PwC adapts training as automation alters Gen Z graduate roles
LONDON, ENGLAND — PwC is implementing specialized resilience and communication training for its new graduate hires, citing concerns over eroded “human skills” in a post-COVID generation, according to a report from The Sunday Times.
PwC received a record of 47,000 applications for just 1,300 United Kingdom positions this year, highlighting an intensely competitive market for entry-level roles in professional services.
Post-Covid resilience gap in Gen Z graduates concerns PwC
Phillippa O’Connor, the firm’s Chief People Officer, stated that while recruits meet cognitive standards, “they don’t always have the resilience, they don’t always have the human skills that we want to deploy onto the client work we pass them towards.”
She linked this gap to the pandemic, suggesting it reduced the resilience typically built through earlier educational and social experiences.
The firm is responding with a dedicated curriculum in the first six months, focusing on handling pressure, negative feedback, and difficult situations.
This training aims to equip graduates to manage professional challenges, which O’Connor called a “core skill,” particularly in high-stakes environments like corporate deals, without detriment to their well-being.
The initiative includes third-party debate clubs on topics such as leadership, aimed at developing communication skills that some graduates may not have encountered.
Automation and slowdown squeeze graduate consulting roles
The launch of enhanced training occurs against a backdrop of a paradoxical graduate employment landscape in professional services.
While applicant numbers have surged—PwC saw a 35% annual increase to 47,000 applications—the actual number of positions has contracted, with the firm reducing its UK graduate intake from 1,500 to 1,300 this year.
O’connor notes that this surge reflects both the high value placed on such roles and the “reality of [there being] more graduates than roles.”
An industry slowdown exacerbates this supply-demand imbalance. “Activity is improving, but it’s still far removed from the levels of investment, hiring, and deal-making that we saw immediately after the pandemic,” said PwC’s UK and Middle East boss, Marco Amitrano.
Moreover, more automation is replacing the work that juniors once performed. As such, other companies, such as PwC and Azets, are initially targeting graduates with stronger soft skills, as advisory roles require greater client-facing skills, confidence, and a non-technical approach.
PwC’s program highlights a sobering new reality for the next generation: as automation absorbs routine tasks, the entry-level toolkit is being redefined from day one around psychological resilience and advanced interpersonal skills.
