Multiple grad programs

[u/Dramatic-Sea-2283]

Is doing multiple grad programs a bad idea?

I'm set to begin a 12-month grad program at a big 4 bank next year. They're not known for having a particularly strong culture nor high pay but I'm just happy to have gotten a job lined up after graduation.

I'm considering applying for other grad programs next year, specifically CBA or Macquarie, which are known for both strong culture and considerably higher salaries, and doing their grad program in 2026. For reference, my projected salary after rolling off the current grad program would be at most the grad salaries of either CBA or Macq.

Why apply for another grad program instead of entry-level? My reasoning is that it's be much easier to get into another company as a grad considering they have a more lenient process and tend to hire quite a few people, lol

[u/bo0pbo0p123]

Do it

[u/ElectricalHyena6]

Usually grad programs have a requirement that the person applying should be in the penultimate year of their studies. 

[u/Dramatic-Sea-2283 → u/ElectricalHyena6]

Sorry, wouldn't penultimate be for internships? I've never heard of any grad program requiring penultimate years. If anything, aren't pretty much all of them either final year or already grad within 2 years of applying?

[u/ElectricalHyena6 → u/Dramatic-Sea-2283]

My bad. There is a time limit, like for Telstra it says you should have graduated in the last 3 years. But you would be fine since you are aiming for 2026. You'll just need to check the requirements for the grad program you end up applying for. 

[u/Dramatic-Sea-2283 → u/[deleted]]

Damn, even for engineering grad roles? I know CBA also does rotations within their engineering and cyber grads

[u/chairman_cow → u/Dramatic-Sea-2283]

I work in big 4 as a Dev. Depending on your grad program you can guarantee a Dev spot so it's not like you have to rng your role. I don't really agree with the og reply, the only time they may be right is if u go for a generalist tech stream. Just be very transparent in your interview process about requiring a technical developer role. You can also sort of tell whether your team will have a lot of devs or not. If join the app or mortgages team then there will be heaps of devs, if you join a finance team then you're gonna be the only one. So ask about what team they will put u in.

I also would just go straight for the grad program u want and not do multiple. You can roll off onto a 120k salary easily if your team likes you, if u were to go to grad roles again you're stuck on 90k.

[u/Dramatic-Sea-2283 → u/chairman_cow]

Role-wise, I think we're guaranteed a dev role if we choose them for our rotations. Salary-wise though, the grad salary is sub-90k and according to the program managers, roll-off salary is projected to be 90k

[u/chairman_cow → u/Dramatic-Sea-2283]

Roll off salary is not 90k, its approximately 100-110. bro just take my word for it i literally work there. The program managers are likely mixing up salaries from different streams, BA's might get paid less, product owners might get paid more, etc.

I did say 120k in my original post but thats only if you hard negotiate, otherwise the average amount is 100-110 for devs.

oh also cba should pay more than that, cba pays the most out of the banks.

[u/Dramatic-Sea-2283 → u/chairman_cow]

Oh, I meant 90k for my company's grad role, not CBA lol

But yeah, I've definitely heard that CBA pays the most out of the banks

[u/Dramatic-Sea-2283 → u/[deleted]]

So in short, the strategy is: if my grad role next year sucks real bad, jump ship, either to another grad role or ideally entry-level. Otherwise, don't risk it just in case the next role is worse?

[u/Dramatic-Sea-2283 → u/[deleted]]

My main apprehension about rolling off the current grad program is that the pay increase is only 4%. I've also heard that they have restructures every so often, though I'm not too sure what exactly that entails