War for talent pushes retention rates past 90%

The UK's top firms are keeping a tight grip on their trainees, with most City firms set to retain more than 90% of their intake during the next month as the battle for talent rages on.

Major UK firms including Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Linklaters, Slaughter and May, Herbert Smith, Lovells and Ashurst are taking on at least 90% of their trainees in the coming intake in March.

Freshfields is looking to take on 98% of its trainees, up from 92% for the same period last year. The firm offered all 48 trainees a job, with 47 accepting. Link-laters, meanwhile, has retained 97% of its 65 March qualifiers and Slaughter and May is retaining 96%.

Macfarlanes will be taking on 100% of its trainees in this financial year, with 25 taken on last September and four more starting in March. The firm is also increasing its yearly intake to 30 from September 2008. Norton Rose has taken on 97% of its trainees who qualified in January.

The figures represent the financial strength of major London firms in the current market and the efforts of human resources (HR) departments to boost their reputation among future recruits by taking on a high proportion of trainees. One HR head said: "We are always sad to see the number fall below 90%. A few years ago when firms were chucking out trainees, it had a negative impact on recruitment."

One head of finance at a major firm added: "The reality is that there is a war for talent, and firms cannot afford to let people go."

Top firms taking less than 90% include Allen & Overy and Clifford Chance, which are taking on 89% and 86% respectively.

Linklaters trainee recruitment partner Simon Firth said: "The primary driver is the fact that the market is very buoyant and there are a lot of places, which is a different position to the one we were in two to three years ago."

Simmons & Simmons and Addleshaw Goddard have both offered around 85% of trainees a job, while CMS Cameron McKenna has taken on only 76% of its 34 newly-qualified lawyers this year.

Outside London, national firms have fared less well, with Osborne Clarke, Hammonds, DLA Piper and Pinsent Masons retaining 80% or less of their trainees. However, Eversheds has offered jobs to 82%, Dickinson Dees 85% and Wragges 92%.

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