Member Article

Manchester school leaver wins national award

Amber Westmoreland, a second year school leaver in the EY Tax team in Manchester has been named School Leaver of the Year at the 2016 All About School Leaver Awards.

Amber attended the awards ceremony at City Hall, London, in the presence of the Top 100 Employers for School Leavers in the UK. In the annual employer ranking, EY was named as the Top Professional Services firm and as one of the Top 25 employers for school leavers in the UK.

Amber’s award comes just weeks after she was named ‘Apprentice of the Year’ at the National Graduate Recruitment Awards.

Amber said: “I chose the school leaver route because I didn’t want to go to university when I left college. When I found out there was a route to get a professional job – one that I would have thought you’d need a degree for – without having to go to university, I jumped at it.”

Simon Allport, North West Senior Partner said: “This is a truly excellent achievement for Amber. She’s an inspiration to all young people, proving that there’s more than one route into their career of choice.”

The judges described Amber as stepping ‘outside of her remit’ demonstrating ‘qualities of leadership’ and ‘incredible initiative’. They said that she was proof that it is possible to succeed and excel without going to university.

Amber joined EY’s School Leaver programme in 2014 straight from St Mary’s College in Blackburn.

Future school leavers can still apply to EY’s 2016 cohort to join the firm this September.

Find out more visit the EY website to see the existing vacancies on the EY School Leaver programme.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Julia Ruane .