CAREER opportunities beckon for people in Halton seeking employment after university.

HM Revenue and Customs is looking for more than 250 graduates to join its graduate training scheme.

The graduates will join the specially-designed four-year tax specialist programme, gaining skills across all of HMRC’s activities.

This could include investigating tax fraud, unravelling complex tax avoidance schemes and scrutinising the tax affairs of big businesses.

The department is looking for graduates with at least a 2:2 degree in any discipline to apply for the challenging scheme.

Last year around 11,700 graduates applied for 200 places.

Edward Troup, second permanent secretary of HMRC said: “HMRC’s work is incredibly varied, and our graduate programme attracts thousands of graduates each year.

“This is our biggest intake yet and we’re looking for bright, motivated graduates who want to play a part in collecting the money that makes the UK's vital public services run.”

Graduates can find out about the tax specialist programme at gov.uk/hmrc/graduates and at HMRC’s tax professional graduate Facebook page at http://facebook.com/HmrcGraduates.

Applications for the scheme close on Wednesday, November 26, 2014.