My time at College was a lot of fun and majorly prepared me for university by helping develop my ability to independently work and have autonomy, social skills and time management. I chose a mixture of “sensible” subjects with ones that I enjoyed at school. I found Maths the hardest: I loved it at GCSE but the step up to A Level was tough and it felt like I knew nothing and was starting from scratch!

Having always thought I wanted to be an accountant, when I got to university my 18-year-old self couldn’t deal with the reality of it. I’d worked hard to get there and felt I had to make things work, not just flunk it. Fortunately, I had a good relationship with my lecturers and approached them to see what my options were when I knew I was not and could not be an accountant. I explained what I enjoyed, completed my first year and – because this wasn’t officially assessed – successfully planned a move onto a different course studying Financial Management with Business.

It was through this that I first became interested in a module on corporate governance which is the regulation and laws to which a company needs to adhere to remain legal, and win trust from shareholders, customers and employees, all whilst ensuring they’re acting responsibly. Big companies take it very seriously as they want to ‘do the right thing’ and protect their reputation, and I wanted to be part of that. The final piece fell into place at a Careers Fair in my third year, where I found out about the role of Company Secretary, and I decided that’s where I wanted to focus.

There were two main routes in at that time: graduating with a law degree and finding a trainee role at a company with graduate salary and paid exams while you work, or doing an Master of Law in Corporate Governance and Law, where you graduate fully qualified and have an exemption from all exams going forward. There are only about 10 universities where you can do that in the UK. Nowadays, there’s a third option – an apprenticeship route via the Corporate Governance Institute.

I chose the MA because frankly, I wasn’t ready for my university experience to end. I felt like I needed to focus in on something less broad than financial management, so I knew exactly what I wanted to apply for when the degree was done. Completing this in 2020 meant that my exams were replaced with coursework plus a 15,000-word dissertation. It was tricky doing this during the pandemic, but it did give me a brilliant focus! I loved being taught by professors who wrote the very textbooks that I was reading – they were so passionate about their specialist subject.

While I was studying, I did jobs in admin and retail, which were both valuable work experience that helped me flesh out my CV and secure interviews. After four attempts, I was successful in an interview for a Company Secretarial Assistant position with Tesco and hugely enjoyed living in London for the first time. I was promoted there but after a couple of years, M&S got in touch with me about a role. I went on to learn so much about corporate culture and governance there but ultimately had achieved what I could and wanted more progression opportunities.

I’m now with a company called GPE, a London-based property development company listed on the London Stock Exchange. It’s very different from the retail and supermarket world and a much smaller office, but I’m enjoying being able to action feedback and influence change. I was recently promoted to Assistant Company Secretary here at GPE and I am proud and pleased with the recognition. Despite the recent promotion, I feel I’ve still got lots of room to grow and develop in this role, and that’s hugely important to me.

If I had any advice, it would be to start build your network on LinkedIn – connecting via friends and family in the first instance while you find your way. Message people that are in the role you aspire to be in, have a chat with them and find out about their career path. Building your network is key to finding your first role and any conversation could help to open that door.

Georgia Rogers

Reigate College: 2014-2016

Higher Education: BA Financial Management with Business and LLM Corporate Governance with Law, University of Portsmouth

Currently: Assistant Company Secretary, GPE