Paddy Power Betfair is one of the world’s leading sports betting and gaming operators, formed from last year’s merger of Paddy Power plc and Betfair Group plc.
The merger has taken the company into the FTSE 100 index of the London Stock Exchange and it now employs more than 7,000 people in 16 locations across the globe; from Los Angeles to Dublin, and London to Melbourne.
Aisling McMahon, human resources officer with Paddy Power Betfair says the company’s aim is to attract the best talent in the market.
“Our graduate programme is designed to recruit and develop high performing graduates to sustain our talent pipeline for the future.”
The Paddy Power Betfair graduate programme is promoted at on-campus presentations across the UK and the Republic, career fairs and on social media through LinkedIn.
The recruitment drive on social media has clearly paid off; the company received 2,500 applications for the 25 graduate positions starting in September 2017.
McMahon says the merger of Paddy Power Betfair has created the opportunity for exposure to new products, new business development areas and international operations in the US and Australia.
“To support this global business it is essential that we have internal talent to occupy these senior positions and we invest in our graduates as we recognise them as a key pipeline for these roles,” she says.
“The graduates gain exposure to multiple functions through the rotational programme, huge responsibility and autonomy in driving business projects, engagement with senior leaders through mentoring and coaching and a tailored development programme which was recognised with the Gold Award for the Best Training and Development Programme at the gradireland Awards 2015,” she says.
McMahon says the diverse experience across the company ensures that graduates are prepared to take on key roles on completion of the programme.
“The nature of the programme, where graduates experience this cross-functional exposure to numerous areas in the business, has been key to generating the number of senior Paddy Power Betfair leaders who started off in the graduate programme.”
