NESO explain what’s behind their graduate scheme, which won ISE’s Outstanding Graduate Development Programme Award 2026.
NESO’s Graduate Programme was created with a clear and urgent purpose: to ignite, grow and develop the next generation of energy talent needed to power Great Britain’s energy future.
As the organisation at the heart of the energy system, NESO has a critical role in delivering a secure, affordable and clean energy system for everyone, today and for generations to come.
Delivering this transformation requires people who are passionate about how we keep the lights on, are curious about complex systems, and ready to build the technical and behavioural capabilities needed to operate the system in ways that have never been done before.
Launched in October 2024, the programme is built around the purpose of ‘power your potential’. This means giving every learner an inclusive, stretching and equitable pathway into a career in energy.
The programme responds to industry skills shortages by developing graduates through bespoke learning journeys aligned to NESO’s strategic workforce plan, business plan and future capability requirements.
It is also designed to act as an incubator for energy talent, creating a sustainable pipeline of early careers professionals who can progress into permanent roles and contribute to the sector’s long-term transformation.
Accelerating progress with purpose
The first cohort had to be mobilised at pace. NESO had six months to create and deliver a graduate programme for 16 graduates recruited by National Grid on its behalf.
Rather than replicate a traditional rotational scheme, the Early Careers team designed a programme that could flex with business need, respond to emerging technical skills gaps and give graduates a consistent, high-quality experience regardless of placement area.
The programme is governed through NESO’s annual strategic workforce planning cycle. Each year graduate streams and numbers are identified in May, costed and approved in June, and then launched in an autumn attraction campaign.
Streams can be activated or deactivated as organisational priorities change, ensuring that investment in graduate development remains closely aligned to the skills NESO needs over the next five years.
Headcount and budget remain centralised within HR, with a dedicated cost centre, ensuring learners receive consistent support and development opportunities without disparities between business divisions.
A strengths-based programme
A key decision was to purposefully recruit for strengths, motivation and potential, rather than expecting graduates to arrive with all the technical knowledge required.
Strengths based recruitment facilitates equitable entry into the sector as no prior technical knowledge or competencies are required. We look for graduates who have a curious mind and motivation to succeed as at NESO we will teach graduates the technical skills.
NESO partnered with Cappfinity to design and launch, within three months, a strengths-based recruitment process modelled on NESO values for the 2025 campaign.
Candidates could apply directly to the programme or arrive through feeder routes such as the Power Academy Internship, in partnership with the Institution of Engineering and Technology, or our 12-month Industrial Placement programme. This widens access while ensuring candidates are assessed for the curiosity, drive and learning agility needed to succeed.
Every stream combines technical, behavioural and experiential learning. Power System Engineer graduates, for example, train in NESO’s Control Training Unit, learning how to balance the electricity system.
All graduates also complete a strengths-based learning and development journey with Cappfinity, while line managers attend NESO’s bespoke EmpowerU leadership development course.
Each graduate has a mentor for the duration of the 18-month programme, a placement manager for each six-month placement, and access to a specialist job coach where additional learning needs or neurodiversity support is required.
What makes the programme innovative?
Our development programme focuses on treating graduate development as a sector-wide capability challenge, not simply an organisational talent pipeline.
The most distinctive feature is NESO’s external secondment model. NESO is the only energy company offering an external secondment as part of an 18-month graduate programme. In 2025 and 2026, 18 graduates completed external secondments, including two international placements with industry partners.
These placements enrich graduates with a broader understanding of the interconnected energy landscape, from battery storage and gas networks to climate forecasting and industry policy. They also create value for partnering organisations, many of whom do not have established graduate programmes of their own.
Through NESO’s model, smaller and specialist energy organisations gain access to high-potential talent for six months, while graduates return with deeper industry insight that strengthens NESO’s ability to deliver clean power and energy security outcomes.
The programme also builds innovation into the learner experience. Graduates join apprentices for a residential week with The Outward Bound Trust, developing problem solving, leadership, resilience and teamwork through practical challenges. Outward Bounds also promotes a sense of community and to live our value of belonging as learners connect outside of the traditional workplace setting.
