ICAEW Training Vacancies is a one-stop graduate recruitment solution for London-based firm Bright Grahame Murray.
Independent practice Bright Grahame Murray (BGM) has been an Authorised Training Employer for more than 30 years – and relies on ICAEW Training Vacancies to provide a steady stream of high-quality talent. The London-based firm takes on around six to eight graduate apprentices each year, mainly in audit, but also in tax under the ACA CTA Joint Programme. “I’m a big advocate of the Training Vacancies platform,” says Paul Davis, a partner and the qualified person responsible for training (QPRT) at BGM. “It’s a really useful tool.”
The firm recruits graduates under the Level 7 Accountancy Professional Apprenticeship, with two intakes each year in August and either December or January. Its roles are primarily advertised on ICAEW Training Vacancies, a free-to-use recruitment platform exclusive to Authorised Training Employers. “That’s where we get a lot of good graduates coming through,” explains Paul. “When we advertise, we probably get a few hundred enquiries a day.” It’s not only the volume of applicants that’s reliably high, he adds, but also the quality. “Our graduates are very strong, particularly in the past four or five years.”
Paul has been using Training Vacancies for a number of years now, on the suggestion of his “proactive” local ICAEW Business Development Manager. “We used to advertise on LinkedIn and things like that, but I like using Training Vacancies because it seems a bit more targeted, and the applications you get seem to be a bit more focused,” he says, adding that the response he gets through the ICAEW recruitment platform is “significantly more” than via any other route.
Having been the QPRT for more than 10 years, he is well practised in spotting promising candidates among the many thousands of applications, but he’s not looking for a specific type of person. “They’re a bit of an eclectic mix,” he says. “We don’t pick any particular university or discipline. The whole recruitment process is about getting to understand the person.” They’re not all graduates coming straight out of university, either – in the past few years, the intakes have included a publican, a Harrods buyer and a Doctor of Physics. “It’s a disparate pool of people, but it works really well for us. I think the office would be a boring place if everyone was the same.”
What’s most important is that trainees are a good cultural fit for the firm, something that Paul can only really judge from the next stage of the process: an in-person interview. “Anyone who’s got to interview stage, I can determine 99% of the time whether they’re going to pass the exams,” he explains. “In that hour, it’s what I call an open mic conversation – they can ask us questions and vice versa. You can glean more out of that personal interaction, just chatting with someone and really understanding them as a person, than you can through any tests.”
The firm recruits graduates under the Level 7 Accountancy Professional Apprenticeship, with two intakes each year in August and either December or January. Its roles are primarily advertised on ICAEW Training Vacancies, a free-to-use recruitment platform exclusive to Authorised Training Employers. “That’s where we get a lot of good graduates coming through,” explains Paul. “When we advertise, we probably get a few hundred enquiries a day.” It’s not only the volume of applicants that’s reliably high, he adds, but also the quality. “Our graduates are very strong, particularly in the past four or five years.”
Paul has been using Training Vacancies for a number of years now, on the suggestion of his “proactive” local ICAEW Business Development Manager. “We used to advertise on LinkedIn and things like that, but I like using Training Vacancies because it seems a bit more targeted, and the applications you get seem to be a bit more focused,” he says, adding that the response he gets through the ICAEW recruitment platform is “significantly more” than via any other route.
Having been the QPRT for more than 10 years, he is well practised in spotting promising candidates among the many thousands of applications, but he’s not looking for a specific type of person. “They’re a bit of an eclectic mix,” he says. “We don’t pick any particular university or discipline. The whole recruitment process is about getting to understand the person.” They’re not all graduates coming straight out of university, either – in the past few years, the intakes have included a publican, a Harrods buyer and a Doctor of Physics. “It’s a disparate pool of people, but it works really well for us. I think the office would be a boring place if everyone was the same.”
What’s most important is that trainees are a good cultural fit for the firm, something that Paul can only really judge from the next stage of the process: an in-person interview. “Anyone who’s got to interview stage, I can determine 99% of the time whether they’re going to pass the exams,” he explains. “In that hour, it’s what I call an open mic conversation – they can ask us questions and vice versa. You can glean more out of that personal interaction, just chatting with someone and really understanding them as a person, than you can through any tests.”
