Four graduates started working at Richmond Council after being selected from nearly 200 applicants.

The new employees will join the council for two years and take on responsibilities in different placements across the authority as well as shadowing managers and meeting councillors.

The successful candidates were Rachel Kidd, who graduated this year from York University, studying history of art, Bethany Pepper who read Law at Warwick, Leeds history graduate Amy Sullivan and Steven Tanner who graduated in 2009 in English and history.

Rachel said: “I am thrilled to have been offered this position. I always knew I wanted to work in the public sector.

“I wanted to work in a role that would benefit the community. I looked at many graduate schemes and the Richmond one was very different. It is very structured, allowing you to experience a number of different departments rather than just one.”

Councillor Tony Arbour, Richmond’s cabinet member for performance, said the programme should give the graduates a real taste of what it is like to work in local government.

He said: “It is an opportunity for graduates to gain work experience in the public sector, to understand what residents want from local services and maximise their opportunities for the future.

“I would like to congratulate the four successful graduates and I look forward to working with them over the next few months.”

The graduates’ placements will start in public health, democratic services, community safety and parks from Monday September 9.