PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) Careers Advisers’ Day, London – 12 September 2011

PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) Careers Advisers’ Day, London – 12 September 2011
Richard Irwin, Head of Student Recruitment
Reflections on 2010/11 – a year of records
Largest number of applications 35,000 (100% more than previous year)
Largest student intake 1,250 (includes 100 school leavers)
Largest intern intake 350 (up from 140 in 2010)
Largest Academy intake 100 (mini internships for 1st years)
High Fliers Employer of choice for 8th year running
A year of challenges
Regional offices Difficulty recruiting talent for Aberdeen, Hull and Plymouth
Gender diversity 40% female recruits (reflective of market interest)
Maintaining the candidate experience - 60% of candidates rate ‘excellent’ and 25% ‘strong’ compared
to other companies
Student performance in selection process
Stage
Success rate at each stage
Online testing
39%
Application form
78% (most fail on academic requirements)
st
1 interview
54%
Assessment day
59%
Final interview
75%
Hiring
7.3% of total applicants
No trends on skills areas where applicants fall down; commercial awareness probably weakest
Sammie Stapleton, Head of Talent Channels - Campus engagement
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We’re a people business; we’re passionate about making a difference for our clients and each other,
constantly creating and adding value
More than 20 different graduate routes, in 30 offices. Some don’t involve a professional
qualification
Offer the best springboard into business with our training and development programme
Any discipline
Opportunities to work with clients in the private and public sectors
Andrew Bargery, Campus Engagement
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Continued focus on employability – brochure and section on website
Business one-to-ones : students can meet up with someone from the business to find out more
about the work involved
Teach First partnership – deferred entry after 2 years at Teach First; summer internship after 1 year
Bright Futures – Business Champions; 2nd year of this live business competition. Teams of 2-4
students with a business idea. Choice of prizes http://www.pwc.com/uk/en/careers/student/business-champions.jhtml
Risk Assurance – William Beer, Director of Information Security
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William joined PwC via Symantec (produces Norton security software) and IBM
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Risk Assurance is part of Assurance (35 vacancies in 2011)
Looks at clients’ issues around information security and cyber security
Very broad, not just IT - about people, processes and security
Issues causing problems for clients include mobile security, eg iphones, ipads, blackberries
‘Cloud’ is causing lots of excitement at the moment – large virtual data centres; challenging existing
models (incl. Gmail, flckr)
Cyber security is about looking outwards – significant challenges, eg leakage of intellectual
property: human error, deliberate leakage, infiltration (cyber crime, IP theft)
Works closely with other areas of the business including forensics, consulting and HR
PwC is helping its clients in the following ways: strategy creation/definition, benchmarking against
other companies, penetration testing (technical), forensics, awareness raising
PwC has 3,500 staff in this area; viewed as an industry leader
Disciplines sought: HR, Philosophy, Psychology (interest in human behaviour), Maths/Stats, IT,
Security Studies
Interested students should have a look at the Cyber Security Challenge website:
https://cybersecuritychallenge.org.uk/. It offers a series of national online games and competitions
to test the cyber security abilities of individuals and teams from every walk of life. It is designed to
excite and inspire anyone considering a career in the cyber security industry.
ISF – The Information Security Forum: https://www.securityforum.org/ is also useful. Some reports
are available for non-members to download
Very rapidly developing area – likely to be different issues in 6 months’ time!
There has been a drop in interest from students to work in this area – seen as too ‘techy’
Sustainability at PwC
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PwC’s new office at More London is believed to be the most environmentally-friendly building in
London, and possibly in Europe, having recently been awarded the BREEAM ‘outstanding’ rating.
Features include:
o 58% lower carbon footprint than other buildings of its size/use
o A generator in its basement using cooking oil from London restaurants
o A green roof
o Desk-side printers and rubbish bins have been removed; staff need to use central resources
o Most rooms have natural light; windows have been tinted/treated to ensure rooms don’t
become too hot (to minimise use of air conditioning)
o A combination of cold water pipes on ceilings and warm air vents on floors create optimum
room temepratures at the lowest cost. Staff can alter the temperature at their desks by one
degree
PwC staff are advising clients about sustainability issues so they need to ‘buy into’ it themselves.
Graduate joiners are likely to be involved in sustainability-related work – they need to know about
the UK’s Carbon Reduction Commitment (CRC) – ‘Green Stealth Tax’.
The firm is offering sustainability training and a speaker series to staff
Staff are encouraged to take part in a ‘phenomenal’ range of volunteering/social enterprise
opportunities
Social Entrepreneurship at PwC
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PwC has just finished converting the Old Fire Station in Tooley Street London (close to its More
London office) to become a centre for social enterprise innovation
http://firestation.pwc.co.uk/index.html
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PwC is in partnership with the School for Social Entrpreneurs
(http://firestation.pwc.co.uk/school-for-social-entrepreneurs.html) which has moved to
the Old Fire Station.
 PwC provides funding for bursaries for some students at the school throughout
the UK;
 They are involved in a mentoring partnership with students (developing
leadership and social skills/values) as well as providing specialist
business/financial advice
 We heard from a current student, AndrewHackett about his organisation ‘We
Make a Change Ltd’ http://www.sse.org.uk/person.php?personid=762
Beyond Food Foundation - people who have experienced homelessness are being given
a life changing opportunity to participate in a catering apprenticeship programme in the
Old Fire Station at the venue ‘Brigade’, inspiring individuals and leading them into full
time employment
Social Enterprise UK is moving its offices to the Old Fire Station
Staff development in PwC
We heard about the admirable Women’s Leadership Programme, Emerging Leaders’ Programme, and
Manager to Senior Management Development Programme, all of which aim to enhance the professional
development of PwC staff and increase retention in the firm.
Q&A
Graduate recruitment acceptance rate = 90%
What happens to those students who have accepted an offer and change their mind?
Nothing but depends on the way they go about it (if done badly, PwC would look negatively on a reapplication). This is technically a breach of contract but it’s not in PwC’s interests to pursue this
An offer to defer might be made.
What if someone has not managed to get a 2.1?
PwC will look for diamonds in the rough, eg if someone has great A levels but a 2.2 they would
investigate further but would expect the student to really have excelled at something else, eg
volunteering or sport
SM (Nov 2011)