Mace has changed the degree grade requirements for its graduate programme as part of an effort to attract a more diverse group of young people into the business.
Previously the firm has demanded would-be entrants have a 2:1 or above but this has been lowered to a 2:2.
According to its latest published figures, 38% of those on Mace’s graduate development programme are women while a further 30% of its apprentices and trainees are from an ethnic minority background.
The firm is also looking beyond the traditional subjects such as civil engineering or quantity surveying for its trainees and is instead looking at graduates from non-construction backgrounds.
A spokesperson for the firm said: “We want to be the most inclusive employer in our industry and for our 2022 graduate intake we removed our 2:1 academic entry requirement to offer opportunities to people from more diverse backgrounds, who are passionate about pursuing construction and consultancy careers.”
“We believe that widening our net will help us reach more talented young people who are equally able to demonstrate that they have the drive and transferable skills to deliver major projects and programmes around the world.”
Last September, the firm published a diversity and inclusivity strategy which aims to achieve a number of targets hit by 2023 including improving its gender and ethnicity pay gap by at least 5% year on year, increasing the number of new hires from black and ethnic minority backgrounds by 5% and increase the number of female new hires by the same figure.
At the time, Mark Reynolds, chief executive at Mace, said: “The construction industry has tolerated prejudice and unconscious bias for too long. We cannot continue to be successful unless we are able to draw on a genuinely diverse pool of talent and expertise.”
Image credit: Gorodenkoff/Shutterstock
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