Office for National Statistics |

We work on some of the country's most topical issues, from employment figures to migration statistics, and we are responsible for the ten-yearly census of every household in England and Wales.

Our 5000+ employees work in an exciting variety of roles and professions. We have colleagues who operate in the field nationwide engaging with the public, at ports, airports and in their homes, as well as colleagues who work from our sites across the UK.

As an organisation we hire throughout the year, and although we have graduate, year-in-industry and placement programmes, details on some of which are below, we also have a wide range of roles and opportunities across the organisation in multiple professions, a lot of them suitable for new or recent graduates.

Just because a role doesn't have "graduate" in the title doesn't mean it won't be suitable. Every ONS colleague has a learning and personal development plan, and opportunities for group and individual training is available on a range of topics.

If we’ve chosen to advertise a role to one of our university partners, then that means we are open to graduates applying for it and think that you stand a good chance of being what we’re looking for.

Annual Programmes

• Data Science Graduate Programmes – run each year, the programme places data science graduates across the public sector, working on vital programmes whilst on a structured learning programme run by the ONS Data Science Campus.
• Software Engineer Year in Industry programmes – This is a 3-phase programme that takes placement students from Computer Science related courses, offering a “year-in-industry” 12-month placement, part-time work whilst finishing your degree, and then a permanent role on graduation.
• Summer Diversity Internship Programme (SDIP) – This programme provides people from diverse backgrounds the opportunity to see what a career in the Civil Service is like. It puts undergraduates and graduates on a paid work placement over the summer months each year.

Our recruitment process follows the Success Profiles framework that is used across the Civil Service. We adopt a fair and open approach, recruiting on merit using approaches that are designed to effectively assess applicants, without being overburdening on the candidate experience.

For most of our roles, this means a 2-stage process, consisting of an initial online application, and then a panel interview, sometimes including a short presentation. You can find out more about our application and assessment process by visiting our careers page.

Our people are our greatest asset and are at the heart of everything we do. We understand how important an inclusive environment is - one where you can bring your authentic self to work. We are proud to have a range of diversity networks that support our inclusion ambitions and enable us to thrive.

There are a range of highlights and benefits to joining the Office for National Statistics, focused on health & wellbeing, work-life balance and value for money, with a world class civil service pension. You can find out more about them in our benefits pack, attached to any of our vacancies.

As an employer, we are actively building an inclusive workforce where colleagues build meaningful and authentic relationships, differences are celebrated for the value they bring, and colleagues can bring their whole selves to work. We recognise that inclusion underpins our ambitions to be truly diverse organisation where people do not only feel seen but heard and valued for who they are.

ONS has several official Diversity Networks, which have roles that are both wide-ranging and influential, and all are sponsored by a senior leader at ONS. Their work ranges from using their experience and understanding to help shape ONS’s workforce aims, to informing ONS’s statistical work so it is representative of the country we serve, to organising awareness raising events, sharing best practice, and providing support for groups and individuals. We also have even more informal networks.

Our official diversity networks include: All Beliefs Network | DisAbility Network | International Network | LGBTQ+ Network | Men’s Network | Race, Ethnicity and Cultural Heritage (REACH) Network | Social Mobility Network | Women’s Network | Work Life Balance Network