PwC Channel Islands welcomes biggest ever intake for Class of 2012

James Qualtrough | October 12, 2012 | 0 Comments

Class of 2012 Group Photo Jersey and Guernsey

PwC Channel Islands has welcomed its biggest ever intake of graduates and school leavers across its Jersey and Guernsey offices, including the highest ever proportion of local residents, as part of this year’s Class of 2012.

The 33 new recruits, who are now embarking on a three year training programme to gain professional qualifications, reflect a wealth of home-grown talent, including school leavers who excelled at A-Levels and local graduates with strong degrees. Amongst the new intake are also a number of high quality graduates from the UK and Europe, further enhancing the diversity of the Channel Islands business.

Over the past two years, the proportion of locally resident new recruits has increased from 39% to 48% across both islands, with a particularly significant rise in Jersey from 43% to 61% over the same timeframe.

Of the 18 individuals joining the Jersey office, 11 are Jersey residents: Andrew Franco, who joins on a placement as part of his degree at the University of Kent; Chris Young, who was educated at De La Salle College and graduated from the University of Exeter; Freddie Hilton, a graduate of Oxford Brookes University who has previously worked in fund administration; Gemma Sutton, who was educated at Jersey College for Girls and has a degree from Newcastle University; former Victoria College student James Du Val, who is a graduate of Durham University; James Le Moignan, who was educated at Victoria College and studied at the University of Sussex; Jamie Mourant, who was educated at Victoria College and had trials for Southampton football club; Katie Sprent, who completed her education at Beaulieu Convent School and is a volunteer at Jersey Hospice; Laura Cook, who was educated at Le Rocquier and completed her A-Levels at Hautlieu School; former Hautlieu School student Ruth Brooks, who is a black belt in Jujitsu; and Sarah Hassell, who was educated at Jersey College for Girls and graduated from Cardiff University this year.

A further seven recruits move to Jersey: Alasdair Mason, who graduated from the University of Reading and who lived in Singapore until he was 8; Alex Forster, who studied at the University of Exeter and previously worked for the British Army; Alex Wardman from Yorkshire, who is on a placement as part of his degree at Loughborough University; Carolyn Moore from London, who studied at Trinity College Cambridge and previously worked for Christie’s Furniture; Catherine Stuart who moves from Lincolnshire and has studied at Durham University and Jesus College Cambridge; Swiss-based Chloe Hutt, who graduated from Anglia Ruskin University; David Holland from Gloucestershire, who studied at Cambridge University.

In Guernsey, of the 15 new recruits, six are local individuals: Adele Gallienne, who graduated from the University of Nottingham in 2011; Ben Backhouse, who graduated from the University of Plymouth; Christina Sines who completed her A-Levels at Guernsey Grammar School; Jane Crittell, who has a degree from Durham University and has previously worked in the trust sector; Joe Le Page, a graduate from Durham University who has fund administration experience; and Samuel Inder, who joins on a placement as part of his degree at Bournemouth University.

A further nine individuals move to Guernsey: Alex Michael, who moves from London having studied at the University of Hull; London-resident Ayaz Ali, who attended City University; Chris Wood, who lives in Ireland and joins on a placement as part of his Loughborough University degree; Hayley Spencer, who lives in Chelmsford and arrives on a placement from Reading University; James Ross from Bournemouth, who has a Masters from Westminster University; Northumberland based Marcus Lees-Millais, who studied at Durham University; Neslihan Yildirim from Swindon who is a graduate of Reading University; Hampshire resident Rhys Flanagan who attended Swansea UW; and Samuel Ewuosho from Surrey, who graduated from Loughborough University.

PwC is nationally recognised for its recruitment approach, having been voted the number one UK graduate employer in the ‘Times Top 100 Employers’ for the past eight years. In addition, PwC recently won three Gold medals in the 2012 Brandon Hall Group Excellence Awards. Its residential training programme at Genesis Park, aimed at accelerating the development of top performing people at PwC, picked up an Award for ‘Best Leadership Development Programme’, whilst its technology platform was recognised with a further two Awards for its success in transforming professional learning.

Steve Le Page, Senior Partner at PwC Channel Islands, welcomed the new recruits:

“It’s great to be welcoming our biggest ever intake of graduates and school leavers this year, and it makes a strong statement about the confidence PwC has in the strength of the local economy. It’s a challenging business environment but it’s important that we continue to invest in talent so we can meet the future demands of clients.

“In a tough job market it’s also fantastic to be able to take on such a high percentage of local people. It shows we do have a wealth of local talent in the islands and we’re working hard as a business to ensure there are opportunities for them to build world-class careers on island with us. I’m really pleased to welcome such a strong group of individuals to our teams in Jersey and Guernsey.”