Deloitte welcomes over 90 new graduates and BrightStart apprentices in Belfast

Deloitte will be welcoming 93 new hires to its graduate scheme and BrightStart higher apprenticeship programme in Belfast this year.

56 new graduates will start their careers on the Deloitte graduate scheme in Northern Ireland this year, as well as 37 new BrightStart apprentices – the highest number of new apprentices at Deloitte outside of London.

Co-created by Ulster University Business School and Deloitte, the BrightStart programme is an earn-while-you-learn apprenticeship, with the chance to gain professional and degree level qualifications.

The programme was recently ranked in the Top 100 Apprenticeship Employer list.

The graduate programme offers a permanent job with a competitive salary, benefits and endless opportunities for learning, development and progression. Graduates get to innovate and collaborate with some of the most talented people in their fields and make an impact every day on the projects they want to work on.

The wider UK firm is set to welcome a cohort of more than 300 BrightStart apprentices and nearly 2,000 graduates this year, with applications now open for its 2023 programme.

Jackie Henry, office senior partner at Deloitte Northern Ireland, said: “We’re proud of our graduates and apprentices and I look forward to meeting the latest cohort soon. Our graduates and apprentices are a talented group of people from diverse backgrounds, and they bring with them fresh approaches and ideas that will make a real impact for our clients and our firm. They will have some exciting opportunities waiting for them and we’ll be helping them to build the skills they need to succeed in an ever-changing world of work.

“Deloitte has growth plans in Belfast and both our graduate and school leaver programmes will have a role to play in these plans. Since the BrightStart programme launched in 2015, we have tapped into a vein of talent among young people, and I am always encouraged by the calibre of school leavers and graduates that choose Deloitte as the right place to begin their careers.”

Hollie McGuire, 18, joined Deloitte as a BrightStart apprentice in Belfast in September 2022. She is an analyst in consulting and first joined the firm’s work experience programme, Career Shapers, in 2021.

Hollie said: “Everyone has been so welcoming and made me feel at ease when starting the firm, which made the transition into my first full time job a lot easier. I’m so glad I chose the apprenticeship, as an alternative to going to university. I’m able to get first-hand experience whilst setting my sights on getting a first-class honours degree.”

Deloitte’s Belfast practice employs more than 1,000 people and the firm has approximately 3,000 people across the island of Ireland.

While based across two offices in Belfast’s city centre, including the Technology Studio, Deloitte will open a new office in Belfast’s Linen Quarter in the summer of 2023.

Following the acquisition of leading data and digital transformation specialists Etain earlier this year, Deloitte has created Northern Ireland’s largest AI and data practice.

Deloitte is recruiting across all services lines in the UK, including in Deloitte Digital which is set to double its headcount to 2,400 over the next three years.

This is in addition to hire over 6,000 new people into the firm’s UK Audit & Assurance practice over the next five years.