The Journey of an Accountant to Finance and Accounting Recruiter
Where do I begin? Nearly 20 years ago I kicked off my career journey as a keen international undergraduate. Coming out of school with dominant interests in sports and very little else, it took a fateful visit to an Australian Careers Fair in Bangalore where I met Dr. Chris Patel of Macquarie University to shape my future. When asked what Business degree I would like to major in, he soon followed with “why don’t you try Accounting? It’s very popular with the kids these days!”. Now that was a red flag if there was any, putting ‘accounting’ and ‘popular with kids’ in the same sentence is about the same as putting ‘Donald Trump’ and ‘Humble’ together. But I went with it. What’s the worst that could happen?
Fast forward 20 years, and here I am. Accounting and Finance has given me so much. Working in Audit & Assurance, I found every client to be a completely unique experience. Most were warm and friendly; some were lukewarm, and some put us in a tiny room with the air-con on high to try and freeze us out.
After many years auditing and advising, the appeal of making an impact in Industry drew me in. At Vodafone, I was privileged to work in several roles within Financial Control, Finance Business Partnering (FBP) and the Networks Team. It was fascinating to be a part of the transition from 4G to 5G and experience a merger of two Telco giants.
From here, a unique opportunity took me into the world of start-ups! A space which always intrigued me, I simply couldn’t resist the opportunity to drive profitable growth, at an exciting scale-up business, renting beer kegs to craft breweries in ANZ. The day Sydney went into COVID lockdown in 2021 was my first day on the job! Not surprisingly, managing cash flow, tracking burn rate, managing suppliers and stakeholders held court until we completed our capital raise in a tough market.
Being exposed to a wide range (type and size) of businesses got me thinking. As the world changes rapidly around us and the work landscape continues to evolve, our needs have changed too. Long gone are the days that one comes to work just for a pay check. For a job to be compelling, it needs to tick many boxes.
Covid has also changed the working landscape with Hybrid working models, flexibility and supporting wellness adding tremendous value and now critical criteria for attracting and retaining the best talent.
This has widened the gap between the best talent and the approach taken by many businesses to find and retain them. The thing with market gaps is, they also bring opportunities.
With the experience gained and relationships built over the years, I decided to help bridge this market gap.
So, after working at the scale-up for the past two years, here I am at AXR, specializing in CFO portfolio recruitment (Finance, Accounting, Commercial, Transformation and BI).
Greg Madden and Greg O’Shea, “the Gregs” as they are known by, are rarities in the industry. They have a formidable combination of extensive networks, experience, expertise, and humility. Having built AXR together over the past 20 years, their ethos of focusing on building careers, building teams, and putting the customer first resonated with me. They have grown the team organically and developed a culture based on care, integrity, and teamwork.
Being on the other side of recruitment has been eye-opening. After seeing the variety and volume of ongoing roles, tapping networks, reviewing applications, phone calls, emails, and meetings, I have greater empathy and respect for those that do the work with professionalism and decency. Every role comes with its own challenges and opportunities. You can see the reward in delivering a successful career outcome for the individual and talent for the client.
Taking these early learnings on board, I’m invigorated to face this challenge, and excited to grow the accounting practice in the Information Technology & Communications sector at AXR.
If you would like to start your career journey or have a confidential career conversation, please feel free to contact Kunal or another of our specialist accounting and finance recruiters today.
Or you can visit his page HERE.
