Your Questions Answered - Lucy

I grew up in Ramsgate in Kent and come from a lower income background. My dad worked in a factory and my mum had lots of jobs over the years, including a hairdresser, cleaner and shop assistant. We were lucky to have our own house in Ramsgate, but it used to be one of the most deprived areas in the UK. After working very hard at primary school, I was extremely fortunate to go to grammar school, which meant I had more opportunities, and the teachers helped me to choose the right GCSEs and A-levels. My parents had never taken exams, but they supported me to try my best and work hard. At school, I took part in a careers programme that suggested accountancy might be a good option for me, based on what I enjoyed and was good at. I didn't even know what it was, but the more I researched it, the more it seemed like something I could do. My school then helped me to apply to university to study accounting and finance.

I had no idea how the world of professional careers worked, but I was encouraged by a friend to apply early for a graduate programme. I ended up joining Arthur Anderson, before it was later bought by Deloitte. After meeting someone in Global Mobility Tax, I felt like this was the best department for me to work, because I got the chance to speak to people from all across the world on a daily basis. An older partner didn't think I’d be the right ‘cultural fit’, but I worked really hard and proved them wrong. Like many people from lower socioeconomic backgrounds, I had imposter syndrome when I joined and found it hard to fit in, which I attributed to my Kent accent making me stand out. Thankfully, attitudes have changed since then, and Deloitte is a place you can fully be yourself and embrace your background.

Potentially, one of the biggest challenges for people from lower socioeconomic backgrounds is the sense of not feeling good enough. There’s no safety net in place if you lose your job and many people end up fearful that they’ll be plunged back into poverty. Our social mobility community focuses on raising awareness about social mobility, and the impacts of coming from a lower socioeconomic background. We help people in the business to understand the types of challenges that might arise, as well as advise on the support that every person can offer. At the same time, through our community activity we highlight all the positive attributes that different backgrounds can bring to the team. The community is also a safe space for people to discuss any problems they might be facing and meet with others who’ve shared similar experiences. Alongside this we focus on volunteering projects to support young people from lower socioeconomic backgrounds. For example, supporting tutoring in schools, reading support and much more. We take up opportunities to reach out to students to try and encourage people from lower socioeconomic backgrounds to apply for professional careers.

We offer a wide range of programmes, which are open to people from all backgrounds. This includes two different types of apprenticeship scheme, one for those finishing GCSEs and one for those finishing A-levels. These allow people to get paid while they train, often taking further qualifications while working for Deloitte. It means that people get the experience they need without any university debt, and we encourage internal promotions through the business.

Alongside these schemes, we offer a number of work experience programmes including ASPIRE, which is specifically targeted at people from lower socioeconomic backgrounds. We help young people to learn more about Deloitte and what we do, supporting them to make decisions about their future career. We pay travel expenses for our short programmes and a two-day fee for our more in-depth work experience programmes, so that people from all backgrounds can easily take part.

Mentorship has been really important for me throughout my career. Due to my background, I’ve sometimes felt as though I need more positive encouragement, which people have always supported me with. I found it particularly helpful to have informal mentoring from a senior colleague, who was from a similar background to me. They gave me that positive encouragement when I was doubting myself and helped me appreciate there were others like me in the firm. As part of the social mobility community, we aim to set up a mentorship scheme.