Dylan: fast tracking to success
I trained in public sector audit and knew that I wanted to move into commercial audit. I was torn between Grant Thornton and another large firm. What swayed me, in the end, was I knew a few people who worked at Grant Thornton, and they told me it was a good place to work with a good culture.
When I met a partner to discuss a role, I got that same impression. You don't always get that, and it indicated that the culture was as good as I'd heard.
Life in audit
Working in the audit department, the most enjoyable thing is the team ethos - that everyone is all in it together. It's pretty rewarding when everyone completes a project to a high standard and everyone reaps the rewards.
Beyond that, I enjoy the relationship aspect of the job. You get to build relationships both internally with the team and externally with clients. There's a personable side to it that I enjoy.
I think a lot of people may not realise that not one day is the same as the last in audit. We have a lot of variety in terms of the clients we work with, so we could be working with a large business one day and a small business the next day, and anything in between.
That means there's a variety of challenges and issues that can occur at any moment, which makes things interesting and keeps it fresh.
Going beyond
Since joining, progression was always important for me. It wasn't available for me at my previous company, and when I met with a Grant Thornton partner to discuss the role, it was clear to me that progression was on the table as long as I did what was required.
Ever since, they've been true to their word. They gave me exposure to the things that I needed to do in order to develop and progress, so looking back, that definitely helped in my promotion.
When I was first made a manager, I was exposed to our largest client locally, and given responsibility for managing that job.
The wider activities that staff can get involved in are also good steps to take for someone who wants to move up the career ladder, because not only do you gain the experience and learn loads of different things, you also get the exposure to different individuals and build a network within the firm.
So, for example, people have the opportunity to run training, help with the implementation of new projects, internal reviews and projects... Just a wide range of extra-curricular things that can add to the day job and increase someone's skillset.
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