My Life in Treasury
Published  6 MIN READ

My Life in Treasury: John Chamberlain

Technology may have transformed many elements of the job, but John Chamberlain believes it also makes things too easy for junior members of the profession. Which is one reason why, when recruiting, he looks for candidates with the ability to continue learning, people who are keen to broaden their knowledge and become ‘effective and sympathetic partners’ within their organisation.

How did you come into treasury and what attracted you to the profession?

I was initially attracted to treasury through conversations with various treasury professionals. The role sounded interesting and challenging. As an auditor, my role was to check the reporting of the performance of a company whereas the role of treasurer has a direct impact on that performance so was inherently appealing to me as it felt more meaningful.

I’ve very much enjoyed making the move into treasury so, in hindsight, I’m pleased I switched.

How has your career progressed through to the role that you hold today?

My very first job was working for a civil engineering firm and included counting the number of trees on a city street – fun but I didn’t see a career in it. So, I quickly moved on from that and joined Deloitte to train as an accountant. This gave me a good overview of the corporate world and was a brilliant way to start my career proper. I also enjoyed working in large teams there as, during busy season, a strong team-spirit would often develop whilst we tried to get all our work completed in time.