Dear Abby

DEAR ABBY: I got my degree in accounting, I have worked in accounting, I don’t love accounting and I want to get out of a traditional accounting role! How can I transition out of accounting while still using the skills?

I’ve had more people asking me about this recently and, the good thing about accounting is, the skillset can be utilized in pretty much any industry!

Paths to Consider for Transitioning Your Career

Some paths that I’ve seen people take:

• Consulting/Client Services – either starting your own firm or joining firms like Embark, Amplēo, Connor Group and others can be a great spot to diversify your day-to-day. This can give you more interaction with clients, be more involved with strategic planning, and get exposure to multiple companies from the company side as opposed to the audit side. This route will mix up your day to day while still maintaining your expected compensation.
• Staying in a traditional accounting function but getting into an industry that you are more excited about. Doing the work for a company you believe in can make the work much more invigorating!
• Take a gamble and go towards a career that you want to go to. This usually comes with an initial pay cut but hopefully being somewhere long term that you love will drive that number up exponentially.

Conclusion: The Limitless Possibilities

There are ENDLESS options and there isn’t one right path to transition out of a traditional accounting role. Finding an opportunity you are passionate about can help to facilitate long-term success! When you do what you love, where you love, with people you love – you can’t make a bad choice!

What have you done to transition out of a traditional role while still utilizing your strong accounting background – or transitioning out in general and finding success?? I loved seeing Adam Gray story on his transition out of accounting!!

Connect with Prospex Recruiting

Feel free to reach out to anyone on our Prospex Recruiting team to talk about different options and have someone in your corner to help through the various options!!

DEAR ABBY: My LinkedIn Profile hasn’t been updated in ages – what are your top tips??

Just like there is no such thing as a blind date anymore (dating apps, socials…you get it), blind interviews are a thing of the past. Before an interview, a hiring manager will have viewed your resume, LinkedIn profile, and even googled your name in many cases!

Top LinkedIn Tips

1. Profile Picture: Set the Right Tone

Have a good showing of who you are! This doesn’t always mean glam shots or donning a full suit. Let’s get rid of car selfies, blurry pictures, pictures from your wedding 10+ years ago, too close-up pictures… you get the idea. Feel free to show a little personality through it if that’s your style or have a nice professional picture! This is the company’s FIRST viewing of you – make sure it is representative of you!

2. Details: Be Thorough

If you are active in your search, make sure you are easy to find! Put detail under each position highlighting what you did, what ERP/Software you used. This can look similar to your resume! Make sure you are coming up in searches!!

3. Relevant Experience: Keep It Current

After you have started your career, take off college/high-school jobs if they aren’t relevant to your professional career. Keep your LI cleaned up.

4. Consistency: Match Your Resume

Make sure your resume matches your LinkedIn – if it is off, that will be a huge red flag!

5. Consider Side Jobs Carefully

If you have side jobs/hobbies that are on LI but not relevant to your career progression, think before adding them onto your profile (side consulting, real estate license, weekend jobs). Depending on what it is, it can detract from what your core skillset is!

6. Mindful Engagement: Comment with Care

Be aware of what you are commenting on others posts as this activity shows on your page – I’ve had candidates disqualified based on some of their aggressive commenting.

7. Summary: Craft Your Elevator Pitch

Use your summary to show who you are and to highlight exactly what it is – an awesome summary of your skills!! Think – elevator pitch!

WHAT ARE SOME OF YOUR TOP TIPS?! You KNOW I love your feedback!

Need Help? Reach Out to Prospex Recruiting Today!

Reach out to any of our Prospex Recruiting team to help review your LinkedIn Profile to make sure you’re getting the best exposure out there!!

DEAR ABBY: I just accepted a position that I’m SO excited about, but what is the best way to put my notice in?! HELP!!

✅Step by Step below✅

The worst part of accepting a new opportunity is telling your current company. Emotions are high, no one wants to feel like they are disappointing anyone or add any extra burden onto people that you have a relationship with.

Remember – companies act out of logic, people act with emotion. You are making the right move for you and your family! If roles were reversed and a company needed to make budgetary cuts, “business is business”. Make the transition because it’s the best move for your long-term career!!

Steps to Resign Smoothly

Here is the smoothest way to put your notice in and preserve your relationships!

