Cherry Professional

Six months ago I drove past the KPMG office in Leicester and said to my husband - 'this is where I want to be!'
Six months later I found Cherry Professional - and my career dream has come true!

My name is Sameea. I was born in Leicester but moved at a young age to Zimbabwe, where I was raised and educated. Having selected Accounting as my career vocation, I started ACCA in 2007 successfully graduating as an ACCA affiliate in 2009. Marriage brought me to England in March 2010, where my successful career progression experienced a setback.

After taking a few months off to acclimatise to my new environment I got busy applying for jobs and registered with almost every recruitment agency in the region.

I was told I had a brilliant CV and presented myself extremely well but with no UK based experience my skills were less marketable. I was persuaded to try starting out with a smaller practice and working my way up to a Big Four firm, taking on temporary roles in the meantime to obtain UK based experience, but all these opportunities meant I would be taking my career backwards.

I had found Cherry Professional by chance browsing job vacancies, and emailed across my CV with the usual optimism. I didn't expect to receive a call that very same day. Simon Gray a Director of the business saw great potential in my CV and wanted to know more about my career plans. I certainly didn't expect the response I was about to receive as two days later, Simon rang me to say - 'Sameea, how would you like to interview with KPMG next week?'

Cherry Professional listened to what I really wanted and made it happen for me; no excuses, no setbacks and no delays. What Simon did next showed me that Cherry Professional are not only the best at what they do, that they have a real passion.

I had very little interview experience in the UK and Simon not only took the time out to meet with me but also shared his 'classified top secret' interview success tips and coached me on how to react to competency based interviews, which was a new experience for me. He even mock interviewed me twice over the telephone before my KPMG Partner interview.

I received a text from Cherry Professional before each interview telling me I would do great! Because they believed I could do it, I believed I could do it too!

I have now started with KPMG and am loving my new job and am extremely grateful to Simon and Cherry Professional for making my career dream come true.