I often ask ‘how did you hear of us?’ in interviews. And it’s usually by either recommendations from people who work with BGM or from ICAEW Training Vacancies. That’s the first contact.
One question he asks interviewees is how they heard about BGM – and the answer is often Training Vacancies. Though a medium-sized firm with around 80 staff in total, it’s an independent partnership, so graduates tend to find it via word-of-mouth recommendations from existing staff and clients, or the ICAEW recruitment platform. Applicants soon discover that training with the firm is an appealing prospect, Paul believes, offering a broad range of experience in accounts, audit, tax, payroll and bookkeeping across the three years of the ACA. “It’s also a nice, supportive environment, and that’s important to a lot of graduates,” he adds. “Whilst they’re going to get all the requisite experience at the firm, they’re also going to get a lot of support, and I think that’s one reason why, when we bring them in and engage them, we have quite a good rate of them accepting employment with us.”
Around three-quarters of candidates who are offered a training position go on to accept it, and many stay on after qualification, too. “We have very few people leave or fail the exams,” Paul says, “and many stay with us after qualification. We’ve got good clients, good career progression, so they decide to stay with us. There are plenty of examples of that – including me.” Ensuring that pipeline of talent who can go on to become managers, partners and directors is crucial, especially as training ACAs is a significant investment for the firm.
Around three-quarters of candidates who are offered a training position go on to accept it, and many stay on after qualification, too. “We have very few people leave or fail the exams,” Paul says, “and many stay with us after qualification. We’ve got good clients, good career progression, so they decide to stay with us. There are plenty of examples of that – including me.” Ensuring that pipeline of talent who can go on to become managers, partners and directors is crucial, especially as training ACAs is a significant investment for the firm.
If we didn’t have Training Vacancies it would make the whole recruitment process quite torturous and require a lot more thought. We’d probably have to go to a lot more university fairs and get involved that way. So... thank you ICAEW.
Recruitment is also an investment in terms of time – which is why it’s so important that the process is as efficient as possible. BGM doesn’t tend to consider approaches from recruitment consultants, preferring instead to rely on the Training Vacancies platform. “If we didn’t have Training Vacancies it would make the whole recruitment process quite torturous and require a lot more thought,” Paul says. “We’d probably have to go to a lot more university fairs and get involved that way. So... thank you ICAEW.”
As it is, Training Vacancies yields more than enough quality applicants to select from. The platform is flexible and straightforward to use, too. “It’s really easy,” Paul says. “It saves all your legacy jobs, so you can edit and upload them, and you can add logos and links to your website. We tend to keep it open for a one-month window, look through the applications, close it – and then if we need more, we reopen it.” He’s always careful to include key search terms such as ‘independent’ and ‘central London’ in his adverts, ensuring the firm appears in popular searches.
As it is, Training Vacancies yields more than enough quality applicants to select from. The platform is flexible and straightforward to use, too. “It’s really easy,” Paul says. “It saves all your legacy jobs, so you can edit and upload them, and you can add logos and links to your website. We tend to keep it open for a one-month window, look through the applications, close it – and then if we need more, we reopen it.” He’s always careful to include key search terms such as ‘independent’ and ‘central London’ in his adverts, ensuring the firm appears in popular searches.
We get a good selection of interviewees to bring in, and once we’ve brought them in, we’ve got a high success rate. ICAEW Training Vacancies works for us.
For BGM, ICAEW Training Vacancies is a proven solution, saving both time and money when it comes to recruiting high-calibre ACA trainees. “As a starting point for graduates to upload their CVs, it works really well,” Paul says – and he wouldn’t hesitate to recommend it to other firms. In fact, if he has one criticism, it’s the sheer volume of applications he receives via the platform. “You do have to spend a bit of time going through them! But we get a good selection of interviewees to bring in, and once we’ve brought them in, we’ve got a high success rate. It works for us.”
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