Allen & Overy has confirmed that it will be keeping on 84% of its March 2014 qualifiers. 45 of the 49 trainees who are due to qualify applied to stay with the firm. Jobs were offered to 42, and all but one accepted.
It's a better showing than September 2013, when six of the trainees who were offered places declined to accept them, and the firm posted a retention rate of just 72%. It's also up on March 2013, when only 70% of the qualifiers were kept on.
But the percentage figures don't give the full picture. While the numbers retained are up on the previous intakes, for sure, it's not by much - 41 as opposed to 39 in September and 38 last March. And the reality is that the size of the intakes themselves have been falling over the year. 49 trainees are qualifying in March next year, but 53 qualified in March 2013.
The firm has been systematically reducing the number of graduates it takes on: at the height of the boom it took on 120 trainees a year, it now takes on 90 and in 2015 the number will fall to 85. A&O isn't alone in this however, with Clifford Chance for example reducing its annual grad rec from 120 to 100. Larger firms seem to be taking on fewer graduates but retaining more of them on qualification. Which makes a lot of sense, even if it's not the best news for job-hungry students...
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It's a better showing than September 2013, when six of the trainees who were offered places declined to accept them, and the firm posted a retention rate of just 72%. It's also up on March 2013, when only 70% of the qualifiers were kept on.
But the percentage figures don't give the full picture. While the numbers retained are up on the previous intakes, for sure, it's not by much - 41 as opposed to 39 in September and 38 last March. And the reality is that the size of the intakes themselves have been falling over the year. 49 trainees are qualifying in March next year, but 53 qualified in March 2013.
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A trainee at A&O feeling pleased with himself yesterday |
The firm has been systematically reducing the number of graduates it takes on: at the height of the boom it took on 120 trainees a year, it now takes on 90 and in 2015 the number will fall to 85. A&O isn't alone in this however, with Clifford Chance for example reducing its annual grad rec from 120 to 100. Larger firms seem to be taking on fewer graduates but retaining more of them on qualification. Which makes a lot of sense, even if it's not the best news for job-hungry students...
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Assuming your figures are right (and we can't know unless A&O confirms or denies them), then those 2 trainees weren't forced to take the jobs, they obviously chose to. One banking or corporate department at A&O will be much like the other banking/corporate departments, so the skills and work are interchangeable. I reckon good on A&O for letting people shift around departments to maximise their chance of a job.
The real test will be whether this 84% is a blip and A&O returns to the low 70s next time round, or whether their policy of reducing intakes will mean the retention rate stays high.
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And reducing intakes should mean the number stays in the 80s or 90s - but retention rates aren't everything