Ashton's success story: Securing an Industrial Placement with Grant Thornton

Ashton is a Finance: Management with Industrial Experience student at the University of Exeter. He secured an Industrial Placement with Grant Thornton in Cambridge, through Bright Network. 

First, please tell us a little bit about yourself.

"Audit wasn't my first choice of industry, but if I had to start over from the beginning, it definitely would be up there now! Growing up I wanted to be a footballer but soon realised I was a much better referee than a player! I didn't particularly know what I wanted to do so I decided to move away and go to univeristy and experience being more independent. I was motivated to take on more of a numbers based role as I missed the mathematical side of things from college and wanted to challenge myself in a new industry."

What motivated you to apply for your role?  

"Where do I start? The culture seemed like a fantastic fit, the way the company have a global presence and operate in over 150 countries. They pride themselves on being curious and challenging the status quo, and the fact that they are an early mover in AI adoption and are one of the first ever in the industry to take on Private Equity Investment. The position itself is in Private Capital Audit so it requires an added layer of diligence and scrutiny; as the companies we audit don't publish their information publicly."

What was the application process like?  

"I was genuinely surprised by how smooth and efficient the application process was at Grant Thornton. They always kept me informed about what stage of the hiring process I was at and I received coaching calls to help prepare for the next stages."

What was your applicaiton journey like? 

"I prepared quite extensively but with how competitive getting a placement is, you really have to. I reached out on LinkedIn to have a coffee chat with associates and even managers who work at GT to understand the business. There are lots of websites out there to practice and simulate numerical and verbal reasoning tests and they were helpful too. I was nervous about most stages but its all about being yourself. Being confident, polite and aligning myself with the company with real life examples were feedback points that I did really well in."

What are you most proud of about your journey?  

Like many students, with applications, rejection is inevitable and difficult to overcome. It's all about persistance and not being too down! If one door closes another opens! When I finally overcame this and tailored my applications more it felt amazing when I got the emails saying I had advanced to the later stages!

What have you learned from going through the process?  

"I learned that hard work really does pay off! After lots of rejections all it takes is one yes! With GT it was by far the smoothest application process I had. I wish I had applied sooner to GT."

What are your tips for people looking to follow in your footsteps?  

"The incremental really does amount to the monumental! Try and set a target for an application each day or block out 3 hours once a week in an evening to fully commit to research and hirevues etc. Try and make each application better than the last and take your time in tailoring your CV to a company's specific values. Try  and find one key fact/figure about the company that no other candidate would bring."

Tell us about the future. What’s next?  

"I'm looking forward to making an impact this year with my quality of work and getting involved in joining the social committee to plan our fortnightly socials. I would love to secure a return offer and qualify as a Chartered Accountant which the firm support you with. I'm hoping to learn and develop by being curious, asking lots of questions, being the first in the office and not being afraid to talk to Directors, Partners and even the CEO!"