Whilst in her final year Madeleine was undecided in terms of whether she should apply to graduate jobs or go travelling. She applied to the Career Mentor Scheme in order to get more guidance and career advice and was matched with the director at the Old Mill Accountancy LLP. This mentor has had a varied career within accountancy, working in different sized organisations and both in and outside London.

Madeleine found the Career Mentor Scheme really helpful. It helped her improve her confidence and make the decision to apply for graduate schemes. She developed her interview techniques and learned more about what is good and bad about the industry. She also developed her commercial awareness significantly.

What did you find most useful from the mentoring experience?

The thing I found most useful was what I learned about the accountancy sector. My mentor explained to me about the huge range of challenges facing the accountancy sector which meant that when I got to the interview stage of my assessment centres I was able to really impress the interviewer.

What message would you give to a student thinking of applying for the Career Mentor Scheme?

The mentor scheme is a great opportunity to get a deeper insight into a certain sector that you are interested in. What I learned from my mentor was very useful when I got to interview, as I had more of an understanding of challenges facing the industry. I discussed my professional experiences with my mentor which helped me develop my responses to competency questions and we also discussed the importance of and methods for becoming more commercially aware.

“By debriefing after interviews/assessment centres, I helped her to understand how employers view things and to refine her approach. She succeeded in getting a job offer from the best of the firms that she had applied to, which was a great result.” – Madeleine’s Mentor