What subjects did you take in school and how have these influenced your career path?
In school teachers always advised us to take a variety of different subjects for the leaving certificate as this would give you a lot of options for college courses.
However I knew from a young age that I wanted to work in a business environment. Therefore I took all the business subjects available on the leaving certificate - business studies, accountancy and economics.
When the time came to pick college courses for the CAO I soon realised even if I wanted to change career path my choice of subjects limited the different courses available to me. Luckily a career in business was still at the top of my agenda.
If you are uncertain about your career I would advise you to take a broad range of subjects to keep your options open. My choice of subjects was very beneficial as it gave me a solid foundation in my area of study in college. In fact most of the topics I studied in my first year of college I had already covered in the leaving certificate.
What is your education to date?
I attended Colaiste Choilm CBS where I completed my leaving certificate.
I then completed a Professional Diploma in Financial Advice from University College Dublin and as a result I am a Qualified Financial Advisor. To complement this qualification and to satisfy an interest in this area I completed a Professional Diploma in Fraud Prevention also from University College Dublin.
I have successfully completed the Diploma for Accounting Technicians from Accounting Technicians Ireland along with two years relevant work experience.
After completing the Accounting Technicians qualification I took a break from the accountancy and completed a University Diploma in Financial Services from University College Dublin and have continued my studies further to obtain a Bachelor of Financial Service Degree from UCD which is the only part-time financial services degree accredited by both European and American Academic accreditation bodies.
What aspects of your education have proven most important for your job?
All the courses I have taken can be directly applied to my job and the organisation I work for. I suppose this is what kept the studying interesting for me as I could clearly see how what I was learning could be applied to a real life situation.
In order to pass the Accounting Technicians qualification you have to complete two years relevant work experience along with completing the exams. This gave me a chance to gain valuable experience in many areas of the company.
As I work in the Financial Services Industry the Central Bank has imposed minimum competency requirements on employees of this sector so completing my professional exams was of vital importance to remain in my current position.
Have you undertaken, or do you plan to undertake any further training as part of your job?
I believe education has changed and lifelong learning is the way forward and therefore I will continue my studies to achieve both personal and professional aspirations. In order to maintain my professional qualifications I do around 40 hours of Continuous Professional Development annually.
