The following article was written by Aonghus Cody, Recruitment Director at Darwin Hawkins, exploring career milestones, self-awareness and how they shape your next professional decision.
Career Milestones and Why They Matter
“Matchmaker, matchmaker make me a match, find me a find, catch me a catch” Fiddler on the Roof
Finish School, pass driving test, finish college, first job, professional qualifications, second job.
6 career/educational milestones listed (driving test you ask? Yes, you never have to sit it again once through – it’s a milestone!) Most would agree they’re important markers as your career begins to develop and evolve.
“You can’t have one without the other” Frank Sinatra famously sang. This is true for these markers, albeit you can live without the driving test. As they feed into one another, how you have performed in each of them will appear on your CV.
The academic pillars will be presented on your cover-page – yes, a good leaving cert, degree result, professional qualification. This is what any prospective hirer will look for.
Why are we stating the obvious? By the time you’re speaking to us or reading this, you’re likely approaching second job/next job decisions.
Unfortunately, we can’t retrospectively help you pass your leaving cert. We can’t tell you to skip that night out and attend lectures to push your 2.1 to a 1.1 and that “Future you will thank you for this”
Yes, in your first job if you’ve entered the milk rounds and filtered through to a practice, you will be relatively indistinguishable (a good word in scrabble) from the other perspective graduates who enter this process.
Unlike the “hotshot” graduates we see in TV or movies, the accountancy practice route is a bit more generic (sorry practice overlords).
All you can do to distinguish yourself on top of your pre-existing grades, first time passes of professional qualifications, is to receive good ratings internally. Bit of politics required for this, pick your battles etc.
The Second Job Junction: Knowing Who You Are
Once you’ve completed your contract you arrive at a glorious junction, the precipice of a new dawn “second job”
Now it’s important to know who you are.
WHO ARE YOU?!!
Different people will think they’re different things. Self-awareness, that old chestnut. Nobody would like to be thought of as not being self-aware.
The opposite of that is self-unaware or conceited. Can you get up the ladder with this approach? Yes. Is there a limit to how far one can go? In my opinion, yes, but like anything touched on this article, this is based on a life of observation, if you don’t agree, feel free to power on in the aforementioned, self-unawareness.
Awareness – understanding your environment and who you are. It’s hard to get there. We’re always moving forward, always seeking the next horizon, always looking to progress. All the while, we are evolving (well, hopefully evolving!)
When we reach our second job junction - do we know who we are?
Are we comfortable in our own skin to admit what we are? What looks back at us when we look in the mirror in the morning when we brush our teeth?
Labels, Honesty and Commercial Reality
In the world of accounting, people view themselves in different prisms;
“I’m an accountant” “I work in finance” “I’m very commercially focused” “I work in P/E” “I have a helicopter view” “I’m in the weeds” “I have visibility to x”
Whatever it boils down to, you need to know who you are and read the next words with caution
Be honest with yourself.
Are you an accountant? Yes, fine. Don’t be ashamed, per Google
“58% of FTSE100 companies now have a chairman or CEO with an accountancy or finance background”
Percentage’s really make it sound better.
Are you working in finance? Covers all matter of sins, so Yes - can sound a bit more mysterious.
Are you very commercially focused? Are you? Be honest. Definition below;
Commercial focus. Show a keen interest in your organisation and its performance. Identify and focus your attention on people issues that impact on business performance. Prioritise people practices, opportunities and risks that drive sustained commercial success and value for people.
Is that you? During your career to date, has this been the focus of your role and existence.
If yes? Proceed and tell the world about it.
If not? No problem. Adjust your expectations. Know thyself. Maybe you’re a commercial candidate who is one move away from a commercially focused role.
Choosing the Right Environment
How do you get there? The path isn’t always linear, but it is well-trodden. Ask yourself some more questions;
Does this company offer progression – linear or within other teams in the company? What does my direct line manager do? Do I want their job? Do the people I work with allow me to be myself and flourish?
The last question links back to self-awareness (knowing me). In my opinion the most important thing you can get in any role is to work in an environment where you are able to be the best version of yourself and able to thrive.
This doesn’t mean it’s a gentle environment without challenges. No, this is an environment where you push yourself healthily.
An environment that suits your ambition;
Do you want to progress every 18 months? Do you want to be CFO or FD or Partner? Do you want to be pushed to the pin of your collar regularly? Do you get satisfaction from “the grind”?
Yes, yes, yes, yes – go for it.
Judge the person who is meeting you. If they don’t provide that level of opportunity don’t go there, or don’t go there and complain 6 months in that it’s too stagnant.
Maybe you’re in a different place in your personal life. Do you need work-life balance? Have you got external commitments? Do you want to work in a non-pressurised/less-pressurised environment? Does flexibility/highly hybrid matter?
Yes, yes, yes, yes – guess what? Go for it.
You might be shocked but if you read the paragraph 2 previous, the advice will be the same. Judge the person, do they provide the opportunity that aligns with you. Self-awareness etc.
Why We Exist: Knowing You
This sounds daunting. All your milestones have been hit and yet here you are at a critical juncture making a decision alone.
NOT TO WORRY.
We are here. Here to know you.
It’s why the song goes “Knowing me and knowing you”
Knowing you doesn’t mean I know your pps number.
Knowing you doesn’t mean I’m whatsapping you Monday evening to go to the cinema.
We are here to know your personality. Here to know what makes you tick. To understand what you are and who you are.
We’re not here to force a round peg into a square hole. Our clients won’t partner with us if that was the case and you won’t either. We’re here to know you.
Know if you’re “commercially focused”, know if you’re ”crawling in the weeds” or “floating around in the helicopter”.
Why do we need to know you so well?
So, we can align you with the right opportunity.
The Matchmaker Philosophy
We are the matchmaker. Here to making you a match in a non-dating app setting.
Match you to the right client and the client to the right candidate. Once you’re there, it should be the beginning of a harmonious relationship that last’s long into the future. (not a dating app tagline)
What qualifies us? ” Why are you the matchmaker?” You ask.
No, we are not all-knowing and conquering. Yes, we have been on your path, hit those milestones and come out the other side.
We’ve seen the movie before, we watch it daily, multiple times a day, thousands of times a year. AWARENESS.
Awareness means we can understand your personality, understand what would best suit you, what would put you in a position that will allow you to succeed.
You may ask why? Why do we really want you to succeed? Would it not be better to just get anybody into a role and move on?
No, not for us.
Our business is built on connections. Friends who become clients, clients who become friends.
We’re not selling insert generic product. We’re matching personalities.
Why do we have your best interests at heart? Ireland is too small to have an unhappy candidate and an unhappy client. The knock-on effect is not worth considering.
As qualified accountants who work in finance (you see what I did there) we’re better positioned than most to understand you, the client, your career’s potential journey and where it can go.
Know Me, Know You
Know me, know you.
Do I know me before we go?
I’ll happily admit to being a below-average auditor (apologies Deloitte readers) with an awful penchant for clicking into messages and reply in my mind without put text to screen (apologies to anyone who gets two blue ticks but no response)
Next time we’ll tackle some other existential crisis.