Graduate jobs & schemes in Belfast 2025

The graduate job/scheme market is competitive in Belfast. But that doesn’t mean you won’t get into a graduate programme! If you take the right steps, you can boost your chances of getting a graduate job or getting on to a scheme.

To maximise your chances, you should apply in your final year of university and start looking as early as possible. We’re also here to help.

If you want to further develop your skills and make your applications stand out, try our free online learning tools – Pathways and GradSims .

Many companies offer graduate programmes in Belfast. Discover a range of graduate employers – with our dedicated guides you’ll learn more about the companies that offer graduate roles, how to apply, and more.

There are plenty of different types of graduate programmes you can get on to in Belfast when you have a university degree.

You could get a graduate job - which is a full-time role within a company and usually unstructured with a shorter application process. Or you could get on to a graduate scheme – a structured training programme that typically would run between one to three years. Sectors include – but aren’t limited to – marketing, law, engineering, finance, IT, HR, and healthcare.

For example, a marketing graduate scheme would include rotations across different teams, so you’d gain experience in different marketing roles including digital, product, content, social media marketing, brand management, and market research. Whereas a marketing graduate job would likely be for a specific role within a sector – for example: graduate digital marketing executive.

Although there’s been a bit of research on the average graduate salaries in Belfast, we’d take the findings with a pinch of salt. It really does depend on things like the company, sector and role. For example, sectors like finance and law may offer larger salaries and bonuses across their graduate jobs and schemes.

To help give you an idea, UK-wide, the Institute of Student Employers (ISE) found the average UK salary was £35,170 in 2023. Bear in mind that graduate salaries in London are often higher than in other cities, largely due to the higher cost of living.

Living in Belfast can be relatively cheaper compared to other cities in the UK such as London.

According to Wise, it costs around £916.67 to rent a one-bedroom property in the city centre of Belfast. If you choose to rent a one-bedroom property outside of the city centre, on average, you’d be looking at around £703.33 a month.