Multinational audit, tax and consulting firm Deloitte is planning to hire 10 Bruneian graduates to fill entry-level business analyst positions for its consulting practice within Southeast Asia.
Deloitte’s Southeast Asia operation last Tuesday held a recruitment drive at Deloitte’s Brunei office in the capital, where a select 18 fresh graduates from diverse academic backgrounds were put through a day-long bootcamp.
“By building our capabilities in Brunei, we are able to use our regional expertise and draw from our global network to help the local government and businesses navigate the changes of the increasingly digital world, and become more efficient and effective,” said consulting leader for Deloitte Brunei Lee Chew Chiat (pictured below).
Lee said successful applicants would spend nine months to a year receiving training and overseas exposure, after which they would be able to take up clients in Brunei and the region.
Although Deloitte’s workforce of 60 in Brunei is entirely local, this is the first time they have held a recruitment drive for graduates in the format of a day-long bootcamp.
Participants were first interviewed and then were tasked with a case study, business writing and later a presentation to the representatives of Deloitte Brunei, Malaysia and Singapore.
22-year-old Psychology graduate from Durham University Nadia Sofie Rashid said the opportunity to join Deloitte would allow her to apply her existing knowledge in new fields and settings.
Javier Yaoda Choo, a 26-year-old Finance and Marketing graduate similarly said that Deloitte would challenge him “to integrate world news and events” and “learn about different areas outside my field of study”.
Local partner of Deloitte Brunei Daniel Ng said that if Tuesday’s drive proves successful, the firm would do more to hire graduates.
“A lot of Bruneians that come out of University are not only, at a minimum, bilingual or trilingual, they are also bright and talented and we can leverage that in the region,” he said.
Deloitte is the world’s largest professional services organization, with a workforce of 263,900 and a revenue of US $38.8 billion in 2017.
Within Southeast Asia, Deloitte has a presence in Brunei, Cambodia, Guam, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
