Recruiters at professional services firm Grant Thornton say that its UK chief executive has given the company’s resourcing effort a major boost and sent “a great signal” by participating in the recent induction of 175 trainees.

The new joiners, consisting primarily of graduates but also including interns and school leavers, spent two days at Grant Thornton’s UK head office in London during the first week of September. UK CEO Scott Barnes addressed the full group, as well as hosting small group discussions and dinner tables, at the two-day induction.

“We are just thrilled he’s taking such an active interest in graduate recruitment and resourcing generally,” the firm’s UK head of resourcing, Samantha Weston, told Recruiter. “It’s his first year; he is clearly setting out his stall and this sends a great signal to our trainees that they have as much a role to play in what the firm is trying to achieve as anyone else.”

Resourcing professionals have long contended that successfully instilling an organisation’s philosophy and values into newcomers requires commitment from the top. Speaking to Recruiter, Barnes said he “absolutely” agreed. His message to other CEOs: “Start early. I believe new joiners take the view that one firm is much like another. It’s important that differentiation become part of the process,” Barnes said.

He went on to say that Grant Thornton was continuing to invest heavily in recruitment of entry level newcomers despite the current recession because it would be best for the firm in the long term. “We, as an organisation, put a lot into recruiting graduates and non graduates,” he said.

Weston said that the firm only slightly cut its entry level recruitment this year, going from about 200 last year to the current 175.

Barnes took on the UK CEO’s role at Grant Thornton in January. Grant Thornton has 30 offices and 4,000 employees in the UK.