The Guardian newspaper has named Yorkshire Water in its Top 10 Graduate Employers for Energy & Utilities Top 300 following its biggest-ever survey of UK graduates.

Yorkshire Water is therefore the top graduate employer amongst UK water companies, according to the Guardian’s list.

Amin Daji of Yorkshire Water comments: “We're delighted to be ranked as the best graduate employer in the water sector.

"Our graduate programme is extremely well respected both outside and within the business, with some of our most senior members of staff having first joined us on the programme, including our current Chief Executive Richard Flint.

“We’ve seen strong demand for our graduate roles, with an increase in applications of 62% compared to last year and we're committed to growing this programme further over the coming years."

Yorkshire Water also operates an apprenticeship scheme in addition to its graduate recruitment scheme.

14 apprentices are currently half way through a two-year placement, after which, if they complete it successfully, they will be offered a permanent role within the company. A new intake of 16 started six weeks ago.

Yorkshire Water was ranked 7th in the list, with Anglian Water just two places behind in 9th.

The Guardian’s list is produced after surveying 25,000 students across more than 100 universities. Students rank the most popular UK employers as well as the most popular employers within the major graduate career sectors.