What Graduates First does

Graduates First (legal entity GFI Group Limited) is a UK-based test preparation platform founded in 2007 that sells practice materials for the psychometric, aptitude, and digital assessments used by large employers in graduate and early-career recruitment. The company's core product is a web-based practice environment that emulates real assessments from major test publishers (SHL, IBM Kenexa, Korn Ferry Talent Q, Cubiks, Saville) and digital platforms (HireVue, Pymetrics, Arctic Shores, AON Cut-e), spanning numerical, verbal, logical, abstract, diagrammatic and spatial reasoning, situational judgement tests, personality questionnaires, game-based assessments, video interviews, and coding assessments. Content is delivered across three subscription tiers (Go Free, Go Essential at £44.95, Go Premium at £51.95) and a series of verticalized industry packages for finance, banking, consulting, accountancy, law, retail, FMCG, healthcare, technology, manufacturing, and apprenticeships; the GFI Accelerated Learning Tool provides 10,000+ numerical questions within the Premium tier. Underlying technology consists of a self-serve e-commerce platform with immediate digital access, a normed scoring and benchmarking system, and progress-tracking dashboards; the company also operates a separate B2B platform (assesscandidates.com) for recruiter/HR licensing.

The business model is predominantly direct-to-consumer with one-time/perpetual license payments (lifetime access rather than recurring subscriptions), complemented by a freemium tier that drives top-of-funnel conversion and a nascent B2B enterprise licensing stream. Distribution is global via the website and supported by referral relationships with 150+ universities and business schools; the company has a small distributed team across the UK (Huddersfield HQ, London), Switzerland, Luxembourg, Pakistan, and Poland. Graduates First is privately held, founder-controlled (Dr Zaffer Iqbal and Saqib Saddiq), with no disclosed external funding rounds, and holds UKAS-accredited ISO 9001 certification.

Name

Graduates First

Legal name

GFI Group Limited

Website

https://graduatesfirst.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2007

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Graduates First (GFI Group Limited) is a UK-based test preparation platform, founded in 2007, that sells practice materials emulating employer psychometric and aptitude assessments for graduates and early-career job seekers worldwide.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Online Psychometric Test Preparation

NAICS

Professional and Management Development Training (611430)

SIC

Services-Educational Services (8200)

akta.pro primary industry

Skills Assessment & Talent/Employability Testing Platforms (EDAFADAM)

akta.pro secondary industries

Professional & Career Skills Tutoring Platforms (Coding, Data, Business) (EDANAGAI), Corporate Training Course Marketplaces (B2B Content Libraries) (EDAFAIAH)

Keywords

• Psychometric test preparation
• Aptitude practice tests
• Video interview practice
• Game-based assessments
• Graduate recruitment testing

Headquarters

HQ city

Huddersfield

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices6 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Operations

Revenue model

1. Premium Bundle Subscriptions: One-time payment for lifetime access to comprehensive test preparation bundles (Go Premium at £51.95, Go Essential at £44.95). Payment is perpetual access rather than recurring subscription.
2. Individual Test Purchases: Single test purchases (e.g., logical reasoning at $21.95, finance assessments at $39.95) for users wanting specific practice areas.
3. Freemium Model: Free tier providing limited practice tests (numerical, verbal, logical) to attract users and drive conversion to paid products.
4. Business/Enterprise Licensing: Separate platform (assesscandidates.com) for corporate recruiter licensing, suggesting B2B enterprise revenue stream.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

Graduates First operates an online psychometric and aptitude test preparation platform that provides graduates and early-career job seekers with practice materials modelled on real employer assessments from publishers such as SHL, IBM Kenexa, HireVue, and Pymetrics. The platform sells lifetime-access bundles (numerical, verbal, logical, situational judgement, personality, game-based, video interview, coding, and assessment centre practice) plus industry-specific packages for Finance, Banking, Consulting, Accountancy, Law, Retail, FMCG, Manufacturing, Healthcare, and Technology recruitment. A separate assesscandidates.com platform licenses the company's assessment tools to corporate recruiters.

