Hugo Khorsand graduated with a first in BSc (Hons) Accounting and Finance in 2021 and is currently Head of Operations for Housr – Path, via a Graduate role as Finance Executive at Bruntwood. He faces new challenges every day in his current role, but the grounding he gained throughout his time at Manchester Met means he has the skills to navigate those challenges. 

Hugo spoke to me about his time in Accounting, Finance and Banking, including the highs and lows of placements, societies, and dyslexia. Over the next few weeks we will feature updates from Hugo about these areas of his student experience. All of which show how he makes the best of situations, even when the unexpected happens.

Hugo on Placements: My Placement allowed me to understand what I did and didn’t want to do. 

I spent a year in NHS Auditing. It taught me how to talk to people in the workplace and question things in the right way. Because I learnt to work in a professional way, I understood how things should be done. I was improving procedures and doing testing; to do that I had to develop interpersonal skills, learn how to question in the right way and get things done on time with the correct recording. It also helped me know what to look out for in my exams, which actually helped me to get better grades in my final year.

Pretty quickly I realised Audit was not for me – I would 100% recommend a Placement to any students who get a chance to do one though. I did enjoy getting real-life corporate experience. I took those skills, experience, and knowledge and made the best of it. Like in life, you don’t always get exactly what you want, but my way is to get as much out as you can! Even though I knew this wasn’t the route for me, I gave it a try and used what I’d learnt to look for a something else.

Even though the year showed me that I didn’t want to work in Audit, these skills really focused me and improved my understanding of why things were taught to us, this helped me smash out my final year and be much more motivated with Accounting and Finance.

If you’re an AFB student looking for a Placement, take a look at the AFB and Economics placements padlet Opportunities for AFB & Economics Students (padlet.com)

Join us next week to read about how Dyslexia is Hugo’s superpower!