Anglia Ruskin University (APU)

I have started looking for my placement in early September 2019. I knew I was going to be geographically restricted to the area between London and Cambridge for my placement. I was looking for placement in the human resource (HR) area, event organization as well as marketing. Although I do study HR management and would like to work in recruitment after graduation, I was keeping my mind open when it came to search for placement. I knew that this year would be a great opportunity to explore my other interests, such as marketing, and get an overall feel of how real business is being operated. I was willing to get a placement outside of the HR area if I would get real work experience and training instead of doing simple meaningless tasks. By the end of March, I was anticipating multiple offers from companies that I had over three interviews with and assessments. However, due to Covid-19, those businesses paused all hiring decisions indefinitely. Some even had to lay off some of their workforce. It was pretty upsetting, given the amount of work and effort I put into the search and interviews with assessments. Nevertheless, I continued my search and broadened the companies that I was looking at. I found this company Fathom that I have never heard of before. They were providing accounting services online and had a very good-looking product. Taking into consideration that accounting class was always my least favourite, I could appreciate that Fathom is aiming to make accounting simple and more assessable to every person. When I looked at the description of what they were offering for a placement year, I knew immediately that it would be worth applying because they covered everything I wanted from placement year. They are currently a small team of eight that had plans to hire another eight people within the next 12 months, and I could be part of this recruitment process, which is something that made me excited. They also offered comprehensive training and a promise that I would get to work with every part of the business giving me a general overview of how it is being operated. Thus, I sent them my CV and cover letter. After a few days, I received a response that they want to interview me. The interview went great, and in a few more weeks, I got an email asking to complete some more assessment and final interview. The final interview went great, and within the next two weeks, I should hear back from them with their final decision.