Fiona McLeod – Celebrating 12 Years with Livingston James

Livingston James Group’s longest-serving team member, Finance Manager Fiona McLeod, shares her story 12 years on from joining the Group as a start up recruitment business in 2010 .

Back in 2010 when I first started at Livingston James it was a bit of a shock to the system moving from a NASDAQ listed recruitment company with 100’s of staff to all of a sudden it being Jamie, Andy and I in a corner of a borrowed office on Randolph Place.

Life at Livingston James has changed considerably since that first day when one of the first tasks involved heading to WH Smith across the road to buy paper and pens for the office!  We certainly started from scratch, but it’s been fantastic to see the company grow from strength to strength since those first days.

Growing into my Role

To begin with my role covered everything from Admin and Finance to Research and Operations.  I was basically a one-women support function!   However, as the business grew and developed, so did our team and I was able to focus on my own career, choosing to specialise in Finance.

Again, this part of the job has seen its fair share of change, starting with an Excel spreadsheet to do the finances, moving onto Sage and now Xero.  I finally took the plunge and started studying for my AAT accounting qualifications at the end of 2017. It took a year longer than planned to complete as COVID struck in the final year, but I am proud to say that I am now MAAT qualified and potentially starting on ACCA at some point in the future.

Life at Livingston James

There is a fantastic culture here at Livingston James, and a real sense of friendship and camaraderie amongst colleagues. As in all organisations, people come and go but it’s testament to the good relationships and the great people who have worked here that I still keep in touch with so many former colleagues.

We have completed many corporate fundraising challenges over the years, getting everyone involved as a team and the Rob Roy Challenge in 2014 was when I first took up running.  I’m still loving it now as much as back then and last month completed my first marathon in aid of Marie Curie, which I never thought I would do.  Thanks to Livingston James I’m now fitter than ever!

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