Getting your foot in the door of financial services can be “quite difficult” without a university education, according to HW Fisher partner, Tanya Craft.
Recounting her initial entry into financial services as an accountant, Craft recalled the difficulty to gain access to the profession at her desired level.
Due to her lack of a university degree, Craft recalled being limited in her applications and not being able to send her personal information to some employers.
“Even getting your foot in the door is quite difficult because a lot of the big firms have a tick box to assess whether or not you have a degree at 2:1 or above and I was unable to tick that box.
“I couldn’t seem to get past that, there wasn’t even an email address to send a CV to.”
Despite this, Craft gained some practice experience by volunteering at a local firm whilst she continued her search.
Fortunately, she pointed out that HW Fisher was “a bit different” as it allowed applicants to submit their information without the requirement for a degree in higher education.
“That allowed me to write a bit about my background and my ACA route rather than the graduate one,” she added.
“I’m sure that employers have to filter out a certain number of people due to the volume of applications they receive but that process did make it difficult for me personally.
“I’m grateful I found a company that saw beyond the degree tick box and could see my ambition and determination.”
Joining the industry
Before joining the industry, Craft didn’t have a huge amount of familiarity with it, stating “I knew one person in financial services".
“I attended college and trained to be AAT where I met my friend Laura who had got herself an ACA contract at a firm in High Wycombe and so she gave me some insight into the industry,” she explained.
Instead, her desire to join the industry came from wanting to embrace the challenge that it offered.
“I just thought I could do it and I wanted to prove how capable I was so I looked at the industries that required the most mental fortitude and found that they were lawyers and accountants.
“I trained law at GCSE level but I found that it just wasn’t a good fit for me, and, as I was more drawn to maths, accountancy made sense for me.”
Another motivating factor identified by Craft was when she was inspired by a neighbor back when she was a child.
“When I was very small, there was a lady who lived a few doors up from me. She lived by herself, in a nice home, and she was self-supporting. My mum said, ‘she’s an accountant’ and that stuck with me also.
“I quite liked the independence she seemed to have.”
