Adrien Hourigan

Owning your career through every opportunity

From graduate to assistant manager, Adrien has always been one to seize an opportunity. And the broad range of opportunities she has experienced through her career at Pitcher Partners has set her on the path to discovering her leadership potential.

Adrien realised early on in her arts/law degree at Monash University that a full-time career in law wasn’t her dream. Still unsure if she wanted the routine of a corporate role or to continue in her hospitality job, the end of her studies saw her applying for a variety of graduate opportunities with some uncertainty around what she’d do next.

Adrien’s mother sent her the application for a Pitcher Partners graduate role and, although nervous, she applied and hoped for the best. Looking back, although she had little commercial experience, the positive things she had heard about the firm motivated her to apply.

“My main driver for sending through the application was based on the good things I’d heard about the Pitchers culture and the firm’s reputation from my parents. Luckily enough for me, I saw from that first interview that the stories about the PP culture were true!”

Variety is the spice of professional life

Not long after her interview, Adrien accepted a role with the Risk Services team and commenced her professional career in earnest. Now an Assistant Manager within the Risk team, the variety in her role is something that both excites and challenges Adrien on a regular basis.

“The scope of what we can cover through internal audit is so broad and it can be a little daunting at times but it also means no two days are the same, which is something I appreciate in a role.”

Progressing through the ranks

Having been with the firm for five years, Adrien’s progression from graduate to assistant manager brought with it many learning opportunities, and the understanding that career progression is not a given, but rather the result of hard work.

“I learned quickly that to progress I would need to develop my technical auditing skills and so took every opportunity to jump into technically challenging engagements. I believe that without working through those really tough roles I wouldn’t be where I am now.”

Good leaders, and learning to lead

A critical part of a rewarding career is leadership, both working with positive leaders and learning how to lead. Pitcher Partners Melbourne offers the Ascend Leadership Program which teaches valuable skills and provides budding professionals the opportunity to experience different leadership styles and better understand their leadership goals.

“’Participating in the in the Ascend Leadership Program has been a high point of my time with the firm. A highlight of the program so far has been some self-reflection on the style of leadership that I want to embody, helping me to better understand the kind of leader I want to be.”

Career advice

As she seizes opportunities and strives toward her next career milestone, Adrien reflects on a piece of advice she has received, and which helped her achieve all she has so far:

“I always try to remember that it’s “your” career. You shouldn’t compare yourself to others but also there is no one who’s going to build it for you or hand you every opportunity, you need to take ownership of it and take it to where you want it to go.”

Supporting equity at work

While it is important to personally drive a career, workplaces can support staff and in particular women by offering an equitable environment and championing equal opportunity. Staff that adapt and evolve processes to support equitable career opportunities put themselves at the forefront, and Adrien is one such equity-minded professional.

“Equity means levelling the playing field. I think a natural part of being an internal auditor is identifying and calling out practices and processes that don’t seem quite right and I work each day to consciously take that mentality and put it into practice in everyday situations.”

Explore available positions at Pitcher Partners Melbourne here. You can read more career stories in our Women at Pitcher Partners hub here.