GradAustralia surveyed 125 large graduate employers on their graduate intake over the past year. Of the 125 surveyed, 60% are accepting applications from three or more faculties. A third are accepting from ALL disciplines.
Employers are increasingly hiring students from across the board and developing new techniques to assess key qualities like adaptability, leadership and creativity – not just academic smarts.
PwC is one such employer shaking up their recruitment strategy to make the experience more ‘fair and equitable’ for candidates.
“We don’t ask for CVs and we don’t care where you studied. We care about your potential and ability, and look for people whose purpose and passions align with our values,” states the PwC website.
Transcripts have also been ditched, replaced by an online ‘ability’ test. Applicants then submit a video of themselves, before attending events at ‘Canvas’, PwC’s ‘Career Jam’.
Evidently it’s working, with PwC voted the third most desirable employer by 14,000 students in GradAustralia’s Top 100 Graduate Employers awards last night.
‘While degrees are important they are not the be-all and end-all when it comes to finding the best person for the job’, says Julie Duncan, Talent Acquisition Director at PwC.
‘We look for the best and brightest talent across all disciplines.’
Boston Consulting Group echoed this shift in priorities.
‘We look for diversity of thought and therefore value a diverse set of educational and work experiences. This means we hire individuals from a variety of degree programs,” says Recruiting Manager Jenny Webb.
‘What’s most important is that they share our values and demonstrate characteristics like intellectual curiosity, resilience, analytical rigour and an ability to work effectively in a team. Those qualities are evident in individuals from a variety of backgrounds.’
Boston Consulting Group were voted most desirable consulting company by students in the 2017 Top 100 Graduate Employers awards.
Director of GradAustralia, Jeff Duncan, says, ‘Recruiters are realising that academic transcripts are a poor predictor of long term job performance. Some are concerned that their traditional recruitment process focused on university grades is actually screening out candidates who would otherwise have gone on to become future leaders of the firm.’