Proving that Dublin doesn’t have a monopoly on opportunities for growth and development

Hazel has witnessed big changes over the past decade and a half. “Today, ifac has thirty offices right around the country and is one of the Top Ten within our sector. That’s a big change from when I started off with the company. The expansion has been very steady, and the core values of the company have been maintained along our growth journey.”

"There’s massive support for you when you want to study more, or move into a different field of expertise, or take on more day-to-day responsibility. The pro-people culture that was here fifteen years ago is even stronger now, and that’s a real credit to ifac management. Ifac recruit the best, and then invest in them to make sure they can grow into the very highest level of their potential.”

“Training and development is huge within the company, and if you want to get somewhere in your career, ifac is a wonderful environment to make it happen. You can pursue pretty much any course you want, and you’re not pigeon-holed into any particular area of the business.”

Hazel is also a big fan of the hybrid working model at ifac, and believes the flexibility it provides is a huge boost to working parents in particular. With two young children of her own, aged two and four, she really appreciates the focus on work/life balance that’s apparent right throughout the company. “They very much walk the walk, it’s not just empty promises to put family first.”

One of the biggest plus points of her job, says Hazel, is the opportunity to work side-by-side with the farming community, whom she describes as ‘a breed apart’. “When they see you doing your very best for them, they are very quick to appreciate it. I don’t think any sector other than farming involves such long hours and hard work, but it’s a vocation rather than a profession, and their dedication is a source of inspiration to all of us who work with them to see them keep the land alive and flourishing.”

A final comment from Hazel is that ifac proves you don’t have to go to Dublin to work with a major accountancy firm, and “it’s wonderful to be able to live and work in the place you’ve always called home”.

Outside of her ifac life, Hazel is a big GAA fan, and loves the community feel of the organisation. “I think you’re born into the GAA, a bit like farming itself.”