What’s your Menzies story?

Sometimes we aren’t ready to make the right choices for ourselves when we finish education.

I haven’t always been an auditor, I know – shocking, I left school and didn’t have a clue! After completing a qualification in Travel & Tourism I took the obvious step of… joining a bank?!!?

It was a good fit for me, I enjoyed helping people and worked my way up into a financial advisor role, but after 9 years I knew it wasn’t the long-term career for me and it was time for a change.

This was in 2010, when the impacts of the banking crisis were still being felt and finding a job wasn’t easy. Coupled with the fact that my ‘qualifications’ didn’t help me stand out as an ideal accountancy candidate, my chances looked slim. But I tried my luck, and a wonderful firm called Menzies saw someone that might, just might, have some potential.

Where did your audit journey begin?

I started with 2 years as an AAT student, attending college as a 27-year-old with the other trainees who had recently left college. A great bunch of guys who didn’t seem to notice I was 9 years older than them, and it was fun to pretend I was 18 again!

Then 3 years as an ACA student culminating in finding out that my wife was pregnant – 2 days before my final exams. No pressure. But all was good with the exams (and baby Oscar)!

Following this, I became an Assistant Manager in 2015 and my finance background came in handy as we launched our sectors, including Financial Services, which I now head. Fast forward a little through Manager and Senior Manager roles I was appointed a Director in November 2021.

What do you love about working at Menzies?

Menzies has been great to me, as well as taking a chance on me despite no proven ability to pass exams, they have also given me the opportunities develop myself and to progress through the ranks.

For me now the most important thing is my work / life balance, flexibility enables me to do the school run a couple of days each week (in addition to Oscar, I also now have Ivy and Bayley to keep me busy).

Managing my own time also allows me to visit the gym during an extended lunch break or start later the morning after watching the Kansas City Chiefs win another Superbowl. It’s also the camaraderie, the people I work with are always happy to stop and talk – taking a few minutes during the day to refresh your mind in this way, whether it be to moan about sport, comment on the weather or laugh at the latest fit one of our children has thrown, makes everything that little bit easier and the day that little bit more enjoyable.