5 tips for helping your career progress post lockdown.
By
Studio

Point that the country went into lockdown in late March there will, inevitably, have been a number of people who were thinking about the possibility of starting to look for a new job (there always are at any point in time). Since then many people have been WFH and have perhaps been less busy than normal so have had some more headspace and will have been reflecting on their current jobs and thinking that a career move might be a good idea. This is a phenomenon well known to recruiters who frequently find a rise in applicants after summer holidays and prolonged Christmas breaks.
So, it is certain that a good number of tax professionals will be keen to find their next job. However, whilst many businesses and professional service firms have put their recruitment plans on ice it may feel to prospective job seekers that their desire to move is going to be frustrated in the short term. Whilst that may be true there are still things that you can do so that you are well placed to move from a position of strength once the market picks up (and it certainly will at some stage).
So here are our five top tips of things you can currently focus so you can spring into action when the time is right.
1. Dust off your CV and bring it up to date. Think of new areas of expertise you have developed, interesting projects you have worked on, or new management or BD skills you have gained.
2. Analyse what you really like / do not like about your current role and your motivation for wanting to move jobs. Look at people in your team / firm doing the job that you would do if promoted – is that what you want and are aspiring towards?
3. Do, some blue sky thinking – if you could wave a magic wand what would your ideal job look like? List all the features that you would want in that dream job then prioritise the various aspects. This will help focus on the key drivers for you.
4. Take advantage of the many webinars that are currently available to keep up to date technically, broaden both your tax skills and other important soft skills.
5. Start / resume a dialogue with a trusted recruiter who can sense check your thoughts and plans and then, down the line, help you make the move you want at precisely the right time.