Graduate schemes

Spring Week Applications: Timeline, CV and What Firms Screen For

When UK spring week applications open, what the CV and situational judgement test stage actually screen for, and how it differs from a full graduate scheme.

A spring week is a short (usually three- to five-day) insight programme that UK and some European banks, and a smaller number of professional services and law firms, run for first-year undergraduates each spring. It exists because most students at this stage have no realistic route into a standard summer internship, and the firm wants a way to meet strong candidates early rather than lose them to a competitor two years later. Understanding what it actually screens for makes the CV and application stage far less mysterious.

The timeline

Spring week applications for firms in the UK typically open in September of the preceding year, for a programme running the following spring (roughly February to April). Some firms run a fixed deadline several weeks after opening; others review applications on a rolling basis and can fill places before a stated deadline arrives, which makes applying early a genuine advantage rather than just conventional wisdom. If you are a first-year student reading this in autumn, the practical rule is: have your CV and application answers ready before the application window opens, not after.

Continental European offices of the same firms sometimes run equivalent early insight programmes under different names and on different timelines; check each firm's own graduate careers page rather than assuming the UK calendar applies everywhere.

Who it is actually for

Spring weeks are built specifically for first-year undergraduates (or second-years on a four-year degree, such as an integrated master's), because the whole point of the programme is reaching students before they are eligible for a standard summer internship. Applying as a second- or third-year when you are already eligible for an internship usually means the internship route is the better use of your time; spring week eligibility rules on most firms' sites state this explicitly.

What the CV needs to show, at this stage

Almost no first-year applicant has directly relevant financial services experience, and firms screening spring week applications know this. What the CV is actually assessed on is the same underlying evidence a graduate banking CV needs: academic strength so far (A-levels or first-year results), numerical reasoning demonstrated through any quantitative coursework or competition, and initiative shown through school or university activities. Our investment banking CV guide covers the format and bullet structure in detail; at spring week stage the content is proportionally weighted even more heavily toward education and activities, simply because there is less career history to draw on yet.

Keep the CV to one page, in the no-photo UK format, and do not stretch a school activity into something it was not. A screener reading a first-year CV expects it to be short and expects the entries on it to be genuinely first-year in scale; a CV that reads like it belongs to someone three years further along raises more questions than it answers.

The situational judgement test

Most spring week processes add a situational judgement test (SJT) alongside the CV, sometimes before a human ever reads the application. An SJT presents a workplace scenario and a set of possible responses, asking you to rank or rate them by effectiveness, and it is measuring judgement and professionalism rather than technical knowledge. There is no shortcut that substitutes for genuinely thinking through each scenario as you would act in a professional setting; rushing it to save time is one of the more common reasons a strong CV does not progress.

What a spring week is, and is not

A spring week is a real opportunity to see a business from the inside and build a relationship with a firm early, and many participants do go on to a return offer for a summer internship, which itself is often a route to a graduate offer. On its own it does not guarantee anything further down the line: firms use spring weeks partly to assess candidates and partly to let candidates assess whether the sector and firm are actually right for them, and either side can conclude it is not a fit. Treating it as one useful, time-bounded step in a longer process, rather than the whole outcome, keeps the pressure in proportion.

If the spring week leads to further stages, our graduate scheme application process guide covers what typically comes after the CV and testing stage, including assessment centres, which we also cover separately in what to expect at an assessment centre.

Putting it together

The practical checklist for a first-year student targeting spring weeks:

1. Check each target firm's own graduate careers page for its specific opening date; do not assume a shared UK-wide calendar.
2. Build a one-page CV weighted toward academic strength, quantitative coursework and school or university activities.
3. Apply as early in the window as your CV is genuinely ready, given several firms review on a rolling basis.
4. Treat the SJT stage seriously; it is not a formality attached to the CV screen.

In Involve Resume, once a spring week posting is live on the job board, the CV tailoring applies the same evidence-first structure this guide describes, reordering what you have already written rather than inventing detail you do not yet have.