digital Communication**: Manage and update internal communication platforms, ensuring a user-friendly experience and keeping content current.

**Cross-Functional Collaboration**:Work closely with different departments to gather information, share updates, and ensure alignment of messaging across the organisation.

**Measurement and Analysis**: Utilise analytics tools to measure the effectiveness of internal communications strategies and recommend adjustments for continuous improvement.

**Crisis Communication Support**: Assist in developing and implementing communication plans during critical situations, ensuring timely and accurate information dissemination.

**About You - what we would like you to bring to our role and teams**

**Qualifications, Skills, and Behaviours**
- Bachelor’s degree in Communications, English, or a related field and with a keen interest in internal communications
- Excellent communication skills and the ability to network
- Adaptability and the ability to work on multiple projects
- Strong attention to detail
- Good organisational and planning skills
- Creativity, writing, and design skills
- IT skills including social media and video editing
- Excellent interpersonal skills, verbal, and written communication skills able to develop effective relationships with both the customer and colleagues
- A curious mind, an eagle eye and the courage to suggest areas of improvement, offering diversity in thought

Teamwork is a big part of life here at Pets at Home, so you must be someone who loves taking a collaborative approach and who can recognise and acknowledge the contribution of others. You’ll also be able to motivate and inspire the people around you by bringing enthusiasm and positivity to everything you do.

**How we will support your development and success**

At Pets we have a strong ‘grow our own’ talent ethos. We are keen to support your development at every stage of your career. With our graduate programmes, we can offer a range of development tools to support you. An individual mentor will support you from day-one, right the way throughout your structured programme to provide guidance and coaching.

You will also be able to benefit from a £1000 personal development fund which can be spent at one of our trusted training providers, to give you the flexibility t