Which engineering employers accept graduates with 2.2 degrees?

The tough graduate jobs market can make students feel under massive pressure to achieve a 2.1. Meeting this standard will make finding a graduate engineering job much easier; however, if you can’t achieve this, don’t despair. Even among leading engineering employers, there are still plenty who will consider graduate engineers with 2.2s.

Graduate schemes open to engineers with 2.2s

The TARGETjobs employer insights outline the selection criteria for 16 key companies that recruit into graduate engineering jobs in the UK. Of these, over half accept applications from engineers with 2.2s for at least some of their graduate schemes.

• AB Agri: accepts graduate engineers with 2.2s onto its commercial and supply chain schemes. (A 2.1 is needed for its finance and nutrition schemes.)
• Airbus: recruits onto a variety of graduate programmes; most do not specify a minimum degree classification.
• Babcock: a 2.2 is the minimum requirement.
• Jaguar Land Rover: a 2.2 is the minimum requirement.
• National Grid: accepts graduate engineers with 2.2s for its technical scheme. (A 2.1 is needed for its commercial scheme.)
• Network Rail: a 2.2 is the minimum requirement.
• npower: has no minimum degree requirement for its engineering (operations and technology) graduate scheme, or it schemes in business analysis and quantitative risk. (A 2.1 is preferred for its engineering (energy services) scheme.)
• Shell: has no minimum degree requirement, but does state that its graduates should have a ‘consistently strong’ academic record.
• Siemens: advertises individual vacancies rather than a graduate scheme; 2.2s are accepted for some of these.
• Transport for London: accepts 2.2s for its software engineering scheme, for which a degree in an IT-related subject, software engineering or electrical engineering is required. (All other engineering graduate schemes require 2.1s.)

Competing against job hunters with 2.1s and firsts

Keep in mind that your application will be competing against those of graduates with 2.1s and firsts. To be offered a place on the graduate scheme, you’ll therefore need to outperform these candidates in other ways, both at the application and interview/assessment stages. Use TARGETjobs Engineering’s advice on applications and interviews and work experience, and the employer-specific details in the employer insights, to ensure that you present yourself in the best possible way.