It’s never too early to start identifying or striving to reach
career milestones. Here are five classic career goals you should aim to achieve
during your first few years as a graduate.
1. Get really good at what you do
It doesn’t matter which tax courses you’ve completed at university
or how much you think you know, as a new employee you’ll quickly become aware
of just how much you need to learn. Seize every opportunity you can to broaden
your knowledge, including gaining insight from bosses and colleagues, as well
as sharpening your skills from the taxation education your employer offers. One
day you’ll wake up and think to yourself, “You know, I’m now actually pretty
good at my job.”
2. Get that first promotion (and the second and third)
No matter how minor it is, that first title bump creates the
momentum that will hopefully push you all the way to the top of the tax
industry. Don’t waste a minute starting your ascent up the ladder.
3. Work overseas
Take advantage of being young – and relatively commitment-free if you’re working for a firm that
offers overseas postings. Aside from the excitement of living somewhere such as
New York or London, you’ll develop a new maturity and a broader, well-rounded
outlook on life and work.
4. Manage others
Once you’ve learnt how to manage yourself, you’ll face the much
more complicated task of managing others, which, depending on how good you are
at it, can be either incredibly frustrating or wildly rewarding. Remember that
if you’re good at managing yourself and your workload, you can always rely on
having a job. But if you have the far rarer skill of also being good at
managing others, you can rely on having a highly paid and high-powered executive
position.
5. Add to your qualifications and expand your skill set
After spending almost a couple of decades in full-time education,
it can be tempting to take a long sabbatical from studying and focusing on gaining real-world
experience. However, you’re unlikely to reach many of the future milestones if
you don’t expand your skill set, either by undertaking further tax training in
the form of a CTA1, CTA2A, CTA2B, CTA3, Graduate Diploma of Applied Tax Law or Master of Taxation, or by pursuing
qualifications in complementary fields, such as people management.
In today’s crowded workforce, you need to demonstrate you’re a
go-getter from the get-go. While you don’t need to adopt all the milestones
suggested above, you should have a clear set of goals you’re actively working
towards if you want to reach your full potential.
Take the next step in your tax
career with the Graduate Diploma of Applied Tax Law
Find out more by visiting the website or calling 1300 TAX EDU (1300 829 338)
