The 30 best applicants will be invited to attend the IDM's Graduate Fast Track, a week-long course designed to inspire and prepare them for a career in direct marketing. Sponsors so far include Time Life, MBNA and EHS Brann.
Online applications are now being invited from graduates attending the UK's top 25 universities across a variety of disciplines including business, marketing, English, history and maths.
Those that are shortlisted will be invited to a series of assessment days at the IDM. It is anticipated that 100-120 candidates will be assessed in order to select the 30 graduates to join the course.
Janice Pickard, graduate services manager at the IDM, said: "This scheme will be a powerful career launch pad for a select group of highly talented graduates. This course has been created to bridge the gap between formal study and the world of work. It will mean the job market will have 30 highly desirable prospective employees by July 2 2004."
However, in a membership survey recently published by the Association of Graduate Recruiters, which represents companies that recruit straight from university, 53% said that the UK was already producing too many graduates. This is contrary to Tony Blair's current policy of seeking to put half of Britain's school leavers through university by 2010.
The IDM Graduate Fast Track runs from June 28-July 2 2004. Further details can be found on the .
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