It was a privilege to be joined by such an outstanding panel of guests, with a wealth of experience between them in the financial industry, at our latest ARCH careers event.
Last Thursday we were delighted to have representatives from Deloitte, the London Stock Exchange Group, Grant Thornton, Ernst & Young and James Cowper Kreston join us at The Abbey.
As an ARCH event, our students were joined by pupils from over 12 other local schools. They all gained a hugely valuable insight into working in finance and accounting, entry routes, and how to make their applications stand out.
Members of our panel shared their career stories and advice in the Richards Hall, before we broke out into the Upper School Dining room to give students the chance to ask questions and talk further with all of our guests.
Our panel speakers were:
- Anita Grant – Deloitte UK – Partner, UK Equity & Incentives Leader.
- Nicola Uniacke (Abbey class of 2001) – London Stock Exchange Group – Risk COO
- Susie Barton – (Abbey class of 2017) Grant Thornton LLP, Mergers and Acquisitions Manager (Corporate Finance)
- Katie Dallimore-Fox – Ernst & Young, Assurance Partner
- Samantha Hall – James Cowper Kreston, Senior Audit Manager
- Sarah Pearce – Student Development Manager, James Cowper Kreston
- Eloise Lloyd-Baker, Tax & Legal Brightstart scheme at Deloitte.
Our break out sessions were supported by further specialists, including Abbey Alumnae, and member of Deloitte’s Brightstart programme, Annabelle Garthside (2022 leaver).
Our panel host, Mr Morton, started off by inviting Anita Grant to share more about her 20 years experience at Deloitte. Anita’s main focus is working with global companies, helping them to create, implement and navigate their share plans across the world. She spoke honestly about not getting the A Level results that she’d hoped for, but not letting that stop her from pursuing her goal to work in finance. After proactively chasing a place at Hull University, she came away with a First and worked at different financial companies, including Ernst & Young, before joining Deloitte and a job that she loves.
She spoke passionately that “Resilience and bounce-backablity” are key attributes for success in finance and shared that at Deloitte assessment centres they are looking, “for a spark”. Anita encouraged students to, “be really engaging, authentic and try to make yourself stand out!”
Abbey Alumnae Nicola Uniacke (Class of 2001) described how her career pathway has included working at Price Waterhouse Cooper, Prudential plc and M&G plc before joining the London Stock Exchange Group as Risk COO.
Nicola explained more about the role of an Actuary and how they use mathematical skills to assess risk and uncertainty. It turns out that her role was predestined right here at The Abbey. Aged 13 she sat a careers test at school which said that she should become either, “A landscape gardener or an actuary!” She had a love of maths while at The Abbey and went on to study it at Imperial, where the role of actuary came up again and she decided to explore it.
It was powerful to hear Nicola say, “don’t be afraid to take risks. Some of the best career moves I’ve made were when I’ve taken something that’s put me outside my comfort zone, and actually, they’ve been the jobs I’ve enjoyed the most.”
Susie Barton, another Abbey Alumnae (class of 2017), talked about working as a Mergers and Acquisitions Manager at Grant Thornton LLP next.
She knew that she wanted to get into finance after babysitting for a lady who worked for Ernst and Young who said that if she loved math, then she should think about it.
Knowing that you don’t have to get a degree linked to finance to go into the industry, Susie decided to study Biochemistry at Bristol University which she really enjoyed. After graduating she joined Grant Thornton, “A medium sized version of Deloitte and Ernst & Young” and started on the audit team on the graduate scheme.
Susie shared that “auditing gave me a fantastic grounding in finance and was a great stepping stone to merging and acquisition – a branch of investment banking.” and described her job as, “really fascinating. I think one of the things I love most about it is that I’m learning every single day.”
Katie Dallimore-Fox, Reading-based Assurance Partner at Ernst and Young, wanted to debunk the assumption that you have to be really good at maths to work in finance. She asked, “Can you read people? Do you have good emotional intelligence? Do you care about people?” and said that “if you can relate to people, you’re onto a great thing being an auditor”.
Katie turned down an offer from Oxford University to study economics and politics at Bristol. She felt this was the right decision for her and encouraged students to think about the right path for them and understand that there are other ways into finance than university. Katie then chose to qualify as an accountant in a smaller tier firm, before making Partner at Ernst & Young just 10 years later, “I think it gave me more grounding to hold my place at the table starting at a smaller firm. I needed to see it from the roots up to feel I was good enough.”
Our next guest speaker was Audit Senior Manager at James Cowper Kreston’s Reading office, Samantha Hall. Samatha was interested in finance and figures from a young age and knew it was the career for her. After studying geography at Loughborough University she decided it was time to pursue her accountancy qualification.
Samantha decided to apply to a smaller company as she wanted to be, “Exposed to partner conversation”. Now at a mid-tier firm she enjoys that, “everyone knows your name” and she still has that exposure to partners. She explained that she is “responsible for over 100 clients and every day is different, my role is very varied. Building relationships with clients is the most rewarding experience.”
Her colleague, Student Development Manager at James Cowper Kreston, Sarah Pearce, then gave an invaluable insight into what they look for in applications.
Sarah said, “Strong GCSEs. Strong A levels. Core skills – Numerical ability, attention to detail, communication skills, teamwork and IT skills.” Communication was reinforced as a key attribute along with the need for, “resilience and time management.”
It was interesting to hear that work experience does not need to be directly linked to the industry. Skills such as teamwork and communication can be displayed through extracurricular achievements, fundraising and ways that demonstrate drive and motivation.
Sarah’s top tips for standing out? “Show enthusiasm for learning and the profession. Demonstrate resilience and adaptability, prepare for interviews, and don’t overuse AI. We’re looking for potential, not perfection”
Eloise Lloyd-Baker achieved a successful application to Deloitte’s Brightstart Apprenticeship programme in 2023. Eloise shared that she was unsure if university was right for her and had been told that, “some of the Big Four offer apprenticeships where you can study, get paid and get a qualification.”
Eloise clearly loves her job, her passion and enthusiasm shining through when she spoke. When asked if she feels like she’d missed out on the ‘university life’ experience Eloise explained, “I get my weekends, my annual leave and I have money to do things with them. You do miss a ‘party all the time’ lifestyle but you can find a balance. I find lots of fun and I’ve been on some amazing holidays this year – and I can do that as I’m earning. I don’t think that doing an apprenticeship means you miss out on having fun. You get to come home thinking I’ve done something good today and I got a pay cheque.”
It was no surprise that people had plenty of questions for such a fantastic panel, who delivered such a varied insight into so many aspects of the finance industry.
After a huge round of applause, our panel and guests all moved to the upper school dining room to network, ask questions and talk one-to-one with the experts. There was a fantastic atmosphere as students delved deeper into the areas that interested them.
We are so grateful for all of our guests giving up their time to inspire the next generation and sharing such valuable advice.
