How To Determine Your Value In The Job Market
As an accountant you probably know all about the options for valuing the worth of an organisation. Yet what about valuing you and your worth to a potential employer.
Chances are if you are like most people you never have even considered this question. You probably take a look at salary surveys, see what the average is for someone who seems to be doing a job something like you and assume that this is what you are worth.
While this might seem sensible and logical it kind of gives the message that you are just like everyone else. In other words there is nothing distinguish you from anyone else. If you were a recruiter or employer how willing and ready would you be to put you forward or invite you for interview. Not that ready I would suggest.
As someone from a profession, you may be reluctant to think about positively marketing and selling what you have to offer. After all it is obvious what you can offer, especially if you have your professionally qualification. Or is it?
The value is not in the qualification itself but how you take it and use it to helping your organisation to be more successful. Let’s take a few examples to illustrate this.
Working Capital
You know that you want to collect money quicker than you have to pay your suppliers and have the opportunity to invest and get a return on surplus cash or reducing borrowing.
How you add value is by designing and operating processes that make sure things run like clockwork when it comes to invoicing customers and following up unpaid invoices so that you reduce your debtor days.
Financial Planning
Knowing about long term financial planning is great. Being able to take a business plan for a division and translate it into a robust affordable financial plan is where you add value.
Automating Routine Activities or Processes
Most accountants have seen things being done that are labour intensive and time consuming. They look for ways of automating which reduced time and potentially costs of that process.
If we take this about this in the context of job applications, rather than simply thinking about what level of increase in salary say 5 or 10%, why not start to think in terms of the potential value you can bring to the organisation.
If you know you can easily add ten, fifty or even five hundred thousand to the bottom line, then surely it would put you in a strong negotiating position. It will also set you apart from most candidates who will talk in generics.
So what I encourage you to do is to broaden your thinking and start to think in terms of the value, tangible and intangible that you can bring to your current employer (if seeking a promotion) or a new employer if seeking to make your next job move.
Duncan Brodie helps accountants achieve more career success. Learn more here.
About the Author Duncan Brodie
Since 2006 I’ve worked with in excess of 8,000 accountants and professionals in workshops, seminars and one to one helping them land their next jobs and become better leaders, presenters and business partners. Before that I spent 25 years in accountancy climbing the career ladder from Payments Clerk to FD. I’m a CIMA Fellow, Certified Professional Coach and Team Coach Facilitator.