Big Accounting Firms Have Tripled Their Recruiting Budgets

The Big Four accounting firms of Ernst & Young, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Deloitte & Touche, and KPMG have all nearly tripled their recruiting staffs and budgets over the last three years. They’re using a large chunk of those funds to recruit college students for internship programs and recent graduates for entry level career opportunities by sponsoring campus leadership programs, developing a presence on social networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace, throwing beach parties, giving away spring break trips, and more.

Jean Wyer, head of recruiting for PricewaterhouseCoopers, told the Washington Post that if “you don’t reach [students] by their sophomore years, you’ve kind of missed out.” She added that PwC will “probably be in fifth- and sixth-grade classes soon.”
Hmmm. Is that such a bad idea? I’ve spoken with a number of employers who have no interest in recruiting college sophomores let alone freshmen or high school students and they’re either planning or are selling high school students on the attractiveness of working in their industry. The employers know that they can’t actively recruit a ninth grader for a position they won’t be ready to start for seven or eight years, but they can plant the seed in two ways. First, that ninth grader will be more likely to enter accounting or whatever profession the employer is pitching. That expands the pie and makes it more likely that the employer will have enough qualified candidates to choose from for years to come. That’s very strategic recruiting. Second, that ninth grader will be more likely to choose that employer in seven or eight years, especially if the employer maintains regular contact with that student and her friends.
Not enough employers engage in truly strategic recruiting. It is nice that the Big Four seem to be headed that way. Hopefully we’ll allow follow their lead.