ITB December 2024/January 2025 - Magazine - Page 52
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.
C A R E E R TO O L K I T
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.”
52 INTHEBLACK Dec 2024/Jan 2025 SPECIAL EDITION
5. BUILD YOUR TECH SKILLS
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.
