A chance to learn; a chance to earn

Sarah Shillingford, graduate recruitment partner of Deloitte, explains how it recruits graduates.

The war for talent in the graduate recruitment market is heating up. At Deloitte, we increased our graduate intake by almost 50% this year and, with further increases expected next year we will be competing with other firms for the best staff.

To attract top talent in this environment, we aim to introduce graduates to Deloitte early on in their university career. We have introduced a new scholar scheme, and this year 26 young people from across the UK were awarded a gap year scholarship which involves a paid seven-month work placement at a Deloitte office. On completion "scholars" receive £1,500 to fund gap year travel before starting university.

Scholars also receive an annual bursary of £1,000 while at university and four weeks' paid work experience each year. Unlike most firms we are flexible about a student's course or place of study. This year's scholars will undertake a broad range of degrees from history and philosophy to physics and maths.

We see this as a great opportunity for young people to learn valuable business skills, earn some money, travel and broaden their horizons. School leavers are increasingly concerned about student debt and this programme provides them with a significant contribution towards the cost of a university education.

For their part, scholars provide us with an "ear" on campus. Being in tune with campus life, they advise us where and when to hold events, and arrange activities where we can introduce top students to job opportunities at Deloitte. We plan on increasing our scholar intake next year.

Like most big graduate employers, Deloitte visits many universities throughout the year, running presentations, skills workshops, business games, informal drinks and drop-in sessions. These "milk-round" events allow students to meet Deloitte staff and gain a better understanding of our graduate programmes.

We also run several schemes that allow students to gain work experience before graduation and to get a clearer picture of our services and where they could fit in. Our Insight courses and Open Days offer tasters of Deloitte, what we do and our culture. These run regularly at many of our locations around the UK and typically last between one and three days.

As the survey shows, seven in ten organisations run vacation programmes. Deloitte's Summer Vacation Scheme is a paid programme designed for undergraduates in their penultimate year of study which gives participants plenty of hands-on experience of the world of professional services. As a recruitment technique, it is very successful - 90% of participants join Deloitte after they finish university.

Changing student expectations have had some impact on the package we offer. Graduate surveys show that salary, while still a key consideration, is less important than training and development, and Deloitte's package continues to focus on this area. All staff undertake professional or technical training and Deloitte has increased support for employees who are undertaking professional exams. This has helped our staff achieve outstanding pass rates and take first place in a large number of the examinations.

As earnings still factor in a graduate's employment decision, and in recognition of increasing levels of student debt, we have also doubled the size of our interest free loan to £7,000, and we offer a highly competitive starting salary with flexible benefits.

Unlike many big firms, Deloitte has not outsourced any part of its graduate recruitment process. We seek third party advice in specialist areas such as marketing strategy, but our overall belief is that it is important to have staff involved in all parts of the recruitment process. Despite some graduates' concerns, all online applications are personally screened. This is important as it allows people with unusual circumstances - for example those who might have taken courses other than traditional A-levels - to have their application given due consideration.

We are in a challenging market for graduate recruitment at the moment, but we feel the programmes we have in place will ensure we continue to succeed in attracting the top graduates to Deloitte.

See Graduate recruitment 2004/05: upturn and optimism for more.