1. 😍 This goes without saying, but I’ll say it anyway. Make sure that you feel good about the opportunity prior to accepting! There will always be the jitters of a new position, but make sure that you’ve done your due diligence to have confidence that this is the right next step for you!
2. 🖊 SIGN THE OFFER prior to putting your notice in. This shows finality to your current company and makes sure that your new position knows you’re excited!
3. 📜 Put together a RESIGNATION LETTER to be able to give to your employer when you meet!

Tips for Crafting Your Resignation Communication

😇 Use the right wording when putting your notice in! Use final terms, let them know you aren’t entertaining a counter-offer (I’VE DONE A FULL SEPARATE POST ON COUNTER OFFERS), and thank them for their time! “I really appreciate my time working here, this is the best move for me and my family right now! I’d love to stay connected and hope our paths cross in the future, but this is the move I’ve decided to make!”

🌻 If they ask if there is anything they can do to keep you, refer to point 4. The only thing worse than letting them down once is letting them down twice – ha. Just don’t even go down that path :).

☎ Seeking Support and Guidance

Call anyone on our team to help walk you through putting your notice in! We have tons of documents and moral support to help you through this time!! Prospex Recruiting is here to help you.

💫 DEAR ABBY: We have an internal Talent Acquisition team. Why does it make sense to use your Prospex Recruiting team too?

We LOVE working with TA teams! We want to be a positive addition to your internal process in whatever scope that looks like!! Most of our clients have an internal team and utilize us in multiple different ways!! Ultimately, we want you to get the best people for your team whether we find them for you or we show you awesome candidates to benchmark against (and a killer process along the way) so that you can make your decision in confidence! Plus – you get our whole Prospex Recruiting fam working for you on each position!!

💯 PARALLEL SEARCH

We do parallel searches with internal teams all the time. The internal team will run their search, we will perform our search/comb our extensive network, and you can make sure you’re seeing a good range of the market to make the best choice for you! Remember, you only pay us when we find the right person for you!

💯 DIVIDE AND CONQUER

Free up your team’s time to focus on their certain roles and let us focus on the ones allocated to us. Whether the TA team is slammed with other positions or if it is a specialized role that requires a certain level of understanding in the market, give us the positions that need key focus or a certain specialization and let your team focus on the ones that best fit them!

💯 CONFIDENTIAL SEARCH

When a position is a high-level of confidentiality, bring us on to make sure that you’re getting awesome candidates in a discrete process!

We are 💯 contingent!

We also have a 90 day guarantee – let us take the liability of hiring onto us!

We are 20% – we don’t want to play the up and down negotiation game to take advantage of the market conditions.

What needs can we help with right now?! Message me! What has your experience been on when you’ve brought in external teams? Excited to hear from you!!
Reach out to anyone on our team to help you out! You’ll get our whole team working for you!

DEAR ABBY: I have a couple years of experience and I’m ready for my next step but I’m nervous I won’t live up to their expectations – I’m having major Imposter Syndrome! How can I approach this in my job search?!
I’ve had this conversation with multiple entry-mid level candidates recently. A candidate will have a few years of experience but have a hard time seeing their value and worth. They don’t want to let anyone down and the anxiety of this is stunting their long-term growth.

Here is my best advice to help people feel more comfortable in their transition:

1. Believe in Yourself

You know more than you think you do. You’ve worked hard on your degree and you’ve been able to perform in your roles so far – trust you have the ability to learn a new role. You will never grow if you always know how to do everything in a role!

2. Understand Expectations

In an interview, ask what the company’s expectations are for this role in the first 30-60-90 days so that you can make sure you are aligned.

3. Have Open Conversations with Your Manager

Managers don’t expect you to know everything Day 1. They do expect you to be open with what you do and don’t know, give it your all, and they will help give you the tools to meet/exceed their expectations in the first 3-6 months.

4. Sometimes You Have to Put In Extra Work

If you don’t know something that is critical to your job, take the extra time to learn it. This can mean self-study in your spare time as you’re getting acclimated to the new position! The more you put in to make yourself a strong performer, the more success you’ll have in your career!
Having the right raw skillset is half of the equation in a new position – work ethic, ownership, and the drive to do the work needed to get up to speed are things that can’t be trained and are invaluable in an employee!
Babe said it best – “Never let the fear of striking out keep you from playing the game” ⚾
Have my hiring managers out there experienced this??
Have my entry-mid level candidates felt this as you’ve been interviewing?
Reach out to anyone on our Prospex Recruiting team to talk through this more in depth!