A graduate-led Early Careers committee now represents around 100 learners, with roles covering learning and development, social connection, diversity, equity, inclusion & belonging and wellbeing with Megawatt Mitten, our wellbeing mascot. This gives learners a voice in shaping their development activities such as site tours and community-building events, reinforcing NESO’s value of belonging.
NESO’s commitment to inclusive learning is another important differentiator. Their job coach supports graduates with additional learning needs or neurodiverse conditions, helping them develop adjustment passports and access the support they need to thrive. NESO is building not only a skills base but closing opportunity gaps too.
All members of the Early Careers leadership team are trained mental health first aiders, and graduates can join Employee Resource Groups including female development, faith at work and diverse abilities. This ensures inclusion is not an add-on, but a core design principle.
Collaboration across the energy sector
Collaboration is central to the programme’s success. NESO’s position as the electricity system operator for Great Britain means it can convene partners across the sector and create development opportunities that reflect the real complexity of the energy transition.
For the first time, NESO will host National Gas graduates as part of this model, enabling both organisations to learn from one another as electricity and gas system planning become increasingly interconnected.
The programme also connects NESO graduates into wider professional networks. NESO is the corporate sponsor of the Energy UK Young Energy Professionals (YEP) committee, with early careers and graduate representatives contributing to buddy networks and trailblazer activities for the sector. NESO also contributes to parliamentary engagement through the annual YEP reception. Held in July 2026, the Director of System Operations spoke of the important role this next generation have in corralling the future.
International collaboration is equally important. Through the European Network of Transmission System Operators for Electricity, NESO contributes to European thinking on the graduate skills needed to create the energy system of the future.
Two NESO graduates represented the organisation in the Network of European Trainees and delivered a three-day international development conference at the Institution of Engineering and Technology in March 2026. The event brought together 150 European graduates and included a visit to NESO’s control room, sharing expertise across borders and strengthening future energy leadership networks.
Evidence of impact
To date, 100% of graduates have secured permanent roles within NESO. Retention has remained above industry average, with 100% retention for the 2024 cohort. The programme accelerates career development: within 18 months, graduates build the skills and qualifications required for junior staff roles.
Cohort sizes are increasing year on year, from 16 in 2024 to 24 in 2025 and 31 in 2026. Attraction has improved significantly too: applications rose from 2,400 for the 2025 intake to more than 10,000 for 2026, placing NESO in line with industry application averages per role and comparable with larger energy companies.
The programme is also improving diversity and social impact. Graduates support outreach with local SEN schools in Warwick and Wokingham (NESO’s main locations) through transition events, careers activities, staff talks and mock interviews.
Annual charity team-building days involve around 100 early careers learners: in 2024, graduates built 11 bikes for communities in Africa and in 2025 they assembled care packages for Helping Hands.
External recognition reinforces this progress. Within six months, NESO was shortlisted for Graduate Employer of the Year at the Target Jobs National Graduate Recruitment Awards 2025. The programme was ranked 18th on Higherin (Small to medium sized businesses) at only 18 months old. In 2025, a NESO graduate also won Graduate of the Year at the Women’s Utility Network awards.
Sustainable and scalable by design
The programme is designed to scale. NESO has a clear strategic workforce plan to recruit and fill roles through the Graduate Programme until 2031, and its agile stream model means the scheme can adapt as business priorities evolve.
A new project management graduate stream is launching to support the newly formed transformation directorate, demonstrating how quickly the model can respond to emerging capability needs.
The wider policy environment also strengthens the case for growth. The government’s clean power workforce planning has highlighted the scale of skills needed for the clean energy transition, and NESO’s graduate programme can act as a training ground for entry-level roles.
At a strategic level, NESO is positioning itself as an incubator of energy talent and aims to support The 5% Club pledge, ring-fencing 5% of headcount for learners on an early careers scheme.
Ultimately, the NESO Graduate Programme is more than an early careers scheme. It is a practical, collaborative response to one of the energy sector’s biggest challenges: building the skills, confidence and systems required to deliver the energy system of the future.
By combining strengths-based recruitment, inclusive learner support, technical excellence, external secondments and cross-industry collaboration, NESO is creating a repeatable model for developing the people who will help power Great Britain’s future. Vacancies for 2027 open in Autumn 2026.