Scottish firm expands graduate jobs - graduate jobs

A Scottish firm of financial and business advisers has increased its graduate recruitment this year despite the tough economic climate.

Grant Thornton Scotland has employed 11 graduate trainees on its programme compared with eight last year.

Nine of them are from Scottish universities and have been at the company's training school at Bradenham Manor, where they completed their induction. They have now begun work at the firm's offices in Edinburgh and Glasgow and a further two graduates are due to take up their position in January.

The news bucks previous predictions from the Association of Graduate Recruiters, whose research showed the number of graduate vacancies down 5.4% on last year.

It also expected only 59% of graduate recruiters to take-on the same number of people this year compared to the last.

Robert Hannah, Managing Partner of Grant Thornton Scotland and a graduate trainee said: "At Grant Thornton we recognise the importance of investing in and attracting talented individuals through our modern apprenticeship and graduate schemes.

"It is vital we continue to develop and train these individuals to work across a variety of different sectors and within different teams to develop a breadth of skills."

The three year training programme will see the 11 graduates work towards their CA qualification through a combination of in-house training, ICAS training and on the job experience.

Graduates have the choice of specialising in one of five different business areas: actuarial; audit; business risk services; recovery and reorganisation; and tax.