Stephanie Hawkins | Audit Senior Manager
From receptionist to Senior Manager!
What’s your Menzies story?
I started in Menzies Solent office as the Admin Assistant in 2008. My role included greeting clients, answering the phone, opening the post, and putting everyone’s files away (this was back in the day when physical files were used, and I had to collect them all up in a trolley!). If there was a job that someone didn’t want to do, it generally fell to the Admin Assistant.
How did you work your way up through Menzies?
After a year in this role, I was offered an apprenticeship in the Accounts team studying AAT and then later in the Audit team to do ACA and become a chartered accountant.
Since then, I’ve worked my way up (at my own pace!) and am now a Senior Manager within the same audit team – albeit a much bigger team than when I started!
I wouldn’t have got to where I am without the support of everyone around me – the managers who were patient with me while I understood debits and credits for the first time, the partners who always pushed me to my full potential and the business support team who were always there to reassure me when I felt overwhelmed or just needed someone to talk to.
Everyone around me always believed in me, even when I didn’t always believe in myself, and I’ll always be grateful for that.
What do you love about working at Menzies?
All these years later, and I’m still here. The culture at Menzies is still so friendly and relaxed – management care about people as individuals and I still feel as supported as I did at the beginning of my Menzies journey.
As with everything, not every day is perfect, but I know I spend a lot of my time laughing (maybe more than I should!) and that has to be a sign of a good environment! My team are brilliant, and I’ve made some lifelong friends along the way. I also have some lovely clients who keep the job interesting!