Finance Monthly July 2019 Edition

52 www.finance-monthly.com FINANCE CAREERS - GRADUATES Are you struggling to choose a route into the Finance & Accountancy sector? Manager and Sellick Partnership recruitment specialist Martin Parr offers his advice to new graduates on how to get onto the career ladder and build a long and successful career within the sector. THE BEST CAREERS FOR FINANCE GRADUATES hoosing a career path within Finance &Accountancy can be a daunting experience for new graduates. The sector is vast and there are various options depending on one’s ambition and career aspirations. From my experience, there is no ‘best’ career route, but there are a number of options that can help give Finance & Accountancy candidates the springboard and experience needed to be hugely successful within the sector. Whatever career path graduates decide to take, they will be required to study towards a professional qualification (ACCA, CIMA, ACA) so it is beneficial to know what route is most useful and why. A good grounding will open up doors throughout a candidate’s career It is very hard to say what job roles are best within Finance & Accountancy because this would be based on the individual aspirations of each graduate in question. Each path will suit a different skill set and type of candidate, and it takes experience and basic training for candidates to decide what niche they want to specialise in. In my opinion, graduates need to fully understand the finance sector before they can decide what their dream job may be. For example, some people may wish to become the future CFO of an FTSE listed business, and others may be driven by a certain charity, each of which is very different, and it is hard to determine what career choice is best without a good understanding of the basics. For that reason, we generally do not discuss achieving specific roles with students or recent graduates, but instead, steer them towards gaining a good Finance & Accountancy qualification within Practice or Industry. People that have gained a solid understanding of the finance sector early on, and have a background in either Practice or Industry will be in a very strong position throughout their career. Candidates will be able to transition into their dream job/sector once they have learnt what the role of a finance professional involves. The best career option for graduates within the Finance & Accountancy sector Finance & Accountancy graduates we work with at Sellick Partnership are always ambitious individuals looking for a role that can offer them fast progression. They generally also strive C Martin Parr, Manager at Sellick Partnership