Mazars adds 195 trainees in effort to benefit from social mobility
Mazars has recruited 195 new trainees, drawn from school leavers, graduates and industrial placements. The new additions will undergo training towards professional qualifications, as well as broader skills developed through client related work.
As part of efforts to broaden the talent pools of the professional services industries, focus has increasingly shifted toward firms picking up promising school leavers. Improved social mobility in the UK could add as much as £170 billion to the UK economy according to recent analysis by Oxera researchers. However, despite this huge economic opportunity, Britain’s Social Mobility and Child Poverty Commission found that 70% of all jobs in the professional services sector currently went to those who had attended the most selective schools in the country – a group that consists of no more than 7% of the national population as a whole. The country’s government has also intervened to make social mobility more attractive for businesses, introducing an Apprenticeship Levy which subsidises placements for talent whose calling is the professional services, but for whom university education would be unfitting.
In line with consulting industry rivals BDO and KPMG – who boosted their apprentice intake by 40% this year – among others, professional services firm Mazars has announced the placements of an additional 195 trainees to its rank in the UK, drawn from schools, universities and industrial placement programmes; while some candidates were even drawn from a wider pool of 25 countries for additional diversity. The trainees were inducted through the firm’s annual “Ignite” welcome conference, and the new team members join the firm’s UK offices, to learn alongside Mazar’s 140 current partners and 1,700 employees.
The beginners will work across the firm’s mid-range proposition in services lines, including audit, tax, outsourcing, financial planning, consulting, forensic and investigation services, employee benefits and actuarial offering. The placement-holders will also work towards one or more of the professional qualifications that make up the firm’s offering to clients, including a range of accounting and technology examinations, along with obtaining wider soft-skills, related to interacting and working with clients across a range of industries.
Commenting on the additions, which exceeded last year’s 170 intake, Ian Wrightson, Partner and Head of People and Culture at Mazars, said, “On behalf of our 1,800 colleagues in the UK, I offer a warm welcome to our new trainees across the business. Each will have a fantastic opportunity to pursue a successful and fulfilling career path, including international assignments and the chance to work with a truly diverse mix of clients. I am sure that our new trainees will be valuable assets to the teams they join and to our clients, and make their time with Mazars count.”
Mazars saw UK revenue grow by 7% earlier this year. Their annual figure now stands at £160 million, and if the forecast benefits of improved social mobility do ring true for the firm, those results could be further boosted in future.
