So, you are finishing up with school, armed with a suite of respectable exam grades and ready to start your new life as a professional. Great!  There are so many options for getting a head start on a professional job, that it can be quite daunting. Whilst there are many students continuing full time education in further or higher education, there are significant benefits in joining a school/college leaver programme such as JC Futures.  

Directly into the profession: The benefits of JC Futures 

The Virtuous Circle: formal and on the job training 

If you are focused and know that accountancy is for you, the school leaver route gives you the best of all worlds. You get formal qualifications that help you progress in your career. At the same time, you are building up your commercial work experience, honing your skills and knowledge. The work that you are undertaking in formal training is directly relevant and applicable to the work that you will be doing day to day with your work team. There is the opportunity for reinforcement in the technical areas and practising throughout your training. Most crucially, you’re using your burgeoning expertise and making a difference in the world from the get-go.   

There is no doubt however that working full time and studying alongside it can be a demanding undertaking. You are likely to have to invest some personal time in maintaining good progress in your studies as well as your work requirements. This requires you to take responsibility for your learning and study independently. Lifelong learning and managing your time are both highly sought after skills for your whole career.  

Professional and social networks 

Completing a training period in a professional services firm such as Johnston Carmichael allows you to build a varied professional and social network at different levels. You will have a strong peer group, many of whom may become part of your social circle. These people will have also left school or college recently and are embarking upon a career in the firm. You will gain support from them as you work on client projects or complete your studies. 

Most of all, you will find yourself a whole new circle of friends! There are lots of things to get involved in at the firm that allow you to meet new people. We have social committees in many of our offices that host events, such as month end get togethers.  These can involve an outing or an update on what is happening around the offices with refreshments.  We have lots of sporting activities to energise you, so do sign up if you are football player or a runner. If your sporting interest is more of the armchair variety, there are a variety of sweepstakes for sporting tournaments. 

Finally, many of these activities allow us to raise money for charity too.  Be tempted by the delicious home bakes on sale or get on the stationary bike for distance challenges! Our largest charity event is with the Kiltwalk as gold sponsors. The social and sporting activities add a real sense of community and fun to our offices. Add in some of the informal get togethers that happen as part of office life, and you will soon find your social calendar full. 

During your working week, you will be working closely with a whole range of other professionals and experts to assist your development and build up your network. You will learn from the best in the firm – from those that have experience you will need to complete your tasks, right up to the top experts in the field. Imagine how powerful it is to learn from the best on the most pressing business issues of the day. 

It is not just in the firm that you have the opportunity to build your network, however. You will also build professional relationships with your clients, working alongside a wide range of businesses as they achieve their objectives. You’ll get to know all sorts about a huge variety of sectors and work with them to achieve their goals.  

You will be building up a whole suite of soft skills and developing as a trusted advisor. This variety and relationship building will prepare you for a successful career ahead.  

A world of opportunities 

And where your career takes you is your choice. At Johnston Carmichael, we let you grow your own way. Working in a thriving practice means you meet all sort of different businesses in your day to day, and there could be an opportunity to develop a specialism in your preferred areas. After all, every single entity that we encounter day to day requires an understanding of finances. That means you can combine interests in finance alongside expertise or understanding in other areas that may interest you. Happy about horse riding? Follow Football? Grand gourmet? Additionally, accountancy regulations are global, which makes international opportunities available. A varied and interesting career is possible, especially if you go into an accountancy practice such as JC.   

Get in touch

If you would like to know more or apply for our JC Futures Programme,  you can do so here.