Build a career and qualification at the same time.
About Ben · Founder of PathwayX
I did not know this route existed. That is exactly why PathwayX does.
PathwayX is the support I wish had existed when I was standing at the beginning of the process, capable—but unsure what any of it meant.
I am Ben Glasgow, a Higher Level Audit Apprentice at KPMG Ireland, studying Accounting with Management at Ulster University. PathwayX grew from my own experience of finding a brilliant route almost by accident, then having to learn how to compete for it as I went.
Before the apprenticeship
For years, I assumed the traditional route was the only serious route.
At school, I always had strong grades and believed I would probably follow the route people expected—university, perhaps even medicine. It was familiar, respected and easy to picture. Apprenticeships were not presented to me as an equally ambitious option, so I simply did not know what I was missing.
Once someone finally made me aware of Higher Level Apprenticeships, I started looking properly. The more I discovered, the more the route made sense: the chance to earn while learning, work towards a degree, avoid the traditional student-debt route and graduate with years of genuine professional experience already behind me.
It was not an easier version of ambition. It was a different—and for me, better—way to build it.
Graduate with years of workplace evidence, not only theory.
Learn alongside colleagues, mentors and a strong peer network.
Then came the application
I had the ability. I had never seen the process.
I was suddenly expected to perform in recruitment stages nobody had properly explained. Careers teaching had prepared me to think about jobs—but not to navigate the modern corporate process used to award them.
“I still remember beginning a recorded video interview and completely bombing the very first question. I had no interviewer in front of me, no idea what a strong answer sounded like and no previous exposure to the format.”
Aptitude tests
I did not know what they measured, how time pressure changed the task or how useful practice could be.
Video interviews
I had never been taught how to structure evidence, speak naturally to a camera or recover when an answer went wrong.
Assessment days
I did not know what happened in one, how group tasks were observed or how to contribute without overpowering others.
THE RESULTEvery application became an offer.
Preparation changed everything
I learned the process—and learned how to show what I could do.
Through research, practice, honest reflection and plenty of mistakes, I worked out what each stage was really asking for. I learned how to turn school, sport, volunteering and ordinary life experience into relevant evidence without exaggerating it.
I went on to receive an offer from every apprenticeship and early-career opportunity I applied for across professional services, finance, technology and industry. That result did not make me believe the process was easy. It made me realise how much preparation can change what a capable young person is able to show.
The answer that stayed with me
Experience—every day of the week.
During an interview at a Big Four firm, I asked a partner a question: would he rather employ somebody with a degree from Harvard or Cambridge, or somebody with five years of relevant experience at another Big Four firm?
His answer was immediate: he would choose the person with the experience, every day of the week.
That stayed with me. It helped me see an apprenticeship not as a second choice, but as the route that matched how I wanted to learn and the future I wanted to build.
Why this matters personally
Opportunity should not depend on accidentally meeting the right person.
I grew up in Belfast and the local community will always have a close place in my heart. I volunteer as a youth football coach because I enjoy helping young people build confidence, work as a team and recognise progress in themselves before they always see it.
PathwayX comes from the same place. I want a student from any school or background to understand the routes open to them—and to have a steady hand on their back when the process feels unfamiliar.
Built to strengthen confidence and opportunity in the communities that shaped me.
Coaching has reinforced how far belief, clear feedback and patient support can take someone.
I still make time for friends, football and life outside work. An apprenticeship requires organisation—not the sacrifice of your whole social life.
Why I built PathwayX
“It is the support I needed when I was at school.”
I remember the uncertainty, the first difficult answer and the feeling that everyone else might know something I did not. PathwayX exists so students do not have to figure it all out alone.
I want to pass on the exposure I found late, the practical lessons I learned the hard way and the confidence that comes from knowing what is ahead. If that helps one young person see a route they might have missed—or show an employer ability that might otherwise have gone unseen—then the work matters.
Start a conversationWhat guides the work
Care first. Claims second.
Keep it practical
Every student should leave with an action, a technique or a clearer decision—not just more information.
Keep it honest
Support strengthens the student’s own voice. It never invents experience or promises an outcome.
Keep it personal
Behind every application is a young person trying to build a future. They deserve patience, appropriate boundaries and genuine care.