Once in a while I speak to accountants who are anxious about their career to date.
Specifically that the sector they have worked in for a while may well be restricting their chances of moving forward in their career.
It’s easy to understand that feeling, especially if you are finding it a bit of a struggle to move to the next level in your career.
You may get into that negative rut of believing that the choices you made previously were the wrong ones.
I see it slightly different.
In my view there really no better or worse when it comes to things like:
- The sectors you have worked in.
- The size of business you worked in.
- The type of roles that you have done.
It’s just different.
Chances are you were attracted to a particular sector for a reason.
I worked in the NHS for a large part of my career.
Not a sector that was necessarily the best paid or with the best benefits.
On the other hand you felt you were part of an organisation that everyone would access in some way at some point in their life.
Whenever I walked down the corridor in a hospital or went into A&E or a ward I could see exactly what was being delivered.
Equally the size of business that you like to work in varies from person to person.
I was always in bigger organisations where I was a small cog in a big wheel.
Others I know much preferred being in a smaller organisation where they could make a much greater personal contribution.
It’s similar when it comes to types of roles.
Some finance professionals love spending time doing analysis work.
Others are much more motivated by the technical complexity.
While some much prefer client facing roles, whether internal or external clients.
So when reflecting on your career and next career step in Finance, think less in terms of better or worse but more in terms of it just being different.