The art of choosing your career path

Dangerous thing, qualification. Just when you expect life to become simpler, you find yourself courted by an army of employers, flattered by countless recruiters, and bombarded with a bewildering number of opportunities and seemingly endless career choices.

Do you stay in the UK? Do you spend a few sun-drenched years in Australia or Dubai? Do you opt for a dazzling career in an investment bank, or do you take that next step on the road to becoming the chief financial officer of a FTSE-100 consumer goods giant? Decisions, decisions…

For the moment, enjoy all the attention. Professionally speaking, you’ll never be more desirable than you are right now. And that’s why it’s so important to use this time to consider your options and explore the numerous opportunities on offer.

A surprising number of newly qualified accountants return to the market within 12 months of stepping out of practice. This is usually because they moved into a job that wasn’t suitable for them, or because they didn’t consider all the aspects of the job carefully enough during the recruitment process. A mistake like that can take many months, even years, to rectify and it’s a very early blot on a CV.

There’s a general truth that it’s far easier to make a bad career decision at this stage than it is to make a good one, so we’d like to share with you some of the most common pitfalls.

One-trick pony

Allowing your CV to be dominated by just one industry sector at such an early stage in your development can be an issue. Not only does it restrict your experience and exposure to key financial issues outside that industry, it creates a big problem if you wake up in your mid-40s to find that the world of, say, oil and gas no longer holds such appeal.

Employers in other industry sectors are often put off by those who have specialised too soon in their careers, and you need to be aware that you put yourself at the mercy of any industry downturns.

Looking for the next job

For the sake of your CV, you should stay in your post-qualification role for three-to-six years. As a result, you need to ensure there are enough opportunities for growth to sustain your interest for that long.

Your initial role in an organisation may be very good, but where will you move after that? Will you have to change company in order to move up the ranks? Why not ask for the whereabouts of the last two people who held that job?

Keeping up with the Joneses

I speak with many newly qualifieds who assume the only logical move for them is into the City. Their City friends are getting huge salaries and, naturally, there’s pressure to achieve a salary that is comparable to that of your contemporaries. Now, it’s true that the City offers some wonderful career prospects and huge salaries, but is it really the right move for you in the long term? Many newly qualifieds find that the City is not for them.

These issues can be avoided by making an honest appraisal of your skills and personal qualities. Are you more operational or commercial? Are you a technical guru? Are you going to be happy spending hours poring over spreadsheets in a technical reporting role, regardless of pay?

Lies, damned lies and recruiters

Generally speaking, you shouldn’t allow recruiters to railroad you into dealing with them on an exclusive basis. At the same time, treat recruiters with respect. There are some bad ones out there, just as there are some bad accountants, and a good relationship with a recruiter can grow into a rewarding partnership for many years to come. In general, try to remember the old adage about a career being a marathon, not a sprint, and it takes time to develop a CV that can be considered for top finance roles.

Budding chief financial officers, for example, need to assemble experience in group reporting, operational finance, strategy and business planning – and that doesn’t just happen overnight.

A career needs to be nurtured and developed, and it doesn’t happen without proper planning. Generally, you’re allowed one, maybe two, mistakes on a CV, which, rather brutally, gives you fewer lifelines than your usual game show, so proceed with care. l

Max Williamson is chief executive officer of careersinaudit.com

Watch Accountancy Age TV for more career advice from Williamson