Member Article

PwC Leeds increases Higher Apprenticeship vacancies to meet demand

PwC’s Leeds office has increased the number of Higher Apprenticeships it will offer this year, offering an additional five places for the scheme and taking the total number of apprentices starting in the autumn to seven.

The extra places are in response to demand from school leavers as well as within the firm due to business growth. The apprentices hired will be placed across services including assurance, business recovery services and corporate tax, with vacancies still available in assurance for an October start date.

Since launching the Higher Apprenticeship, applications to the school leaver entry programmes have increased 43%. In February alone, PwC received over 250 applications for the first 60 vacancies in the firm’s tax division and to date has received over 1000 applications for the remaining roles.

Arif Ahmad, office senior partner, PwC Leeds said: “Higher Apprenticeships enable us to continue to attract and employ the best candidates from a bigger pool than ever before. They have widened the access gate to the profession without lowering the bar in terms of the talent.

“These extra roles mean the application deadline will be extended to allow more students to consider applying after their A Level results. But we would encourage candidates to apply early and not leave it to the last minute as jobs are open until we’ve found the right candidate, so the earlier you apply the more chance you have.”

Overall PwC will recruit 1200 graduate and school leavers in 2013, and around 400 interns.

PwC was the first to launch a Higher Apprenticeship in professional services and the first to offer a non-graduate route into management consulting. students qualify at level 4, equivalent to the first rung on the Higher Education ladder, and have the opportunity to be operating at the same level in the organisation as their graduate peers after as little as two years.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Mark Lane .