Pictured above: Deloittes new graduate recruits Deepti Bassi and Matt Snowdon with graduate recruitment manager Darren Page.

More than 60 new graduates have started work at Deloitte's Birmingham office as part of the business advisory firm's annual graduate intake programme.

Deloitte recruits more than 1,000 graduates and undergraduates each year to work in its UK offices and the competition for vacancies this year has been the toughest yet.

Darren Page, graduate recruitment manager at Deloitte in Birmingham, said: "As a business, we recognise that we are only as good as our people, making it imperative that we make strenuous efforts to identify the talented individuals who can make a difference to our clients.

"We are very pleased to have 60 new graduates joining us in Birmingham as well as a further 30 at our other Midlands offices."

Deloitte has already started the application process for final year students and new graduates who are hoping to fill the firm's vacancies in 2010.

"Many students run the risk of feeling deflated and defeated by the job market before they even start to look for jobs but graduates can take practical steps to improve their ability to find and secure a job in the current market before they even start to look for available positions," said Mr Page.

"Never underestimate the importance of good research and be quick to identify areas of work that are of interest.

"Good research will often suggest areas of work to graduates and undergraduates that they may not otherwise consider themselves suitable for."

For 2010 Deloitte will maintain its minimum entry criteria, despite the increasing numbers of applications and students boasting A grades at A-level.

Mr Page said: "With so many young people gaining top grades at A-level and the increasing competition in the graduate job market, some graduate employers may be tempted to impose higher requirements for students' A-level results.

"However, at Deloitte we have decided against this, as we feel it can disadvantage some students.

"For our graduate programme we look for three B grades at A-level plus a 2:1 degree as the minimum criteria.

"While this inevitably gives us a greater number of applications to assess, we feel it enables us to judge people on a range of skills and achievements that go beyond their school grades."