Thankfully, the firm did a fantastic job of spelling out the “value” of the change in plans. A spokesperson from the firm told us:
We have recently offered 10 Melbourne graduates 2-3 year secondments based in PwC’s Sydney, Perth and Brisbane offices. It is a great opportunity for these graduates to take their career forward and work in key areas of the firm across Australia.
Sounds valuable indeed. Sign up for a career at PwC in Melbourne, purchase a house as both a metaphorical and tangible affirmation that your career has started and you’re where you want to be in life, and just a few months later find yourself with a “great opportunity” to go interstate or into the jub-hunting wilderness.
Well, today we can reveal that PwC is at it again. This time, its the 2012 graduate cohort who are about to receive a great opportunity. We received the following intel from a PwC spy earlier this week:
PwC Corporate Finance have deferred their 2012 graduates by 6 months.
That’s a change in plans alright! A spokesperson from the firm sent us the following response (thanks very much to PwC for responding):
PwC is in the process of confirming start dates with graduates. Normal procedure is that all graduate contracts have an indicative start date, which is confirmed within two to three months of commencement. PwC has a rolling commencement program to ensure that graduates have the best experience possible with the firm and one that is in line with business and client needs. Like most organisations at the moment, given the volatile economic conditions, PwC is reviewing the start dates for a small number of graduates in some practice areas.
In fairness to PwC, it is true that market volatility is affecting staff utilisation across the Big4 and the deferral of grad start-dates is clearly a more palatable option than what we’re seeing unfold across town at KPMG. Time will tell whether PwC also pulls the redundancy lever, however we hope that given its FY 2010/11 revenue of $1.43billion at PwC (up 14.7% from FY 2009/10) the partners exercise considerable restraint before making wholesale changes.
On the topic of value derived through change, we reeived the following tip-off yesterday:
page 5 of the Fin. Half page ad for PwC with a HUGE spelling error. (Bought/Brought).
Damage to brand or how to create value?
We’ll go with the former. Underneath the picture at the head of this post was the following text:
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Who cares about a spelling error. We spend all day caring about that for work.
On the other hand letting pwc off, or even going softly on them, by comparison to KPMG is poor form. As pointed out in the article, they’re making very tidy profits. That’s the core point: if you can’t afford to hire people, don’t promise them jobs (even if the offer contains weasel words). If you have to promise them jobs because you want the best people, follow through and hire them. Maybe the partners can take a six month deferral on their profits instead
That isn’t a spelling error. The Mining team literally paid money for a fresh approach and different perspectives to their ideas….
Agree @ Really?
Seems like a soft touch compared to the recent KPMG post… where people are CHOOSING to take redundancy or part paid leave.