Supercharge your career: 8 hacks to boost your professional growth

By Beth Wallace

The career landscape is evolving, especially for accounting and finance professionals. Career coaches, recruiters and tech specialists offer their take on how to land a new job or promotion.

1. Uncover the 'hidden' jobs market

Recruitment specialist Richard Triggs believes people can find (and land) jobs that are not advertised, or even create new ones for themselves. His top tips? People should think about their employers of choice, identify who the decision-makers are within those organisations, then approach three every day for a meeting.

“That should result, in my experience, in somebody achieving a new job within a maximum of 12 weeks,” Triggs says.

When speaking with potential employers, he recommends jobseekers ask about “pebbles in their shoe” and how they could help to resolve them. “Solving problems and taking away people’s pain is what they want,” he says.

“If you can demonstrate that through your key achievements and transferable skills, whether that’s in an interview scenario or in a ‘Can I have 15 minutes just to ask your advice about the market?’ scenario, that is how you find these opportunities.”

2. Elevate your technology marketability

Automation is changing the role of finance professionals, but how can people leverage technology to benefit both their organisation and their career?

According to Stephannie Jonovska FCPA, chair of CPA Australia’s Digital Transformation Centre of Excellence and head of finance operations and transformation at Bluescope, people should first determine their objectives, then build some foundational skills that could be leveraged in AI use.

“Understanding the basic principles of data governance, data analytics and management; as well as some basic coding is probably the way to go,” she says.

Next, build practical capability by putting your AI knowledge into practice. “You may need to put your hand up for a particular project or solve a particular business problem,” Jonovska says.

Finally, stay current by subscribing to tech blogs, listening to podcasts, attending education events or getting a mentor. “If you want to stay relevant and marketable in the AI generation, staying curious and being a lifelong learner is really important,” she adds.

3. Get clear about what you want

Career coach Brian Klindworth says people can find purpose and joy through work in two ways: by doing something they love and by delivering impact that is meaningful to them.

Life designs and job designs are two tools that can help people discover what meaning looks like for them.

A life design can incorporate a timeline that maps out the things people want to experience, who they want to share their life with and even what kind of human they aspire to be.

A job design, on the other hand, outlines the tasks and responsibilities they can take on at work that balance what they are good at, what they love doing and what allows them to have an impact.

Klindworth says, “It’s a twofold process of defining a lot of reflective practice to get clear on the life you want to create for yourself and the job you want to create for yourself.”

4. Define what meaningful work looks like

Career fulfilment can often be found in roles that balance one’s interests and skills, says people strategist Nina Mapson Bone.

“Think about when you feel really in the flow. What are you doing when work just flies by? That’s what gives you meaning,” she explains.

Four factors determine meaningful work: the individual, the job, the organisational and the societal. “Individual” encompasses someone’s strengths, values and beliefs, while “job” is the work itself and “organisational” covers aspects such as leadership, culture and policies.

“Societal is how much the culture we’ve been raised in assigns value to the work we do and how important that is to us,” Mapson Bone says.

“Taking the time to think deeply about those different subsets and work out which levers we want to pull to create the right combination of those factors – to produce the right level of meaning – is crucial.”

Researching new technologies and enrolling in a course are two good ways for accountants to start building tech skills, says Guy Ioppolo FCPA, a member of CPA Australia’s Digital Transformation Centre of Excellence and founder of Ioppolo & Associates.

Equipped with foundational knowledge, they can start looking for opportunities where technology could add value to their workplace. “RPA [robotics process automation] is a good example of where this approach works,” Ioppolo says.

“Many vendors will provide free access to their software, identify an automation use case in your workplace, then go ahead and automate it.”

Some of the biggest hurdles accountants face when adopting new technologies are fear of the unknown and lack of technical inclination. Ioppolo believes all accountants have the skills needed to embrace new technologies. He adds, “It’s just a matter of them developing and evolving those skill sets that are not necessarily at the forefront in current roles.”

6. Think 'like a recruiter'

Knowing what recruiters look for at each step of the hiring process is key to standing out in the job market, says Leah Lambart, a career and interview coach. Jobseekers can do this by ascertaining the capabilities they need to succeed in their desired role.

“This includes people-related skills as well as the technical, and developing really specific examples to demonstrate to recruiters when they’ve actually used those capabilities previously to overcome day-to-day challenges,” she explains.

Finding a career niche and becoming an expert in that area also sets applicants apart.

“The first thing about finding a niche involves self-reflection and really thinking about the areas within accounting and finance that will suit your personality and play to your natural strengths, but also align to your interests,” Lambart says.

A real strength is something a person does well and often, but also energises them, she adds. “It’s really understanding areas within accounting that will suit you best.”

7. Discover the power of career coaching

With a job for life no longer the norm, workers should prepare for change, says career coach Zoe Badalassi, who uses the Five C Model of Career Planning to help people build a “sustainable” career.

The model focuses on context, clarity, choices, courage and community.

Context means reflecting on what someone knows about their life, such as their current job and trends impacting their industry. Clarity requires an understanding of their skill sets, as well as their values and things they love to do.

These factors dictate the choices they will make when determining the future direction of their career.

Courage is about leaning into actions that will help them achieve their goals, while community involves building a “cheer squad” for support.

Badalassi urges people to review their career plan annually and always be ready to pivot. She adds that, “Regardless of your career stage, being adaptable, being curious, and really wanting to learn and uncover new skills is essential.”

8. Network your way to a dream job

Though many people have negative connotations of networking, accountant Aditya Goel CPA believes it is no different to other social situations. “It’s simply finding people who you vibe with, who work in a profession,” he says.

Goel had a long and storied accounting career in India, but when he moved to Australia, he faced a problem many migrants encounter. “I tried the traditional way, applying on LinkedIn, Seek, emailing HRs, but again, the same answer, ‘we love you. You’ll be a really good fit, but you don’t have local experience’.”

Networking changed his prospects. He landed his current job after meeting his future boss at a CPA Australia Public Practice conference.

Goel encourages nervous networkers to relax and remind themselves that conversations may or may not lead to something beneficial to their career. “The more we build it up in our head, the more daunting it gets,” he adds.

One quality Goel thinks networkers should possess is a willingness to chat. "Show inquisitiveness. Have some basic communication skills – that will certainly help – and just let the magic flow."