Home is the very lovely Verve HQ (Whessoe Technology Centre, Alderman Best Way, Darlington, DL1 4WB) in Darlington. It’s incredibly accessible for anyone travelling into Darlington from outside the area.

You will get an email pretty much straight away confirming we have received your application. If you’ve piqued our interest enough, we will send you over an online assessment (a short exercise to test your writing skills) shortly after that. Once you’ve completed them and assuming you pass the assessments, we’ll be in touch to arrange a date for the introduction call.

We’re a little different to other graduate programmes in that we accept applications all year round. We’re open and flexible to start dates and likely to have a number of intakes over the course of the year. We figured if the talent is out there ready and waiting to get started, why wait any longer than necessary!

Yes, if we think you cut the mustard. There’s nothing we want more than to be able to take on any number of graduates who have come in and made all the right impressions during their probation and have exceeded all their KPIs. You’ll have monthly check-ins with your mentor to make sure you’re keeping on track in the early days, but if not, at the end of second (or third) month, we’ll need to have an honest conversation about whether or not our partnership is working out as we’d both hoped.

For the first 3 months with us, we’ll teach you everything you need to know about us, and about financial services.

At the end of your 3-month trainee role, you will have learnt the foundations you need to succeed with us – embraced the Verve way and learnt the basics about financial services. At this point, you’ll have a paraplanning based role, a compliance-based role or indeed any other role within the business which we think you’ve shown a natural flair for!

They say first impressions count and they really do. We’ll most definitely be looking for a unique covering letter – one that’s memorable for all the right reasons (and not for the appalling spelling and grammar). And knowing that we always remember the way someone makes us feel, you can make us smile by thinking outside the box and sharing / uploading something for us which shows us the real personality behind the CV! If you impress us enough that you end up coming on board with us then our best advice is to get stuck in and ask questions. We’re nerds at heart and love people who show the same enthusiasm for Financial Services that we do!

Absolutely. We give you two years as a guideline, but we would generally expect you to have them finished by then (or certainly have them booked in and are preparing for them). We know that no two people are the same so it’s up to you when you decide to take them, and in what order, making sure they fit with your personal commitments as well as work.

It’s a little known but rapidly in demand career that has grown in recent years. In simple terms, a Paraplanner is someone who works with a Financial Planner or Financial Adviser to do a number of their non-client facing tasks involved in preparing and administering a Financial Plan or Report for a client. Some would say we do all the nitty gritty in the background, like the research, analysis and finally the report writing required to make sure the client is getting the best advice and the adviser is getting the support to help them document that.

As a company, we really believe in growing from the bottom up, so if you are enthusiastic and willing, then yes in the future, there’s the chance to manage your own ‘hub’ and guide future trainees. Some of our previous grads are doing exactly that these days!