PwC ditches A-level criteria for recruitment
GRADUATES will no longer need spotless A-level grades to land a job at accountancy and business advisory firm PwC.
The firm, one of the biggest graduate employers in the country, argued that by using Ucas points – a measure of a secondary school student’s qualifications – to screen applicants, it was missing out on recruits from more disadvantaged backgrounds.
Richard Irwin, the firm’s head of student recruitment, said: “The strong correlation that exists in the UK between social class and school academic performance suggests that by placing too much emphasis on Ucas scores, employers will miss out on key talent from disadvantaged backgrounds, who can perform less well at school.”
Until now applicants to most graduate jobs or internships at PwC were required to have a minimum Ucas score of at least 300 points – a requirement still in place for most positions at rivals KPMG, Deloitte and Ernst & Young.
Last year the “big four” accountancy firms all increased the number of graduates they would hire. PwC boosted its number by around 30 per cent to 1,450.