Product overview

Graduates First is a test preparation platform offering aptitude practice tests, game-based assessments, video interviews, and assessment centre preparation tools. The core offering consists of three subscription tiers: Go Premium (160+ assessments, 2,400+ questions, lifetime access), Go Essential (90+ assessments, 1,900+ questions), and Go Free (limited free access). The platform provides practice for numerical reasoning, verbal reasoning, logical reasoning, situational judgement tests, game assessments, video interviews, personality questionnaires, coding assessments, and assessment centre exercises. The product portfolio includes specialized industry packages for Banking, Finance, Consulting, Accountancy, Law, Retail, FMCG, Manufacturing, Healthcare, Technology, and Apprenticeship sectors. The GFI Accelerated Learning Tool provides 10,000+ numerical questions. Practice tests are modeled after assessments from publishers including SHL, IBM Kenexa, Korn Ferry Talent Q, Saville, Cubiks, and game assessment providers including HireVue, Pymetrics, Arctic Shores, and AON Cut-e.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Practice Numerical Reasoning Tests Practice numerical reasoning tests that evaluate candidates' ability to interpret and work with numerical data presented in tables, charts, and graphs. Designed for graduates and job seekers preparing for employer assessments.
• Practice Verbal Reasoning Tests Practice verbal reasoning tests that evaluate candidates' ability to understand, interpret, and analyse written information through passages followed by multiple-choice questions.
• Practice Logical Reasoning Tests Practice logical reasoning tests involving analysing shapes or diagrams to identify patterns and determine sequences, including inductive, deductive, diagrammatic, and abstract reasoning.
• Practice Situational Judgement Tests Practice situational judgement tests presenting workplace scenarios requiring candidates to choose or rank responses based on effectiveness and appropriateness.
• Practice Game-Based Assessments Interactive, game-like practice assessments simulating decision-making scenarios and testing cognitive abilities through puzzles, memory challenges, and strategy games, modelled on platforms like Pymetrics, Arctic Shores, and AON Cut-e.
• Practice Video Interviews Video interview practice platform providing interview questions with timed recorded responses, modelled on HireVue and Pymetrics-style formats.
• Practice Work Personality Questionnaire Work personality questionnaire practice similar to SHL Occupational Personality Questionnaire (OPQ), assessing behavioral traits, work style, and cultural fit.
• Practice Coding Assessments Practice coding assessments with 16 coding tests included in the Premium package, designed for candidates preparing for technical interview screens.
• Prepare for Your Assessment Centre Assessment centre preparation including 10 exercises covering case studies, group discussions, presentations, in-tray exercises, e-tray exercises, and role-play exercises.
• Apprenticeship Preparation Bundle Specialized bundle for apprenticeship applicants covering industry-specific assessment test preparation.
• Practice Finance Job Tests Finance industry-specific practice package covering numerical, verbal, logical reasoning, situational judgement, game assessments, and personality tests tailored for finance sector employers such as JP Morgan, Goldman Sachs, Barclays, and HSBC.
• Practice Banking Job Tests Banking sector-specific practice tests covering cognitive abilities and behavioral assessments for banking industry recruitment.

Quantifiable outcome

• Practice can improve aptitude test scores by 40-80%
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers5 records

Segments7 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration1 record

Feature7 records

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• UNiDAYSminorGTM or Marketing PartnerPartnership with UNiDAYS discount platform to provide exclusive offers to student users on the UNiDAYS network.

Scale indicators9 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Broad incumbents

• Pymetrics: AI-driven game-based assessment platform used by enterprise employers. Pymetrics offers candidate-facing practice materials that overlap with Graduates First's game-based assessment preparation, functioning as both a publisher reference and a free competitor.
• SHL: Largest global publisher of psychometric assessments used by 80%+ of major employers. While SHL sells assessments to employers, its growing free practice offerings to candidates position it as a broad incumbent whose publisher-side content overlaps with Graduates First's preparation materials.
• HireVue: Enterprise video interview and assessment platform used by major employers for graduate recruitment. HireVue provides free sample interview questions that overlap with Graduates First's video interview practice products, representing both a partner reference and a potential free alternative.
• Arctic Shores: Game-based psychometric assessment publisher with a graduate-focused product portfolio. Provides candidate-facing practice content that competes with Graduates First's game assessment preparation offerings while also being a format Graduates First emulates.
• Korn Ferry (Talent Q): Global organizational consulting firm and assessment publisher (including Talent Q) whose psychometric tests are widely used in graduate recruitment. Korn Ferry is both an incumbent whose content Graduates First practices against and a publisher offering candidate practice resources.

Direct peers

• Psychometric Success: Psychometric test preparation company offering practice tests, study guides, and tutorials for aptitude and personality assessments used in graduate recruitment. Similar content positioning and B2C model targeting the same buyer persona.
• JobTestPrep: Long-established psychometric test preparation provider offering practice materials for SHL, Kenexa, Cubiks, and other publisher formats. Directly competes with Graduates First in the B2C test preparation market with similar premium subscription models.
• AssessmentDay: UK-based psychometric test preparation platform offering practice aptitude tests, verbal reasoning, numerical reasoning, and situational judgement tests for graduate job seekers. Direct competitor with similar product offering, freemium model, and target audience of candidates preparing for employer assessments.
• Practice Aptitude Tests (practiceaptitudetests.com): Online psychometric test practice platform offering free and premium aptitude test preparation covering numerical, verbal, logical, and situational judgement tests. Competes directly for the same graduate job seeker segment with similar content categories.

Emerging players

• WikiJob: UK-based graduate careers platform offering free psychometric test practice, employer guides, and interview preparation content. Adjacent competitor with overlapping content but a broader content-portal model rather than premium test packages.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/graduatesfirst
• YouTubeyoutube.com/user/GraduatesFirst
• Facebookfacebook.com/graduatesfirst
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/graduates-first-limited
• Instagraminstagram.com/graduates_first

Compliance1 record

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles4 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Graduates First