Careers can take many forms and follow different trajectories and Bekkah McWilliams’ career since joining the firm shows how that can come to life, with linear moves, promotions with three different teams, and counting. Alongside building her career, she has also been involved with various side projects which have opened new opportunities. Here is Bekkah’s story, in her words.

I love the opportunity that comes from working at a firm like Grant Thornton, since joining the firm in 2012, I have had four different roles and worked in three different teams. Whether it’s from a job perspective, or in the different types on initiatives you can get involved with, if you are curious and want to learn and develop the opportunities are there. What I most enjoy is that things are always changing, and these changes bring new opportunities.

Outside of my ‘day job’, I am on our Employee Insights Group which is a great way to work with senior people within the firm and make sure that the employee voice is heard. I am also an inclusion ally, which is a really important role for me, we all need to understand and value different perspectives and become allies.

As a naturally introverted person, getting involved in these areas helps to stretch me and grow my confidence, and it really helps to broaden my internal network. I’ve worked on some really interested projects which have come about through my involvement in these groups, the latest being a project working with both GT UK and GT Bharat, developing learning materials to help the two firms successfully work together. This was fascinating and I loved getting to know my counterparts in GT Bharat.

Building my career

My first three roles within the firm were focused on Early Careers, I started in the recruitment team and recruited apprentices and graduates for our programmes, in some quite hard to fill locations. It was a really interesting role, as you got a lot of involvement with both the candidates and the business, and I loved spending time nurturing trainee talent and keeping them engaged before they joined us. When I was in this role I often sat with the teams I was recruiting for, which helped me broaden my understanding of the teams and what they did. I learned to be curious about people, and also accept that I didn’t need to be a fee earner myself to add value. Through growing my commercial awareness and bringing this knowledge and insight to discussions with the business about recruitment I could see my role was valued.

When I joined the Business School, I had the opportunity to take on a role that hadn’t previously existed, overseeing the trainee programme after they joined the firm. It was daunting to have a relatively blank sheet of paper for my role, and high expectations of what the role needed to achieve. I worked with a formidable, ex-army, leader and was promoted quickly and rewarded with a greater responsibility. My previous role had been nurturing talent before they joined the firm, so this felt like a perfect next step to then look after them once they joined the firm.

When I returned from my second maternity leave, I felt like it was time for a new challenge. Whilst I had loved the responsibility of overseeing Early Careers, I also missed the interaction with the business that I had had previously. When the role within the Technical Learning team within Advisory came up, it felt like the perfect match. I could continue to focus on learning and development but would be working with a service line again and people further along in their career. I have been in this role almost two years now, and I think the piece of work I am most proud of is working with the Public Sector Advisory team to help members of the team become accredited management consultants.

The importance of relationships

People managers and coaches have played crucial roles in my career development, and I don’t think the importance of a good people manager can be underplayed. When I was ready to move away from the business school my people manager was really encouraging and supportive of me progressing my career outside of the team. Having that support, and the opportunity, is one of the great things about the firm, if we’re curious and want to learn about other business areas or work with different teams if we’re performing well and showing that we want it, the opportunities are there. 

I’ve had two coaches so far during my time at Grant Thornton and they have both helped me through periods of change and uncertainty. The first when I returned from my first maternity leave to a new CEO, and a new manager and what felt like quite a different firm, coaching really helped me to speak up and ask the questions that were concerning me. My second period of coaching again came after maternity leave, when I was feeling unsettled in my role and my coach (and my people manager) were really great at helping me understand what I was looking for and supporting me through the process when I found a role that interested me.

Career aside, I love the culture at Grant Thornton and have received amazing support from the firm at times when I have needed it. It took 6 years of fertility treatment before I was able to become pregnant with my first daughter, and being able to be open with my team and people manager about the struggles really helped. Once I was open about my experiences, I soon found connections with others who had also had fertility challenges which really helped through the multiple scans and injections as well as the side effects and nerves.

Wherever you are in your career, I hope my story shows you the scope of opportunity available within Grant Thornton, and the support available to us all.