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More than just a number at RSM

Engaging, dynamic and inclusive: these are just some of the adjectives used by participants in the RSM graduate programme to describe their experience in the top financial firm.

Next month, RSM’s annual graduate programme opens its doors once again to a new raft of applications from those interested in working with the company in 2020. And if feedback from graduates is anything to go by, demand for places is likely to be high.

Take Jessie Brannigan for example; a graduate of University College Cork (UCC) in Commerce, she joined RSM in 2016 on a six-month work placement. Two years on, she has re-joined on the graduate programme as an Associate working in Consulting.

“What has surprised me most about working at RSM is how varied the work is,” she said. “Every day, I am doing something different. On a Monday morning I do not know what I’ll be doing even by Monday evening, which I love. I feel that would be very difficult to get in another company. When I tell people what I do each day they are genuinely surprised at how diverse my workload is.”

Heading up this year’s graduate recruitment campaign is Paddy Stapleton, an RSM Tax Director who specialises in tax planning and structuring for foreign direct investment. Stapleton said the RSM graduate programme has much to offer participants who are afforded a wide and varied insight into the running of a global firm.

“For me it’s the story of a medium sized firm – we have just under 200 employees – giving our graduates the opportunity to work closely with international clients and our senior management team across a diverse range of consultancy projects,” he said. “We are not just looking for graduates coming from an accounting background. I didn’t come from that myself. We are looking for graduates from a wide range of disciplines such as business, accounting, finance, engineering, law or science. A diverse range of graduates brings fresh ways of thinking into the organisation and a broad range of skillsets that ultimately allows us to add more value to our clients.”

Stapleton added that personality and a good worth ethic were very important in suitable candidates.

“We look to see that graduates have a consistency in terms of their academic records and that they have work experience in some field which shows they have a good work ethic,” he said. 

RSM is a powerful network of audit, tax and consulting experts with offices all over the world. It is an independent Irish-owned firm with its head office in Ranelagh, in Dublin. In the last two years, the firm has grown significantly, and increased revenue over the last two years by 40 per cent to €22m. 

Stapleton said that opportunities are rife within RSM for graduates and applications for a place in the coveted programme can be applied for online.

“It is an online process and from there graduates will be called for interview. We’ll be at graduate fairs in universities and the GradIreland fair in the RDS so we’ll get to meet with graduates and tell them about life in RSM and what their typical role as a graduate would be. We’re looking to recruit 16 or 17 graduates in total across our service lines - audit, tax and consulting. We’re looking for dynamic and motivated graduates who want a career in a growing organisation and who have an appetite to develop their career at RSM.”

Cillian Sheanon, one such graduate from University College Dublin (UCD), is 11 months into his contract as an Associate with RSM and believes being proactive is the key to learning as much as you can from the wide and diverse business transactions within the company.

“I knew that I would learn a lot and would have a lot of responsibility, but I am surprised about how much responsibility I have been given,” he said. “It makes the work very enjoyable when you’re being tasked with problem solving and getting things done yourself. My top tip for new graduates is to be proactive. There’s an awful lot of learn if you are.”

As seen in the Sunday Business Post, 25th August 2019.