Re-examining routes into professional services

With the ever-present competition for talent in the sector, firms need to attract recruits from a wider talent base to find the skills they need in an uncertain and changing world.

Increasing numbers of firms appear to recognise that more new entrants with greater diversity of life experience, and ideas, is the key to success and more and more are setting social mobility targets, alongside other diversity goals. However, there is still plenty of work to be done.

Missing out on untapped talent pools

An over-reliance on familiar recruitment markers such as exam grades or traditional university degrees means some firms are missing out on untapped talent pools and the opportunity to bring trainees from more diverse backgrounds into the sector.

Tristram Roberts, Barclays Group Human Resources Director, believes the typical screening methods used by many firms to identify talent exclude many young people facing various barriers to a career in professional services. “Firms are not going deep enough into the data about candidates to understand context, which can lead to ill-informed judgements.”

Bethany Taylor, now qualified as a solicitor at Eversheds Sutherland, agrees a candidate’s life experiences are too often overlooked: “In my case, my relationship with my foster parents broke down and I didn't get the A-level results I expected. Nobody asks why when just looking at grades on a sheet of paper.”

Apprentices

The formation of City Century, a collaboration of 50-plus City of London law firms committed to apprenticeship programmes, is just one illustration that many employers’ see benefits in promoting routes into professional services that are more attractive to young people from diverse backgrounds.

Oonagh O'Connell, Head of Human Resources at Slaughter and May, which has signed up to City Century, believes apprenticeships can boost diversity and help the sector to counter its reputation as being “a traditional environment”. She urges other firms considering apprenticeships to look at what’s worked well at other organisations.

Summing up some of the positives for employers, Lamar Mukundi, a solicitor apprentice with Norton Rose/Fulbright, says: “I use what I’m learning to help colleagues, so it’s very much a situation with two-way benefits.” Bethany Taylor, a former apprentice with Eversheds Sutherland, adds: “My employer invested so much in me, and I now have unwavering loyalty to the firm.”

The son of a London docker, former Managing Partner at BDO Paul Eagland is proof personified that there is potentially no limit to the opportunities a professional services apprenticeship can lead to. “I got all the training support I needed and when I qualified at 21, I was earning really good money compared to my friends!”

Lamar Mukundi, who is still serving his apprenticeship with Norton Rose/Fulbright, is equally positive about the benefits. “It’s a journey that gives me the continuing opportunity to grow as a solicitor – and of course I don’t have the debt of a university degree.”

“Working in practice and getting that experience is invaluable – I’ve got seven years of legal experience now, which sets you apart from other people, and I’ve been able to build a reputation at the firm that you can’t put a price tag on.” Bethany Taylor adds. As with other industry sectors, there are inevitably concerns that new technology tools will have a negative impact on professional services jobs, but Matthew Doughty argues: “You’re not going to see hundreds of lawyers leaving firms. AI is not about replacing lawyers – it’s about AI-enabled lawyers using the technology to their clients’ advantage.” He suggests professional services firms have little choice but to keep up with changing technology. While automation might slow the pace of recruitment at some firms, it’s equally possible that new ways of working will mean new types of professional careers, such as those related to AI in so-called prompt engineering.

A skillset for the future

Whatever their route into professional services, different skillsets will be required of new recruits in a world where uncertainty and speed of change is now almost constant. With artificial intelligence set to feature in shaping the landscape, Lamar Mukundi believes recruits will obviously need to be “more tech savvy”.

Paul Eagland believes the “stars of the future” at professional services firms will need a skillset that “blends IQ, EQ (emotional intelligence) and now DQ (digital quotient)” to absorb increasing amounts of data and make the right decisions for their clients and other stakeholders.

The ability to build relationships with colleagues and clients ‘virtually’ via video meetings rather than ‘in the flesh’ also seems likely to become valuable – as will the social skills required to work in teams with colleagues from diverse backgrounds and across multiple generations.

Culture is key

The professional services firms most likely to succeed in attracting and retaining talent will be those able to cultivate a sense of belonging among their employees, while also offering them the best opportunities to learn and progress.

Lamar Mukundi says trainees want to feel welcome in a workplace culture that resonates with their views, and where they can be their true self – and they want to know there are support systems in place to help them if they need it.

Paul Eagland says several consistent themes come up when he talks to staff about how to attract and retain talent: “They want a sense of purpose, autonomy and the chance to master their profession through opportunities to learn and progress.”

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