Graduate schemes are good at onboarding and bad at forging identity. This programme does the second part properly: twelve graduates, three days, two nights, one outdoor centre — and a sequence of shared physical and mental challenges designed to turn a cohort of individuals into a group who trust each other, and trust the organisation that invested in them.
The twist is the dinner. On one evening the graduates cook a proper three-course meal for guests they are told are “unknown” — who turn out to be influential senior people from the business: HR business partners, heads of L&D, the people whose opinion of this cohort will matter for years. It is the moment the programme quietly becomes a two-way assessment, and it is the one every graduate remembers.
Why This Programme
Early Identification
Twelve graduates under pressure for three days tell you more about resilience, initiative and teamability than twelve months of appraisals. Mentors and facilitators build a genuine read on each person, not just their CV.
Resilience Built Outdoors
High ropes, trust exercises and, location permitting, mountain-based challenge push graduates past the point where polish matters and character shows. What they discover about themselves outdoors travels straight back into the office.
Mentoring From Those Who’ve Just Been There
The previous year’s intake return as mentors, not managers. Advice from someone eighteen months ahead carries a credibility no induction deck ever will, and it builds the mentoring habit into the scheme from day one.
A Real Test, Not a Simulation
The closing dinner isn’t a role-play. The guests are genuinely senior, genuinely paying attention, and genuinely forming a view of this year’s graduates. That stakes-up moment is where the real learning lands.
Skills for Life, Not Just for Work
Trust exercises and outdoor challenge build communication, composure under pressure and the ability to ask for help — skills that outlast whichever team or project a graduate lands in next.
What’s Included
Three Days, Two Nights
A fully residential programme at an outdoor activity centre, away from phones, desks and the comfort of knowing everyone already.
High Ropes & Trust Exercises
A structured sequence of high ropes, team challenges and trust-based exercises, chosen and sequenced by qualified outdoor facilitators — mountain-based where the location allows — rather than left to chance.
Mentoring From the Previous Intake
Graduates from last year’s programme return as peer mentors throughout, pairing lived experience with structured reflection.
The Dinner Evening
One evening is handed to the graduates to plan, cook and host a proper three-course meal — for guests who turn out to be senior stakeholders from across the business.
What It Means For the Organisation
Early Talent, Properly Assessed
Three days of shared challenge is a far better signal of future potential than a CV or a single interview — and it gives HR and L&D a genuinely informed view of this year’s cohort.
Stronger Retention From Day One
Graduates who bond early, and who feel genuinely seen by senior people in the business, are graduates who stay. The programme does real work on retention before it is even a risk.
Confidence That Shows Up at Work
The resilience and composure graduates build outdoors doesn’t stay outdoors — it shows up in how they handle their first difficult client call, their first piece of critical feedback, their first real deadline.
Visibility for Senior Stakeholders
HR business partners and heads of L&D leave the dinner evening with a first-hand view of the graduate population — not a report about them.
In Their Own Words
“As always, the event delivered exactly what it set out to achieve. I know a few of the attendees have had a rude awakening to working life and a few more have surprised us with their keenness to try anything and get stuck in. Thank you.”Evelyn HadleyGraduate Development Lead, Akzo Nobel UK
How the Three Days Work
A deliberately simple structure — three days, two nights, one outdoor centre — that leaves plenty of room for the parts that can’t be scripted.
Arrival & First Challenges
- Arrival at the outdoor centre and introduction to mentors from the previous intake
- Team-forming exercises and an introduction to the trust-based challenges ahead
- First high ropes session, building familiarity with the kit and with each other
High Ropes, Trust & the Dinner
- A full day of high ropes and, location-dependent, mountain-based challenge, mentored throughout
- Trust exercises designed to surface how the group communicates under pressure
- Evening: the graduates plan, cook and host a three-course dinner for guests who turn out to be senior figures from the business
Reflection & Return
- Structured reflection on the three days with mentors and facilitators
- Individual and group feedback, with clear takeaways for each graduate
- Departure, with a short debrief pack for HR and L&D
Investment
Investment
£650 per person
Based on a cohort of twelve graduates; outdoor centre, mentoring, facilitation and all meals included.
Mountain-based elements depend on centre location — ask us about options near you.
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