by Rick Jacobson
From my experience as a CA, finding balance within the profession is no easy feat. It seems either you’re working 24/7 (perhaps studying for the CA whilst in the Big 4), or bored out of your mind in a business as usual (BAU) role.
If you find yourself with this dilemma, there are a few ways to tackle it. It’s important to understand there’s no quick fix here, it’s going to take time to manoeuvre your CAREER to success.
Firstly, if you find yourself bored in a “BAU” role or in a lull you’ll need to be proactive and look for the opportunities to progress your career. Make sure you put your hand up internally and spend more time developing relationships within your organisation. Spend more time at Friday drinks or having more coffee/tea in the kitchen building relationships with colleagues from different departments. Make more of an effort socially to network internally, this is where you’ll find the greatest opportunities.
Secondly, keep yourself engaged with market news in your industry. Make it a habit to pick up the financial review or industry magazine every morning and keep up to date with the latest developments within your industry. Aside from helping you find the next big innovator to join within your industry, it will give you plenty of topics to talk about with your colleagues next time you’re in the kitchen or at a work social event. It will keep you stimulated and engaged during quiet times with some relevant reading but will also help you keep up with the future of finance to get a feel for where you could be taking your career.
On the other end of the spectrum you may find yourself overworked, and struggling to find time to exercise or spend time with your friends and family. This is bound to happen at some point in your career. To avoid defeat here ensure your attitude is right, as this is a great learning opportunity for you. Essentially, you’ll be working twice as many hours as your peers and learning twice as fast. In fact, some people I meet seek out these opportunities at certain times in their career (e.g. when they are young and hungry) while others avoid them at certain times in their career (e.g. when they have young children), there’s nothing wrong with either scenario.
What’s important is to always be prepared to explore the right career opportunity, at any time. Good career management is about being pro-active. This means being ready to listen to compelling job opportunities, weighing up the options and getting expert recruitment advice to help you take control of your career and save you from making a poor career move.
For example, some roles may have the same title, and on the surface appear similar, however each role is different depending on the business and the team. The same goes for football teams where a centre forward in one team may play a completely different role in another team. Finding a trusted recruitment advisor can help you navigate these waters, and understand whether your heading into a storm or jumping on a good wave. We spend a lot of time partnering with people on their job search and the most important question about any potential job should be: do you think this role will be a good cultural fit for me? Finding the right company to gel with isn’t easy and may take time but read our blog for some helpful tips on finding the right culture fit here . The good news is that there’s a role for everyone and every situation.
Wanting to find balance and get career guidance in the profession?
If you’re looking for balance in the profession come and speak with us and we’ll work with you to define your career plan using our proprietary methodology to understand your needs and help find you the best fit.
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