Scheme for accountants to earn while they learn

A former NUIG Arts student and part-time waitress is helping to fill a gap in the market for accountants in the West – thanks to a change of heart and a pioneering scheme that allowed her to get paid to learn her craft!

Donegal native Roisin McFadden (24) originally moved to Galway to study for an Arts degree – but she quickly found her interests swayed to accountancy.

So now Roisin is complementing her three-year job in book accounts with the Accounting Technician Apprenticeship scheme – a funded, work-based learning programme in which locally-placed apprentices will earn at least €19,000 a year. Roisin is working with Denis Brennan & Co. in Prospect Hill in Galway.

Apprentices work in the office four days a week and study in a local college one day a week during the two-year programme, which begins in September.

“I was at college full-time and waitressing part-time. I was exhausted, but the course just didn’t suit me,” she said.

“I didn’t want to waitress for the rest of my life, so I applied for a job with Denis Brennan & Co with zero experience, and luckily, they took me on.

“When the letter for the course at Galway Technical Institute came into the office, my bosses encouraged me to go for it.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.

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