Global accountancy group PwC has taken on 44 new graduate and school leaver recruits in the West of England as it continues to grow its presence across the region.
The new joiners will be based in PwC’s regional office, although owing to the ongoing pandemic they will be onboarded virtually.
The office in Bristol is the base for more than 580 PwC staff – with the firm earlier this month announcing that it had installed sufficient social distancing measures for half of them to work there.
The vast majority of the new recruits will join PwC’s graduate programme that runs across five lines of service, with the remaining starters going on its school and college leaver programme or undergraduate work placements.
Some 42% are from a non-selective state school and more than half are from universities in the South West or Wales.
PwC West office senior partner Tom Ayerst said: “At a time when some businesses are unfortunately having to lay people off, it is great to be in the position to still offer the next generation of PwC staff a place within the firm.
“These are some of the best young talents around, coming from a range of backgrounds, and we’re thrilled that they have chosen to start their careers with us.
“While we are not immune from the effects of Covid-19, we felt it was important to honour our commitments made to people who we had offered employment opportunities before the pandemic began.
“It’s as important as ever that we continue to recruit graduates and school leavers so that we can use our own market-leading training to develop our future leaders.
“We continue to grow our presence in the region as we help businesses navigate and recover from the pandemic.”