Steps towards CV blind policies

Accounting giant Deloitte has recently made headlines with the announcement that it will no longer look at where graduate candidates attended school or university, as the company seeks to diversify its workforce. In the past such firms have been criticised for recruiting graduates from a relatively narrow pool of candidates, with research from the social mobility and child poverty commission suggesting 70% of graduates on prestigious employers’ schemes were from private or selective schools.

While the results have certainly created debate among social and political commentators, we thought the group whose views really matter are accounting and finance professionals themselves. We decided to tap into our professional network via a snap-poll on our website, and the results have been rather encouraging. 

When asked about what the impact of the new selection process would be on Deloitte, 46% of respondents said the moves will increase both the diversity and quality of Deloitte as an organisation, compared to just 8% who said it would improve neither. A further 25% said that diversity will be increased but not quality, and 21% said that it will improve quality but not necessarily diversity.

These results therefore show that two thirds (67%) of accounting and finance professionals think that Deloitte’s decision will improve the quality of the organisation, and this is a progressive and encouraging viewpoint from the frontline of the industry. At Marks Sattin we have long understood that a diverse senior management is an effective senior management, and given that today’s graduates are tomorrow’s leaders, Deloitte is set to reap the benefits of being a more inclusive organisation.