Diversity award for RBS

The RBS graduate recruitment team collected their award for the Best Diversity Initiative at this year’s National Graduate Recruitment Awards.

The initiative, driven by the M&IB graduate recruitment team, is part of the wider Bank effort to attract and retain the best female talent. It targeted students from non-traditional degree backgrounds who wouldn’t have previously considered a career in banking.

Females made up almost one third of the Bank’s total graduate intake this year and close to half the total number of interns.

"This award is great recognition from students themselves of our efforts to attract and keep more young female talent at a junior level. We’ve done a lot of work to change perceptions among female undergraduates and position banking as a viable career option."

Emily Bryant, M&IB Head of Campus Attraction

As part of the initiative, the team’s Phrases campaign:

• Targeted 12 UK universities and used networking dinners and a variety of traditional and digital channels, including an interactive Facebook page, to draw a wider female audience
• Saw more than 350 students apply for the events and 152 candidates invited. Students met Managing Directors, Vice-Presidents and current graduates over a three-course meal taken one course at a time at three different restaurants
• Built on the success of a 2010 campaign, Banking on Women, hosted by the BBC’s Fiona Bruce and which included a talk by successful fashion entrepreneur and former banker Britt Lintner
• The Bank continues to focus its efforts on building a sustainable pipeline of female talent through its school leaver and internship programmes

TV comic David Walliams handed over the prize to the RBS team at the awards ceremony in London.