Soft versus hard skills

If you dream of a career in tax or accounting, you’ll need to be a master at identifying fiscal inconsistencies, understanding government legislation and balancing your clients’ books. But although these technical (or hard) skills are intrinsic to succeeding in your future profession, soft skills, such as your ability to form good relationships with customers and your willingness to work as a team, will make you more attractive to prospective bosses.

Cultivating both your hard and soft skills while you study isn’t as challenging as it might seem. Here are four top ways to supercharge your employment potential by proving you’re a candidate with the total package.

Get a customer-facing part-time job

The idea that accountants and taxation professionals crunch numbers without customer interaction is a thing of the past. These days, working in the accounting industry means communicating with clients, resolving their problems and learning to respond to their social cues. Getting a part-time job in hospitality, retail or customer service while you study can help you understand the art of anticipating and responding to customer needs. Once it’s time to put those soft skills into practice, it’ll be second nature.

Obtain a further qualification

An undergraduate qualification in taxation or accounting is not enough to make you stand out. Whether it’s learning a piece of up-and-coming financial software or brushing up on your knowledge of new legislation by enrolling in The Tax Institute’s Graduate Diploma of Applied Tax Law program, investing in your hard skills can be a shortcut to competitive advantage.

Education: Our programs and single subjects help you achieve your full potential in your career, your workplace, and in the profession. Enrol before 25 June and save $100.

Take up a team sport

From collaborating with IT vendors to working with senior management, taxation professionals must be increasingly equipped to meet individual deadlines while working as part of a larger team. Taking up an after-hours sport such as soccer, football or tennis can help you learn how to work with colleagues, anticipate co-workers’ strengths and weaknesses and thrive in a team environment – an all-important soft skill that’s bound to put you ahead of the pack.

Study a second language

A career in accounting can set the stage for international opportunities, but a working knowledge of audit procedures isn’t enough. Signing up for an after-hours class to learn a second language can seriously boost your set of hard skills while broadening your professional horizons.

Although hard skills are critical if you want to establish a career in taxation or accounting, teamwork, communication and customer service play an indispensable role as well. What moves have you recently taken to boost your hard and soft skills?

Find out more about our education program and professional development subjects.

Graduate attributes that boost your employability

Do you have a graduate (or even postgraduate) tax qualification? Are you looking to land a prestige tax, accounting or legal position?

To separate yourself from the pack of other candidates in the eyes of prospective employers, it pays to demonstrate the following four attributes.

5 essential business skills

Recruiters in the tax profession look for a range of skills in candidates that apply for entry-level positions.

Academic achievement in your taxation course at university is just a starting point. Companies are on the hunt for well-rounded, business-savvy practitioners who can see beyond just the technical information.

Here are five key qualities that tax employers value in their people.

What is active listening and how can you master it?

Active listening is a cornerstone of effective interpersonal communication. It’s therefore an essential skill for tax professionals.

Active listening involves both hearing what your client or colleague is saying and letting them know that you hear what they’re saying.

It helps you to build rapport with your clients and colleagues. It demonstrates your respect for them. It also helps you to earn their trust.

They’ll know that any opinions or recommendations you subsequently suggest will be based on a deep understanding of their specific needs.

Here are a few active listening techniques that you can apply in any professional conversation.

Tips for networking - at the office

Professional networking advice often follows the same script: hit the pavement, connect with industry peers on social media, attend events, get yourself known, and cast your net as far and wide as possible.

But what can you do to advance your career without leaving your current workplace.

Here are five tips for getting the benefits of networking at your office.

Tips for professional email

As you embark on your career as a tax practitioner, you only ever have one chance to make a great first impression with each prospective employer, client or other stakeholder.

If that chance happens to be via email, it’s useful to know how to correspond in a professional manner.

Particularly when applying for a job, a work experience opportunity or a position in a graduate program, your initial contact probably will be by email. Your initial application, cover letter and any associated requests will be in writing and will be delivered to the hiring manager’s inbox.

To smarten up your email correspondence, consider these suggestions:

DO

• Use the subject field to clearly summarise the contents of your email message: This helps the recipient to categorise your email immediately. Many people won’t even open an email that has an ambiguous subject line.

• Open and sign-off formally: Err on the side of formal rather than casual or familiar. If addressing an employer called Michael Chen, best not to open with ‘Hey Mike’. Better to begin with ‘Dear Mr Chen’ and end with ‘Sincerely’ or ‘Kind regards’. The reply (usually less formal) will indicate the level of engagement the recipient prefers. Try to avoid going below that level.

• Start a new paragraph for each new idea or action item: Each paragraph need only be one or two sentences long and should serve a purpose. In fact, the entire message should be as concise as possible. Even if the recipient only scans the email, they should clearly understand who you are and what you want.

• Check your email before sending it: Make sure your spelling, punctuation and grammar are acceptable, and that any attachments mentioned are actually attached. You may even want to read the email aloud before sending to ensure it makes sense.

