Consultancy aims to breakdown ‘social barrier’ to employment
Professional services firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) is to drop its A-level requirement for its graduate scheme, in the hope of attracting a more “socially mobile” and “diverse” pool of young talent.
The firm said that by placing too much emphasis on UCAS scores, employers were missing out on key talent from disadvantaged backgrounds, who perhaps underperformed at school.
Until now, graduates looking to join PwC would have had to gain a defined threshold of A-level grades, which are used on university applications.
By changing the entry requirements for the graduate scheme, those who may not have strong academic performance at school, but who have gone on to perform well at university, will be considered in the same capacity as A* students, the firm said.
Graduate recruits will now be selected solely based on university degree results, and through online behavioural and aptitude assessments.
Richard Irwin, PwC’s head of student recruitment, said: “We want to target bright, talented people and extend our career opportunities to untapped talent in wider pockets of society.
“Our experience shows that whilst A-level assessment can indicate potential, for far too many students there are other factors that influence results.”
The firm recruits around 2,500 students across its graduate, school and college leaver and work experience roles every year.
In 2014, the number of applications to PwC’s graduate scheme rose to 25,573, which amounts to 17 applications for every role.
Gaenor Bagley, board member and head of people at PwC expects competition for graduate places to increase significantly now more students are eligible.
“We recognise that talent and potential presents itself in different ways and at different stages in people’s lives. Removing the UCAS criteria will create a fairer and more modern system in which students are selected on their own merit, irrespective of their background or where they are from,” she said.
“By breaking down social barriers we will open the door to thousands of students who may have previously thought a graduate role with PwC was out of reach for them,” she added.
Commenting on the change in selection process, Stephen Isherwood, chief executive of the Association of Graduate Recruiters, said other graduate employers should consider making similar moves to breakdown barriers to employment.
“Using a candidate’s UCAS points to assess their potential is a blunt tool and a barrier to social mobility. This is an innovative step by one of the most significant graduate recruiters in the UK,” he said.
The UCAS tariff will continue to be used in filtering applications for the firm’s school leaver roles, employer led degree programme, ‘Flying Start’, and for a small minority of graduate roles where expertise in a particular subject matter is required, PwC said.