Do you ever question whether you’re in the right role as an accountant or finance professional? Or are you questioning whether you’re using your talents and skills to their fullest? You’re not alone, many professionals ask themselves the same questions. The great news is that with a little tweak in your work-life strategy: you can experience the awesome feeling of feeling fulfilled in your role as you get to match your skills with the right role. Now buckle up, as we take you on a short learning journey of matching your skills to the right job in this article.
3 ways your skills match the right job.
How is it possible to match your skills as an accountant and finance professional to the right role or job? Let’s get practical with these three steps that will help you showcase your skills:
1. Be Clear On Your Current Skills:
In simple terms, skills mean “things you can do” and we all have a fine collection of them. You may have mastered your skills through formal education, training, or on the job. Some of the skills we’ve acquired as a requirement for a particular role, and others we acquired because we were interested in gaining them or maybe they came through filling a gap in our professional toolkit. By doing all of these, we acquired a load of skills over time, some of which we may take for granted. The fact is all of these skills can be useful to us!
A useful thing to do is to conduct a periodic skills review to see what we’ve got and how we can put them to good use. This often reveals more skills than we give ourselves credit for and can give us a great boost of confidence.
2. Understand What Employers Are Looking For:
This step encompasses a whole host of different things, such as;
General Expectations:
Most employers share similar basic expectations, such as professionalism, punctuality, IT literacy, etc. Many of these requirements are so well ingrained that they are no longer called out, yet they remain an expectation. Make sure these are known and firmly within your skill set.
Specific Skills:
These are skills required for specific roles. As a professional, it is important to know what is expected or “nice to have” in your current or anticipated role as these will be good indicators of what the role entails. Being able to do most of what is required or the willingness to learn is also a great attitude. These are often listed on a job spec or job descriptions.
It can be insightful to look at job specs for open positions – even if you’re not actively looking for a role – just to see what skills are in demand.
Trends:
In addition, at any point in time, there will be broader trends to be aware of and learn more about. For example, think about the current AI trend.
3. Look For Ways To Upskill Or Reskill:
Jobs and roles are constantly evolving, hence continuous professional improvement is more important now than ever. It’s not the time to be complacent and there’s no need to keep yourself small, instead look to keep your skillsets sharp! Look out for relevant online courses, workshops, or even certifications that can put you at the edge. A step taken towards brushing up on under-utilised skills will also go a long way to make you a well-rounded professional. Don’t forget, that continuous learning keeps you relevant in a competitive job market, it could even spark a renewed sense of passion within you.
Lastly, and as a bonus, I suggest you find ways to put your existing skills to use. Over time in our career journey, we have all acquired or honed many skills. Take a step by conducting a “Skill Audit”: focus on skills that you are good at and that you are not using as much as you can today and see how you can bring them into good use.
Need a 3rd party perspective? Why not book a Career Discussion today to learn more about how we could support you.
