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Small and medium enterprises (SMEs)
How small is small?
Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) include those employers who employ less than 250 people. The opportunities for graduates will obviously be very different in a micro firm (less than 10 people) to a business employing nearly 250 people.
Why consider working for an SME?
In the UK, more than 99% of all businesses fall into this category and the SME sector often drives innovation and competition. This should lead to opportunities for graduates, especially for those who can provide technical, business or specialist potential.
SMEs often offer a quicker route to making your mark; it can be easier to get to know senior staff very well, and promotion is often not limited by a strict hierarchy. Working for an SME can also allow you to build entrepreneurial skills useful for running your own business in the future. However, SMEs can be less secure and might have less formal career paths and less formal training – often you’ll be learning on the job.
If you’re not sure if working for an SME is right for you, take
a look at Big Opportunities in Small Businesses: Graduates in
SMEs – this is an AGCAS DVD that you can watch in the information
room of the Careers Advisory Service or streamed
via our website 
.
Finding out about smaller organisations
Many students feel that big employers dominate the market to the exclusion of very desirable smaller organisations. If you want to find out about smaller organisations, some of the sources of information listed in The Creative Job Search guide will help you, as will the Finding a job guide.
As some "medium" employers are actually quite big, they sometimes have short entries in the graduate recruitment directories.
Other sources of information
Use the self-employment and SMEs section in our resources catalogue to help with your research.
Here are some other suggestions:
- Sector Skills Councils may have SME vacancies e.g. SEMTA's graduate vacancies page (SEMTA is the Sector Skills Council for the science, engineering and manufacturing technologies industries).
- Industrial directories, such as Kompass.
- Professional bodies, which often have lists of members available and regional networks to tap into.
- Specialist directories in print and on the web, such as Directory of Environmental Consultants (ENDS).
- Directories or databases of employers produced in other regions, e.g. by universities, Regional Development Agencies or Chambers of Commerce.
- Knowledge transfer partnerships (KTPs) – government funded scheme where graduates work partly with an educational / research body and partly in a business. Vacancies are listed on www.ktponline.org.uk.
- Individual employer websites. Some small organisations find that websites are invaluable for advertising – the vacancies advertised are often immediate. Search engines yield an amazing amount of information. Try typing in "manufacturers" for example, and then refine your results by using criteria, such as region, type of manufacturing etc.
- Regional websites, as many SMEs advertise their vacancies this way. Look at the Jobhunting by UK region section of our site. To find South West jobs additional to those in MyFuture use Gradsouthwest.