A career in finance - What's the right move after articles?

Nicoli Sauerman

As exciting as this may be, it's also daunting. The next move you make in terms of your employment will almost certainly set the tone for the rest of your career. Some of these choices will put you ahead of your peers and others will cause you to linger behind the pack. No matter which way you look at it, this is a defining moment for you and you need to make it count.

So where do you start? By now you should have an idea of what you want to do for the next 30 years of your life. If not, you should at least have an idea of what you don't want to do. This will help you broadly separate out the sectors you want to work in.

Next you need to decide if you want to work generally in the industry, or if you want to specialise in a specific niche sector.

Switching isn't easy

For example, if you want to pursue a career in financial services, and you build experience in this sector, the possibility of switching to another industry later will not be easy. The nature of the day-to-day running of a business in this environment is very different to any other industry, and because industries are under a lot of pressure in the current economic climate, clients prefer to hire candidates with industry-relevant experience.

If you rather want to specialise in a particular niche sector, start by looking at the type of experience you were exposed to during your training. Even though you might think articles are articles, there are subtle differences in the experience you gained, and you should tap into those that resonated with you the most.

For instance, in a smaller audit firm, your exposure to the technical accounting function is often more in-depth than in a larger one. So your skill set consists of audit as well as financial accounting. If you want to move into cost and management accounting, you would likely start as an accountant in a manufacturing or FMCG company and move from there.

In today's market, to be a master of one environment is more valuable than to be a jack of all trades.

If you need more assistance with your career planning, consult a financial recruiter to get a better understanding of the opportunities available to you, and the best choices to make now, at this stage, in preparing you for a successful career ahead.