- 1,500 graduate and school leaver positions to be recruited using contextualised data;
- School and university-blind interviews to address unconscious bias;
- 100 new positions created for school leavers through redesigned BrightStart scheme;
- 200 students to gain work experience through extended ASPIRE programme.
Deloitte, the professional services firm, is to use contextualised academic data to recruit more than 1,500 graduates and school-leavers, including next year’s new joiners in the firm’s Scottish offices. It becomes the largest British business to enter into a partnership with Rare, a specialist in diversity recruitment. The partnership will give Deloitte’s recruiters a range of standardised data on candidates’ economic background and personal circumstances, allowing them to make more informed choices about candidates by considering the context in which their academic achievements have been gained.
The announcement marks the start of Deloitte’s inaugural Social Mobility Week and forms part of a comprehensive package of measures which the firm hopes will help it to access a more diverse pool of talent, whilst also contributing to the societal challenge of improving social mobility by increasing opportunity for and investing in the development and training of young people.
Steve Williams, senior partner for Deloitte in Scotland and Northern Ireland, said: “Improving social mobility is one of the UK’s biggest challenges. For us, there is also a clear business imperative to get this right. In order to provide the best possible service and make an impact with our clients, we need to hire people who think and innovate differently, come from a variety of backgrounds and bring a range of perspectives and experience into the firm. We truly value this difference.
“Our response to this challenge reflects the value we place in the UK’s education system and the hard work that young people and teachers put in to achieve good exam results. Contextualisation allows us to recognise these important qualifications for young people, whilst also ensuring that for example, 3Bs at A Level in a school where the average student achieves 3Ds, is identified as exceptional performance.”
The other measures announced by Deloitte include:
- The introduction of school and university-blind interviews to help prevent unconscious bias and ensure that job offers are made on the basis of present potential, not past personal circumstance. Interviewers no longer have access to details of an applicant’s school or university until an offer has been made;
- The creation of an additional 100 jobs for school and college-leavers through its redesigned BrightStart Business Apprenticeship Scheme. This is in addition to the 100 positions that have been available through the scheme since its launch in 2011, taking the total number of A-Level entry vacancies to 200. Deloitte will partner with 100 schools nationally, selected to ensure a socially diverse range of candidates apply to join the programme. BrightStart offers ambitious school and college-leavers an alternative entry route into the firm and the opportunity to gain a professional or technical qualification;
- An increase in the number of places available on its Deloitte ASPIRE programme. The scheme, which this year provided work experience to 140 young people from disadvantaged backgrounds, will be extended to include 200 students each year from 2016.
Steve Williams added: “At Deloitte, we are working hard to ensure that our talent pool is diverse and reflects the make-up of today’s society. We want to show that everyone can thrive, develop and succeed in our firm based on their talent, regardless of ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, or any other dimension that can be used to differentiate people from one another. This includes an individual’s social or economic background, which we know continues to be used to hold some people back.
“We believe the variety of interventions announced today will enable us to deliver on our social mobility objectives. They build on established programmes already in place to improve social mobility and employability throughout our profession and society as a whole, including our Deloitte Social Innovation Pioneers initiative and the Deloitte Access programme.”