Claire Cheung - From Big 4 to Recruitment

Meet Claire Cheung - Finding Balance, Purpose, and Growth at Ambition

In this video, Claire shares her story of building a fulfilling career while raising two energetic boys, and how Ambition has supported her every step of the way.

From her early days as an auditor to becoming a Principal Consultant in our Tax division, Claire talks about the flexibility, trust, and genuine care that have allowed her to thrive both professionally and personally. Her journey is a true reflection of what makes Ambition special: a place where you can be yourself, grow your career, and still make time for what matters most.

Transcript

I am a mother of two very active and energetic boys, and I feel Ambition has allowed me to work flexible hours when and where I need it.

Hi, my name is Claire. I'm a Principal Consultant at Ambition, covering the tax space and I’ve been with Ambition for close to eight years.

What was your background before Ambition and what attracted you to recruitment?

My life before recruitment: I actually started my career as an auditor and then (that was in New Zealand) I relocated to Hong Kong, did banking for a few years and I pretty much fell into recruitment.

An old friend of mine who was in recruitment at that time, also had made a transition from audit into recruitment reached out to me and said, “Claire, would you want to change jobs still within banking?” I said, “Not really, happy where I am.” And then she was like, “What about recruitment?” And I was like, “What about recruitment?"

Yeah, I had no idea what a recruiter actually does. Hadn’t really used recruiter before.

And we went into details around the fact that it's pretty much your own business in a way. You get to go out to deal with clients. You build your own candidate base.

And the rewards from a remuneration perspective or earning potential is huge. And I think that was what really captured my interest in recruitment.

How has your career evolved at Ambition?

So, my career at Ambition: Initially, I started as a manager when I first came over from Hong Kong, managing the Finance and Accounting team.

A year and a bit in, I was in the midst of about to go off to have my first child, and at that point sat down with the MD and decided that for me personally, I think what was going to work in order to be able to focus on my family and also on my career was to move into a Principal Consultant role.

I then went off on maternity leave due to Covid, I then had baby two as well and then formally came back after two maternity leaves, which was in the space of about two and a bit years.

When I returned, I then moved into the tax team also within accountancy practice and I've absolutely loved it.

If it's a space that you're very passionate about, or maybe you start off in a space or role that's not quite for you, or you've had changes in your personal circumstance, and then you do feel that you need to shift or a change up in your role, Ambition is so willing to do so.

What advice would you give to anyone considering joining Ambition?

Understand who you're meeting with, know the background, know the roles that you're coming in for, and what Ambition specialises in.

Ensure that’s actually an area that you're going to enjoy and that you feel that you will thrive in. Because I think that's very, very important for anyone that joins Ambition.

To ensure that they want to be true market leaders within the professional services space, and Ambition will allow you to do that as well.

What do you enjoy most about your job?

The chaos, constantly being on the go. I think also the fact that with Ambition, I am a mother of two very active and energetic boys, but also I'm very career-driven, I work very hard, and I want the best of both worlds, and I feel Ambition has allowed me to do that.

They've allowed me to work flexible hours when and where I need it, which allows me to be able to go home on certain evenings, actually spend time with the boys. I think that is very, very important for me. I wouldn't want to give up either.

The good thing about Ambition is that they allow me to be who I want to be, and they really support me in that as well.

What has kept you here all these years?

The team dynamics, the people. We do have a very, very unique mix of personalities, backgrounds, even just the way we work. And I think that's what I love.

Not one person at Ambition is the same, but at the same time, we all have the same goal in mind and it's to do very, very well. And we're also there to help one another.

What training and development do you get here?

So, in terms of training, very, very comprehensive on the desk training. You'll get support from your peers, from people above you, your direct managers as well.

Also, we do have quite structured training that involves external parties coming in, understanding how we approach certain scenarios differently, even learning how to ask certain questions.

What does it take to be successful as a recruiter at Ambition?

Three key things: Passion, having a real personal touch, and being able to work quickly.

Those are the three key traits that will help you survive in Ambition and do really, really well here.

About Claire Cheung

Claire is a Principal Consultant in Ambition's Tax team, working closely with Big 4, Top 10, Top 100 and boutique practices, and specialise in placing senior level tax candidates.

View Claire's profile >

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