Accenture

Case Study

Diversity-first approach

As the world’s largest tech consultancy, Accenture are continuously winning new work from clients – and they needed to fulfil the demand and resource projects. Due to challenges around sourcing Java and Cloud Engineers, they came to us for a solution. We decided to create a pipeline for them – and a diverse one at that. Our bespoke model enabled rapid team expansion, with individuals fully trained in the exact tech stack that Accenture required.

The Challenge

Accenture came to us at the end of 2021 with ambitious growth plans – within 3 years, they wanted to hire 3,000 technologists. The challenge they were facing was scaling at pace while ensuring the quality of their new hires wasn’t compromised by their tight deadline.

As the world’s largest tech consultancy, Accenture are continuously winning new work from clients – and they needed to fulfil the demand and resource projects. They wanted to add to their existing Java and Cloud teams, which have notoriously become candidate-short markets in recent times.

Characteristics of our solution

Due to Accenture’s challenges around sourcing Java and Cloud Engineers, they came to us for a solution. We decided to create a pipeline for them – and a diverse one at that.

We built a bespoke training course that would arm Accenture with skilled, job-ready Engineers within just 12 weeks. To provide Accenture with immediate talent in the interim, we placed 3 Engineers with them in late December 2021/ early January 2022. These 3 Engineers came through our Open Programme and were equipped with the necessary tech skills to join Accenture straightaway.

Through our bespoke marketing campaigns, we started attracting individuals from a huge range of backgrounds, many with no background in technology. We developed a tailored curriculum to ensure that our cohort finished their 12-week training course as job-ready Java and Cloud Engineers. Our team of coaches provided the necessary tech stack training, as well as teaching soft skills that would enable our Engineers to thrive in a professional environment.

We sourced 14 individuals for this bespoke training course by becoming an extension of Accenture – our in-house Marketing team provided co-branded marketing material in order to attract a diverse range of individuals. Our messaging ensured that everyone accepted onto the training course was fully aware of Accenture’s company culture and would be great fit to their existing tech team. This saved us the time that would be spent screening and interviewing candidates during a more traditional recruitment process. With our cohort fully committed to joining Accenture, there was minimal risk of dropout or offer refusal – again, saving time for our client and ensuring the process was streamlined and seamless.

After completing their 12 weeks of training with us, all 14 individuals were deployed to Accenture as consultants, with the intention of becoming permanent team members.

Outcomes and benefits

The main benefit of our solution was that Accenture were able to remain on-track to meet their growth goals. Our model enables rapid team expansion, with individuals fully trained in the exact tech stack that Accenture require. Rather than sourcing existing tech talent, we were able to create job-ready talent that were genuinely passionate and excited about joining Accenture.

Due to our marketing efforts, we were able to source quality talent across the UK, while also fulfilling Accenture’s own commitments to diversity and inclusion. By widening the net, we can source people from a much more diverse pool than recruiting from the existing talent pool – within tech, the talent pool is generally homogenous and lacking in diversity.

Number of placements and time to hire

Our cohort of 14 were deployed to Accenture in April 2022, with a view to run another training course in May 2022. The time to hire for these roles was kept low thanks to our bespoke, co-branded marketing campaigns – our efforts attracted over 1,000 applications within just 4 weeks

The initial 3 Engineers we placed were deployed immediately. Thanks to our ongoing Open Programme courses, we’re able to create a diverse pipeline of tech talent that we can assign to client projects at short notice.

D&I Stats

Of the 3 Engineers we placed from our Open Programme, we had 1 female career-changer and 2 graduates join Accenture.

Out of the 14 individuals on the Accenture cohort, a fifth are female – compared to the industry average, this is high, and represents our efforts to ensure inclusivity from the marketing and attraction stages right through to deployment.

Just under 50% of the cohort are from ethnically diverse backgrounds, again, higher than the industry average, and demonstrating the efficiency of our inclusive attraction approach.

Half of the individuals in this cohort are career-changers, and 50% are from non-STEM backgrounds. While a lot of our diversity commitments include gender, race, and ethnicity, a huge part of our focus is on improving social mobility. That means ensuring that everything we do is contributing to a more diverse workforce, namely by providing opportunities to those that may not have otherwise had the opportunity to pursue a career in tech.

Rather than simply focusing on ethnical diversity stats or on gender diversity, we also put a lot of effort into ensuring social mobility – supporting those from non-STEM backgrounds, those without degrees, and those from underrepresented and underprivileged backgrounds in pursuing their passions and kickstarting their careers in technology.

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