Are Accounting Firms Speaking the Same Language as the Graduates They Want to Hire?

What Emerging Talent Finds Helpful, Confusing, Positive and Frustrating About Today's Hiring Processes 

Accounting firms continue to face intense competition for graduate and early-career talent. At the same time, many firms are investing heavily in graduate recruitment programmes, employer branding, assessment tools and onboarding processes in the hope of attracting the next generation of accountants and advisors. 
 
A recent report published by Unseen Group surveyed more than 800 students, graduates and early-career professionals to understand their experiences finding work, navigating recruitment processes and transitioning into professional employment. The findings offer valuable insights for accounting firms seeking to improve candidate experience, attract stronger applicants and build more successful graduate programmes. 
 
The report reveals that many of the challenges graduates face stem from a common source: uncertainty. Candidates are often unsure what employers are assessing, how hiring decisions are made, what good performance looks like, and what their first few months in a job will involve. 
 

What Graduates Find Useful and Fair 

Although 41% of respondents identified live interviews as the most difficult stage of recruitment, 65% said live interviews were the fairest way to demonstrate their strengths. Graduates value opportunities to explain their motivation, learning ability, potential and career aspirations. For accounting firms, this reinforces the value of giving candidates opportunities to tell their story rather than relying solely on testing and automated screening. 

What Graduates Find Confusing 

Only 26% of candidates fully understood what employers were assessing throughout recruitment. Many candidates do not understand why they complete aptitude tests, personality assessments, video interviews and assessment centres. Improving transparency around assessment criteria can significantly improve candidate confidence and engagement. 

The Frustrations Driving Candidates Away 

Sixty-seven percent of candidates reported withdrawing from a recruitment process because it became too long or difficult. Too many stages, lengthy assessment processes, repetitive testing and unclear instructions were among the leading reasons. Accounting firms should regularly review the necessity of each recruitment step and eliminate unnecessary complexity. 

Beyond Recruitment: What Graduates Worry About Most 

The biggest concern among both current employees looking back and students looking ahead was lack of confidence and impostor syndrome. Other concerns included workplace expectations, workload management, communication skills, building relationships and fitting into workplace culture. These findings highlight that the transition into work is often as much psychological and social as it is technical. 

What Accounting Firms Can Do Differently 

Employers can improve recruitment outcomes by increasing transparency, simplifying recruitment, providing meaningful feedback, showcasing real working life, hiring for potential, strengthening onboarding programmes and explaining workplace culture more clearly. Graduates consistently said they wanted clarity, support and realistic expectations rather than easier assessment processes. 

Final Thoughts: Getting on the Same Wavelength 

The findings from the Unseen report suggest that many graduates and early-career professionals are not struggling because they lack talent, ambition or willingness to work hard. Rather, they are navigating recruitment processes that often feel unclear, lengthy and difficult to interpret. 
 
The research consistently points to one underlying issue: uncertainty. Candidates are often unsure what employers are assessing, how hiring decisions are made, what success looks like, and what their first months in a role will involve. 
 
For accounting firms, this represents both a challenge and an opportunity. 
 
The challenge is recognising that confidence displayed during recruitment is not always the same as future job performance. Some of the best potential accountants, advisors and future leaders may be overlooked simply because they are less experienced at navigating graduate recruitment processes. 
 
The opportunity is to create hiring and onboarding experiences that make expectations clearer, provide meaningful feedback, showcase genuine career pathways and support graduates as they transition from study to professional practice. 
 
Importantly, the findings challenge the assumption that graduates are primarily seeking easier recruitment processes. What many appear to be seeking instead is clarity, support, fairness and a genuine opportunity to demonstrate their potential. 
 
Graduates are not asking firms to lower the bar. They are asking firms to show them where the bar is, explain how to reach it, and give them a fair opportunity to demonstrate that they can clear it. 

Acknowledgement 

This article is based on findings from the Unseen Group report “On Their Wavelength”, introduced by Ben Williams, Chief Scientist at Unseen, and draws upon responses from more than 800 students, graduates and early-career professionals.