Professional services firm PricewaterhouseCoopers has taken on 125 graduates as part of a 1,000 strong recruitment drive for the firm nationwide this year.

Almost half (43%) of the intake will join the firm’s financial services practices including banking and capital markets, insurance and investment management.

Sonja Stockton, head of student recruitment at PricewaterhouseCoopers, says: “For PwC it’s business as usual in terms of graduate recruitment. Competition for places is fierce and we’ve seen a 38% increase to date this year in applications to our full-time programme, and 30% increase to our internship programme.

“Graduates may have fewer job opportunities, but they still want high quality learning and development, and our April intake has attracted as diverse and dynamic a group as ever.”