Next on the blog we have Callum Anderson.
Please get in touch if you wish to share your story ‘after Heriot’s’.
What is your current role?
I am a Law Accountant, I work with law firms assessing their private client files and produce a fee for them to charge their clients, this involves mainly executry work.
What was your journey to get there?
During my final year at school, I received an unconditional offer to study Business Management at the University of Edinburgh, which I accepted. My first year at university was during Covid which as you can imagine was a very challenging environment to learn and have the typical university experience. After the first semester of my second year at university I made the decision to leave, as I felt it wasn’t the right path for me to take. I started to apply for apprenticeships, eventually accepting a role with KPMG as an audit apprentice in their Edinburgh office, this role took me all over the country, even flying out to Stornoway in the middle of December. After around a year in the role, I still felt like this wasn’t what I wanted to do and by having this experience I knew what I wanted from a job and my future career. I joined Alex Quinn and Partners’ soon after as a Trainee Law Accountant and more recently completed my training and have been promoted to a Law Accountant.
What are your achievements?
Throughout my time at Heriot’s, rugby was a huge part of my everyday life, and I am very proud in where I was able to go in the game, representing Edinburgh region from U16s all the way through to U20, and being lucky enough to have represented Scotland at U16’s playing for the Scotland Reds.
More recently after leaving Heriot’s I won the National 1 league with Heriot’s Rugby Club, earning promotion to the Premiership, this success led me to signing my first semi-professional contract with Heriot’s Rugby Super 6 and continuing on for many seasons.
Professionally, I am most proud of not settling for an environment that didn’t make me happy, which meant I couldn’t get the most out of myself and my learning opportunities. As a young adult who is very early on in my career, I felt like it was critical for me to be in a place where I was able to get the most out of myself and my job.
What are your favourite memories of Heriot’s?
One of the main things I look back on at my time at Heriot’s is all the school trips and opportunities that I have been so lucky to have experienced. Whether that be getting to go to Holland in Primary 7 and visiting the Airborne War Cemetery in Arnhem or the London and Paris trip in S3, or even spending a couple days in the Cairngorms on a Higher Geography trip. They are all memories and experiences I will look back fondly upon.
Any top tips for current pupils when planning their future?
From my own experience the best tip I can give a current pupil is not to follow the crowd, only you know how you learn, only you know what works for you. So don’t feel pressured into thinking you have to go the traditional route and go to university and get a degree, as it’s not the only option. I know I learn best by having hands on experiences, in which I am learning on the job, yet I did what my peers and everyone else was doing and went to university as it was the expected thing to do, especially from a pupil at Heriot’s. I would highly recommend just having a look at what else is out there, as you never know what opportunities there may be for you.
