THE further easing of lockdown restrictions has sparked another major recruitment drive at business advisory firm Grant Thornton.
The Belfast office has experienced continued growth during the pandemic, adding 45 colleagues to the team over the last 12 months.
But now Grant Thornton is seeking to recruit again at all levels across its audit, tax and advisory departments.
The new roles include associate directors and managers in VAT, corporate tax, corporate finance and corporate recovery; seniors and administrators in audit, with further roles in the economic advisory and people and change teams.
The firm's Northern Ireland managing partner Richard Gillan said: “There were obvious challenges brought about by the coronavirus pandemic and the economic lockdown that followed, but 2020 was another record year for Grant Thornton.
“We experienced relentless growth, particularly as we worked with organisations on their response to Covid and preparation for the implementation of the Northern Ireland Protocol.
“And now we are witnessing a further significant increase in activity with the sense that businesses are gearing up for growth as they see the economy gradually returning to normal.
“Whilst there are still significant sectoral challenges, the continued success of the Covid vaccine programme, combined with forecasts of a wave of pent-up consumer demand that will jumpstart the economy, help ensure that hope and optimism abound.”
With revenues having increased four-fold over the past five years, Grant Thornton advises many of Northern Ireland’s largest corporates.
Richard added: “We are very focused on our culture which helps us attract and retain the very best talent, in turn securing fantastic new clients and delivering the right results.
“In our recent annual staff satisfaction survey, more than half rated the firm as ‘nine or ten out of ten’ when asked how likely they were to recommend Grant Thornton in Northern Ireland as a place to work.
“Staff like the fact that we are not a ‘back-office’ function for London or Dublin, and they like that decisions around their career progression are made locally. We work hard, but we have great fun doing it.
“Our ever-expanding client portfolio means that we are hiring on an ongoing basis, but we have a particularly wide range of opportunities at the present time across our audit, tax and advisory disciplines. If you are an ambitious professional with lots of energy, then we want to hear from you.”