The Leicester office of business and financial advisers Grant Thornton UK LLP has made its largest intake of new trainees with eight joining the firm’s programme this month.
The 2015 autumn intake trainees are Dhaval Joshi, Mohammed Kasmani, Constance Higginson, Alex Hirst, Gurpreet Poonia, Ishan Sharda, Shamima Azad and Jessica Monaghan.
They join the Corporate Tax, Audit, and Business Services Group teams and include four school leavers and four graduates, reflecting Grant Thornton’s innovative approach to trainee talent selection, as Tom Copson, Associate Director in Leicester, who leads the recruitment process and trainee programme, explains:
“The firm introduced a new assessment strategy in 2013 which adopts an holistic approach to spotting talent and a focus on behaviours, shared values and potential. This year’s trainees – the greatest number on the autumn intake in Leicester for several years – typifies this approach and commitment.
“Half of our 2015 trainees are school leavers and the other half are graduates. This 50-50 split further demonstrates the firm’s strategy to recruiting talented individuals with the capability to develop rounded business skills and the potential to become capable business advisers to our clients, rather than purely focussing on the traditional entry criteria such as UCAS requirements,” he says.
All eight trainees now embark on new careers as advisors for Grant Thornton, studying for professional qualifications whilst working.
It is two years since Grant Thornton launched its innovative approach to its trainee selection which it reports, is having a ‘major impact on the business’, both locally and nationally: “Since adopting this pioneering approach the total number of trainees each year has increased by 25% to over 500 across the firm’s UK office network, whilst in Leicester we have recorded our largest intake of new trainees this September, who join us from a variety of backgrounds and academic profiles,” says Tom. “Since 2014 all candidates are considered, with academic profiles forming just one part of the assessment. Indeed, the firm’s trainee scorecard takes in, and in fact prioritises, a range of elements, such as potential, work experience and the ability to build business relationships.
“Providing opportunities for untapped talent is breaking down historical barriers to social mobility. Widening access and being more representative of the wider society helps the firm serve clients better and grow the economy.
“We’re driven by our core belief that to unlock potential for dynamic organisations we need a socially inclusive mind-set to deliver a solid, commercial advantage. When hiring we are looking for potential, not just past performance. It is critically important that everyone in society has the opportunity to participate in a vibrant economy – it is just the right thing to do,” he says.
In welcoming the 2015 trainees, the firm’s Chris Frostwick, Partner and Practice Leader in Leicester, said: “We are committed to nurturing and developing new talent for the future longevity of the firm and the businesses we work with, and all our trainees show the skills, aptitude and ambition that typifies the calibre of Grant Thornton’s people.”
Grant Thornton’s trainee programme is part of the firm’s commitment to Access Accountancy, an initiative dedicated to improving access to the profession, of which Grant Thornton is a founding signatory and chief executive Sacha Romanovitch is chair of the Patron group.
The firm states that shifting its trainee recruitment policy has resulted in quantifiable shifts in diversity and breadth of intake. In 2014, 12% of new trainees wouldn’t have been able to apply in previous years due to their academic profile; this year the figure will be closer to 20%.
Research published in June by The Social Mobility and Child Poverty Commission, Non educational barriers to the elite profession evaluation, showed that working-class applicants struggle to get access to top jobs in the UK but that some firms such as Grant Thornton are making a commitment to recruit the brightest and best, regardless of background.
Grant Thornton’s East Midlands office is in Leicester and has approximately 130 staff providing business and financial advice across Corporate and Personal Tax, audit and assurance, employer solutions, corporate finance, and sustainability, to organisations across the East Midlands.
