Foursome prepare for prestigious European placement

Students and recent graduates set to embark on yearlong placement with Deloitte Consulting in Switzerland.

In late 2015, Cardiff Business School and Deloitte Consulting Switzerland teamed up to create a bespoke placement programme offering students the chance to live and work in one of Europe’s busiest business capitals.

The selection process was competitive and challenging, designed to test the candidates’ practical and interpersonal skillset. In total, 47 candidates made it through the application round and on to the assessment centres with just four emerging with a placement offer. They are:

• Elizabeth Pescud, Business Management with Integrated Placement student
• Thomas Morgan, Economics student
• Danion Hughes, Business Management graduate 2016
• Jack Radford, Economics graduate 2016

The 1-year salaried placement, based in Zurich, will run from September 2016 to August 2017. The foursome will be working in areas such as Finance Consulting, Strategy & Operations Consulting, Human Capital, Actuarial & Advanced Analytics (AAA) and Technology Consultancy.

Deloitte Consulting is supporting the candidates with the logistics of their move, including organising suitable shared accommodation and managing the setting up of bank accounts while Cardiff Business School has helped in preparing the candidates for the placement before departure. Working with colleagues from the Languages for All programme to offer a bespoke German language short course. This took place in June and concentrated on business language and terminology.

Alex Hicks, Placements Manager at Cardiff Business School, said: “This is an exciting and unique opportunity for our most talented students to gain valuable experience in the consulting industry. We are thrilled that through our partnership with Deloitte Consulting we have been able to deliver such an attractive placement programme for Cardiff Business School students. The placement students will have many new experiences, starting with a pre-placement sailing trip being offered by Deloitte!

“This whole experience provides an unparalleled professional and personal development experience that will enhance the candidates’ skills, knowledge and employability. I wish them well and am eager to see how they progress in their placement.”

The Deloitte Placement Programme will run again this year, with the application process beginning in October 2016.

Nick Davies, Managing Partner of Deloitte Consulting, who has helped develop this opportunity with Nathan Jones, Director of Deloitte Consulting, is a Cardiff University Alumni. This partnership demonstrates the value of the alumni network in bringing opportunities to current students.

For information on the application process and placements please contact Alex Hicks.