What was your entry route into CP?
I came in as a graduate after studying Accounting and Finance at Nottingham Trent Uni.
What caught your eye about CP to make you accept the offer?
CP was a company that my uni linked a lot with whilst I was studying and so I understood the company and the culture before I decided to apply for the role. The thing that caught my eye about CP was the ‘stray from tradition’ attitude. As an outgoing individual, my main concern when beginning my career in finance was the stereotype that all accountants are boring and that I would be put into a box by others or struggle to find things in common with my colleagues.
What is your role?
I’m a trainee in the Business Tax team. So, I deal with all the types of taxes that companies pay, big or small!
Why did you choose Tax?
I’ve always said that two of my main loves in life are maths and politics…for me tax is just a way to combine these! I fell in love with tax after doing a module on it in the second year of university. From this point onwards, I knew this was something I’d like to specialise in.
What is the best part of your role?
The best part of my role for me is the compliance work I get involved in. I like the fact that there is a set process to follow for each client so there is a sense of structure to the work but each client is different with new opportunities and challenges so there is always chances to learn new things.
What didn’t you expect, but are loving about CP?
I didn’t expect to have so much ownership and control over my workload which I love. It makes me feel like I’m trusted to be a integral member of the department and makes me want to work hard for the team and the firm.
What was your CP journey like from application to Induction.
It was overall an incredibly positive experience. Firstly, I filled out the questionnaire in the application form which really challenged me to think about why I wanted the job and question whether the company would be a good fit for me. Then I had a call with one of the members of the HR team which was an informal chat where I was asked some questions about me, my journey and why I wanted to join. I then had to complete an aptitude test after which I was invited to the assessment day. My assessment day was held virtually on zoom due to covid restrictions but was a really enjoyable experience, it was the first one I’d ever done too. I got a call the next day from one of the HR team to offer me the job!
From this point, I felt so supported in the time before my start date. I had a call with the Director of the tax department to help me decide which area I’d like to go into; I also had a call with my line manager so that there was a familiar face on my first day; I was also invited to all of the upcoming social events.
The first two weeks were fully induction training where I was taught the basics of what I would need to know for my job before getting stuck in. We covered tax legislation, IT software, meeting other teams and so much more. This meant that once I started working on jobs, I had the background knowledge and felt more comfortable getting stuck into things.