January 2022

My path to Vercity – Patrick Hamill, Commercial Director

My professional career started as an auditor at what is now RSM UK. I completed my exams and qualified (ACA) in 2009. In the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis I opted to stay in practice after qualification, which gave me exposure to a broader array of clients and the chance to gain experience leading teams. I worked with a number of clients in the construction sector, which would prove useful when I moved to Vercity.

In early 2011 I was offered a Finance Manager role at what was then HCP, on the assumption it would be a first step outside practice and into a typical accountant career path. Things didn’t progress that way though (as part of which I learnt the idea of a typical career path is a myth). The development available at Vercity, and the people I’ve been lucky enough to work with, have given me the chance to grow within the business.

Rewarding and meaningful experiences

Vercity has given me a number of rewarding experiences. Among those, I think that moving from my role in finance to the world of operations in 2013 opened the chance (and need!) to learn about many things I wouldn’t have done otherwise. That added different perspectives and approaches – seeing the same issues from different angles.

Growing professionally

Vercity has a culture of helping people to develop and I’ve been able to benefit from that. It’s a culture that flourishes because the people in the business are genuinely committed to investing their time in helping others. That’s not just in formal appraisals and training courses but in the day to day through feedback and coaching interventions.

I’ve had the opportunity to develop my professional skills and experience, but also to learn more about myself and I’d like to think that is something that has helped me outside my career as well.

 Collaborating at Vercity

The business is involved with large, complex multi-stakeholder projects. That means it has a substantial array of skilled individuals to help deliver those projects and success means they all need to work together. Working in cross-discipline teams is the first part of that collaboration and is a rewarding one. There’s then a need to look at the other stakeholders in the projects and find the right way to work with them – you may not always agree but if you can find common ground and mutual interest then there are ways to work together.

Outside the project delivery there’s the various corporate functions you’d expect from an organisation of this size, and the way that Vercity has embraced ESG activity and diversity initiatives mean there are always people you can collaborate with, whether that’s working on carbon tracking or as part of a charity dodgeball team (although I’m not sure how effectively I contributed to that!).

The people at Vercity

Above everything else I’ve always found the people at Vercity to be helpful and supportive; everyone always has time to help their colleagues and there’s a real focus on shared success. Vercity is a people business, and the people are what makes it work.

Patrick is Commercial Director for Project Exit at Vercity.

Careers at Vercity

To find out more about developing your career at Vercity, visit our Open Positions page, or get in touch here.