Talent pools
We are very aware that we need to recruit from a diverse pool of people to meet the needs of clients and employees and to reflect the diverse nature of the UK. We want to attract talented young people to the firm and need to cast the recruitment net widely to capture this diverse cohort of recruits. We have learnt that for a number of reasons people don’t always achieve the grades they aspired to, but could still have the business skills and attributes we welcome at Deloitte.
One way in which the firm ensures no talent is missed is through the Deloitte Micro-Tyco Student Challenge, which is run across schools and universities in the UK. The Challenge was started by one of Deloitte’s Social innovation pioneers, WildHearts, who run the competition nationally. All the money generated from the challenge is used to fund microfinance schemes in some of the poorest countries around the world, for example, offering women who are trapped in poverty a small loan to start their own business.
Micro-Tyco student challenge
The premise is simple; turn £1 of seed capital into as much money as possible in a month, by any legal means. In 2012 several teams from Deloitte entered the national competition with one team generating £52,000. While everyone involved had a great deal of fun competing against one another, we saw the challenge as an opportunity to identify highly motivated and entrepreneurial minded people who want to make a career for themselves at the firm. The challenge is now run as part of our graduate recruitment programme.
There are numerous ways a team can generate money. In this year's challenge, the team from Nottingham University immediately boosted their seed capital by buying a book of raffle tickets for £1, and then persuaded family and friends to donate prizes. They also capitalised on Chinese New Year by cooking a dinner for friends and receiving red pockets of money in return. The team also used skills they already had and offered Russian and English language classes on campus, charging £20 per lesson. In total, they raised an impressive £2,507, which pushed the grand total from schools and universities across the UK to £31,700 this year.
Each team during Deloitte’s ‘Micro-Tyco Student Challenge’ is offered a business support coach from the firm, who provides business advice, workshops and networking opportunities to help the teams invest their pound wisely and make it grow.
Building future relationships
As well as generating money to support the work of WildHearts, the winning teams are offered work experience with Deloitte. The students learn about the numerous opportunities available and the different ways they can apply to work at the firm such as the graduate programme, BrightStart and the summer vacation scheme. In addition, employees at Deloitte benefit from this relationship as they work with the students to learn from their entrepreneurial spirit get a different perspective on problems and offer inspiration to students who may not have considered a career in professional services before.
We believe in recruiting talented people regardless of background. If a person has the right skills and attitude, in addition to entrepreneurial spirit, we want them to join our firm.
Whilst this is specifically happening at Deloitte, do you think a scheme like this might work well for your company?
Rolls gave us his five top tips when sourcing and tapping into the right talent for your organisation:
1. Keep your current people engaged and positive – there’s no one better to advocate for your firm
2. Make the most of social media – don’t be shy about coordinating your campaigns
3. Be proactive – LinkedIn has changed the recruitment landscape
4. Be open to possibilities – great talent can come from many sources
5. Never stop innovating