When do Australian grad programs open and close? The intake timeline explained

The short answer

For a program starting in a given year, most major employers open applications in February or March of the year before, and close between late March and May. So a 2028 intake mostly opens around February 2027 and is finished by winter.

There is a smaller second wave in the middle of the year. Government programs, some engineering and construction firms, and law clerkships tend to open between June and August. And a handful of employers, mostly tech, recruit on a rolling basis whenever they have seats.

A rough month-by-month picture

• February to March: the floodgates. Banks, consultancies, the Big 4, most large corporates open within weeks of each other.
• March to May: the closing crunch. This is when the majority of big-name deadlines land, often several in the same week.
• June to August: the second wave. State government programs, law clerkships, some engineering, utilities and construction firms.
• September to November: assessment centres and offers for the main wave, plus stragglers and re-opened streams that did not fill.
• Year-round: rolling roles, expressions of interest, and internships at firms that hire as needed.

Field by field

• Investment banking and consulting: the earliest and least forgiving. The summer internship, recruited in your penultimate year, is the main door into the grad program. Miss it and the direct grad intake is much smaller.
• Law: runs on clerkships. Seasonal clerkship applications open mid-year in most states, and clerks receive the majority of graduate offers. The clerkship deadline is effectively the grad deadline.
• Engineering, mining and construction: spread widest. Some firms follow the February wave, some open mid-year, and site-heavy employers often take expressions of interest all year.
• Government: later and slower. Federal and state programs frequently open mid-year with long, structured processes.
• Tech: split. Big structured intakes at the large companies, rolling hiring at the rest. Some of the best-known names in tech do not run a branded Australian grad program at all and hire graduates through normal job ads instead.

Penultimate year is the real start line

In banking, consulting and law especially, the internship or clerkship in your second-last year of uni is the main recruiting event, and it is recruited a year before it happens. That means the clock starts around the middle of your degree, not the end.

If you are earlier than penultimate year, you are not behind. Spend the time on the things that make later applications easy: one or two genuine experiences you can talk about, a resume that quantifies them, and a few conversations with people in the field.

Missed the main window? You still have moves

• Chase the second wave. Mid-year openings are real jobs at real firms, not leftovers.
• Look for rolling roles and firms that hire graduates outside branded programs.
• Submit expressions of interest. Plenty of firms genuinely read them when a seat opens.
• Use the gap to get interview-fit for the next cycle. The candidates who look effortless in February started practising in October.