Graduate jobs & schemes in Leeds 2024

Graduates from the West Yorkshire city of Leeds are extremely attractive to employers, especially when they are able to supplement their academic achievements with work experience in specific sectors. Leeds as a city is also a competitive place to live and work, with many flourishing industries.

41 Jobs

Working in Leeds

Leeds

Leeds is a well-known student city, with many graduates passing through the West Riding. In such a busy and thriving milieu, graduates from Leeds are able to compete with graduates from across the country, but we wanted to know how they measured up in terms of ambition, experience and academic achievements compared to the rest of the country - and if there is anything about studying in Leeds which makes its graduates special.

We looked at the data submitted by graduates from Leeds in the last five years to find out if they have similar career ambitions to other graduates from around the country, whether it is harder for them to receive top grades, and how many take the chance to get some work experience alongside their studies.

The findings turned up some interesting trends - and show why employers look out for graduates from Leeds.

Sectors

Graduates from Leeds are not afraid to be different in their career ambitions. While the most popular sectors, Management and Marketing, are in line with national trends, it seems that Leeds graduates tend towards the more creative fields. Advertising and Public Relations is chosen by 29.3% of graduates - well ahead of the national average of 22.3%, while 24% of Leeds' graduates also choose Media, a sector that does not feature in the most popular five sectors nationally.

Notable and surprising omissions from Leeds' top five are the Banking and Finance sectors. This is especially surprising as both Banking, Finance and Accountancy are thriving sectors in the city itself.

Top 5 most popular sectors for graduates from Leeds

Degree Classification

The universities in Leeds have a reputation for high standards, and the data on degree classifications supports this, with just 9% of graduates receiving the top classification of a First Class Degree (lower than the national average by 0.8%), indicating that Leeds' universities do not give out top marks easily.

That's not to say that graduates from Leeds aren't putting in the work - 56% receive a 2:1 degree, way ahead of the national average of 48.1%. Consequently, the number of those who receive a 2:2 (14.8%) and a pass (1.8%) are lower than UK-wide statistics.

Degree classifications for graduates from Leeds

Work Experience

In terms of work experience, graduates from Leeds fare well - though not as well as the national average. 15.2% of graduates from universities in the West Riding city have undertaken some form of work experience, which is lower than the UK-wide 16.6%, but similar to other cities such as Manchester, also at 15.2%, and Newcastle, close behind at 15.1%.

% of graduates from Leeds with work experience