Looking Ahead: How to Take Ownership of Your Career
“Trainee years fly by. The habits, knowledge, and relationships you build now will define your future. So, don’t wait for someone else to shape your career — start leading it today.”
Right now, you might be in the thick of it – juggling work, study, exams and all the other craziness life throws at you. It can be hard to make time to think proactively about you and your own career development. “I’ll think about it after I’m qualified” or “I’ll decide what I’m going to do after my next bonus / next year”, might be thoughts that come into your mind!
But as a career coach, I see first-hand how much it matters that you take ownership of your own career, so that you feel in control and primed for your future. That you’re doing things now so that when the moment comes when you or even have to leave your current role, you don’t feel like you’re starting from 0.
Whilst you might be on a set path right now with exams to complete, on the other side a world of opportunity awaits you! You can stay in practice, in your current firm or elsewhere, specialise in a particular domain, become a people manager, move into industry in a finance role or even shift to something from the strong base you have. Many options … and with that many decisions!
So let’s look at things you can do to take ownership of your career and build those foundations to enable you to make positive and conscious choices and moves as you progress through your career!
How to Take Ownership Now
Be Proactive with Learning
Aside from the learning you have to do, what else are you curious to learn about for your own development? What do you want to know about the broader industry or other industries? How can you find that out? Are there new technologies or broader business concepts you would like to learn about?
There’s so much free or low-cost learning out there and a plethora of podcasts and webinars - take advantage of them!
2. Network Inside and Outside Your Firm
The people around you today could shape your opportunities tomorrow – opportunities are always connected to people! Build relationships with colleagues, mentors, and even clients. These connections can open unexpected doors and boost your awareness of what’s out there! You can gain the knowledge about what it’s like to work in another firm / industry / role to help you assess if that would be a good thing for you.
Meeting people in person is great at event or by joining communities … but there’s a lot of networking you can do online via platforms like LinkedIn too – that’s how Hannah (your Accountancy Hub founder) and I first met!
3. Recognise your own achievements and impact
Keep track of the things you’re proud of, challenges you’ve overcome, great feedback you’ve received, the skills and knowledge you’re using. Doing this once a year from your appraisal is ok … but proactively doing it is great and means you’re constantly building your self-awareness of the types of work you enjoy, what feels like fulfilment and success to you .. and how awesome you are!
Trainee years fly by. The habits, knowledge, and relationships you build now will define your future. So, don’t wait for someone else to shape your career — start leading it today.
Find out more about career coach Natasha Weller on the Accountancy Hub platform, her website, or by following her on LinkedIn and Instagram. She also offers a free guide “The 5 Steps You Need To Kickstart Your Career Change” which you can download here.
