Celebrating NI Apprenticeship Week!

Today we marked 2025 NI Apprenticeship Week with an appreciation breakfast with our apprentices, their mentors and their course tutor.

First year HLA apprentices Caoimhin Hughes and PJ Cassidy and second year HLA apprentice Inesa Simasiute took time out of their working days to enjoy breakfast with the team in our Dungannon office.    Elaine O’Hanlon from South West College was also present at the event.

Claire McElduff, Partner and training lead at Gildernew & Co., congratulated the students on their achievements to date. 

“Caoimhin and PJ joined us direct from school following completion of their A-levels.  Inesa joined us when she chose a change of career following 10 years working in the retail sector.  All three trainee technicians are hugely committed to their roles; they all work closely with clients, and they are continuously learning on the job”.

Speaking of their experience to date, Caoimhin shared that he has been on a mix of audit and accounts assignments in his first six months.   PJ has worked across both audit and tax return projects.   Inesa works in the outsourced payroll department and helps process weekly and monthly wages for over 2,000 personnel each month.

Just last month, Daniel Burns and Dairagh McCrory from Gildernew & Co. graduated from their HLA Accounting Technician course.  Both Daniel and Dairagh were both highly commended as top students in their year group.   They joined the firm in September 2022 and have now enrolled as students with Chartered Accountants Ireland. 

HLA accounting students are employed on full-time contracts.  They spend four days working with their employer, with one day a week during term time spent in college.  On completion of the two-year (fully funded) HLA course, students can enrol with Chartered Accountants Ireland and (subject to meeting certain criteria) can achieve full chartered accountancy qualification within a further two years.  In essence, a school leaver can be a fully qualified chartered accountant by the age of 22, with the huge advantage of no student debt at the end of their four years’ training.

For full details on career opportunities at Gildernew & Co, visit www.gildernewandco.com.