New Career Skills You Never Thought You'd Need | Mercer Bradley

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As you move along in your accounting & finance career, you pick up new skills. Adding technical skills and cultivating soft skills are two key parts of career advancement. However, one aspect of moving up the ladder that often is overlooked involves introspection. Close evaluation of your mental and emotional processes provides insight into how you should structure your career goals. Knowing how to link your underlying values to the goals you set adds meaning to them, increasing your likelihood of attaining them.

Find out how to include introspection when setting your career goals.

Consider Your Strengths and Weaknesses

Think of three ways you maximized your talents in the past 12 months. Take into account the circumstances that let you do so. Consider whether you behaved differently to attain your desired results. Use this information to determine how you can maximize your strengths in the next 12 months. Then, think about what your weaknesses are. Determine how you can improve in one area. Create an action plan to improve in this area. For instance, if you are lacking in certain technical skills, you might request additional training, participate in a virtual conference, or enroll in an online class.

Include Your Values and Personality

Think about why you want to do better in the area you chose. Be sure your reasons align with your core values and personality. This lets you connect with the process and increases your motivation to keep going. For instance, if you are an introvert who performs best in a quiet environment, be sure your action plan involves a reasonable amount of communication that does not become overwhelming. Also, be realistic about the sacrifices you are willing to make to attain your goals. This includes adding and taking away certain activities. After all, there need to be tradeoffs in order to grow. Remember to maintain a balance of getting out of your comfort zone to increase growth.

Create Systems

Set up daily, weekly, or monthly systems to achieve the goals you set. Include benchmarks to measure your progress toward success. Discipline yourself to take the necessary action. Hold yourself accountable for your results.

Review Your Progress

Set aside an hour each month to review where you are at in reaching your goals. Determine where you began the previous month and what you achieved in the past few weeks. Check whether you are at the benchmark you should be. If not, determine the reasons why. Figure out how to adjust your action plan going forward. Celebrate your successes in reaching benchmarks and attaining your goals.

Find Your Next Accounting & Finance Role

Use your career skills to find your next accounting & finance position through Mercer Bradley. As a leading staffing agency in Western Canada, we get to know your experience, goals, and interests, then match you with employers and roles where you will thrive. Visit our job board today.


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