Firms must develop talent now to prevent a longer-term management skills crisis across the UK, according to Samantha O’Byrne head of resourcing at accountancy firm Grant Thornton UK.

O’Byrne told Recruiter: “The recent increases in the number of unemployed 18-24 year olds is worrying for the government, but we must be careful not to put graduates off applying for jobs altogether. We do not want to fall into the trap of the last recession and be left with a dearth of candidates for management positions in a few years time but instead we should be committed to training those entering the job market.

“Finding the most talented hires is always a difficult task and in a saturated market it is particularly challenging. Grant Thornton hires a substantial number of graduates across our 28 offices in the UK and globally and we have also been running a school leavers scheme for several years.

“Our school leavers come from a mixture of backgrounds and we’ve seen many of them excel on the scheme and go on to manage their own teams, carry out international secondments and attain professional qualifications.

“There is no doubt that a significant investment is required in these hires, but the benefits outweigh the costs.”

For more from O’Byrne, see the latest issue of Recruiter, out Wednesday.