• Use an email signature block: Even a basic signature that includes your contact details looks more professional than none. It helps the recipient to have your contact details at the ready.

DON’T

• Use an email address that may reflect badly on you: Remember that email address you had when you were 15 – perhaps skaterboy007@hotmail.com or pinksunset14@yahoo.com? Best not to use it for professional correspondence.

• Use emoticons, slang or curse words: Even if you know the recipient well, the email may be forwarded to others who don’t know you.

• Forget why you’re sending the email: The email has a purpose. Make sure everything in it serves that purpose, whether it’s supporting your application for a position or trying to elicit a specific answer to a question.

• Pester the recipient: Just because an email is easy to send doesn’t mean you should repeatedly ask for updates. If you’re concerned at the lack of response – especially if the recipient said they’d get back to you by a certain time – pick up the phone and call them. If the recipient is unavailable, you may be able to speak with someone else.

Learning to use email in a professional manner will serve you well beyond the application stage.

Developing good habits now will help you communicate with clients and colleagues in a more effective way for years to come.

Give yourself the edge with free student membership

If you're a tertiary education student, The Tax Institute can help you progress in your career.

Find out about Student Membership.

5 essential business skills to be noticed by employers

How would you design a phone for deaf people? How many piano tuners are there in Melbourne? How heavy is the Empire State Building? And how would you answer these seemingly impossible questions if asked in actual interviews?

The last one is a question worth pondering if you want to demonstrate your own potential to prospective employers – they are undoubtedly looking for more than just academic achievement in your taxation course.

Mastery of your tax training is just the starting point for recruiters looking to hire the best talent. Companies are on the hunt for well-rounded, business-savvy agents capable of looking beyond trade technicalities. Here’s our list of five of the most important qualities employers value in their people.

1. Problem solvers

The questions posed above invite interviewees to demonstrate their creative ability to overcome workplace challenges and problems, and how to adapt to changing circumstances or the unexpected.

Thinking about instances in your life where you have been flexible in solving a problem can be a good starting point when it comes to showing employers you can think on your feet.

2. Effective organisers

Good organisation is key to being able to manage projects, making it a fundamental skill for any new recruit to demonstrate. The ability to break down a large project into separate stages, estimate the work and time required, delegate work and keep projects on track, on time and on budget is a core competency for larger firms especially.

3. Digital savviness

A basic requirement among management recruits is proficiency in a range of core software. Spreadsheets are fundamental to tax and accounting, but understanding shortcuts and being able to manipulate data quickly will help you stand out as a future high-flyer.

Database management and the ability to use data-visualisation tools have also emerged as important skill sets to possess as data becomes more central to every organisation.

4. Commercial smarts

Understanding what makes the wider industry in which you work tick, and where the sector is going, demonstrates your ability to look beyond your tax training and marks you out as one to watch. It shows initiative, appreciation of the bigger picture and engagement with the tax and accounting world beyond just your taxation education.

5. Good communicators

A study among 50,000 company recruiters revealed that communication skills were the most important factor in hiring managers. Learning to work effectively by listening carefully and speaking and writing effectively is a skill you can consciously improve.

Mastering your ability to work with clients and colleagues is just as important as mastering your taxation education to ensure you enjoy an effective and long career.

Give yourself the edge with free Student Membership

If you are a tertiary education student, The Tax Institute can help you progress in your career journey.

Find out about StudentMembership.

6 tips to a killer letter of advice

The tax profession can provide you with a rewarding and satisfying career. However, with the rise in technology and software advancements, it has become much more than just crunching the numbers or dictating the legislation. To become successful and desirable, you must differentiate yourself in the profession and do what a computer cannot. Within this blog, we provide 6 helpful tips to help you craft your letter of advice to satisfy not only your client and employer but your job satisfaction.

1. Who is the reader?
Put yourself in your client’s shoes and ask yourself, “What do they need to know?” Your task is to write a letter of advice: to a client and for a client. Understanding who you are writing for is the difference between a letter of advice and a good letter of advice.

2. Tone of voice: formal vs informal
A letter of advice is not the same as an email or internal memo. It’s more formal than that and represents your advice to your client, as well as the brand of your company or firm. Though to clarify, formal doesn’t mean stuffy! It’s still all about effectively communicating in a digestible way for your client. When in doubt, err on the formal side – it is a business document after all!

3. Check your grammar, spelling and punctuation
Typos, incorrect syntax and long-winded sentences never helped anyone. It means your letter lacks a discernible point. When in doubt, insert that full stop and start a new sentence.

4. Paragraphs and sentences: keep it short and sweet
Write short, concise paragraphs and short concise sentences. Don’t confuse your client.

5. Use headings, subheadings and bullet points
Don’t be afraid to use headings, subheadings and bullet points against these paragraphs. A letter of advice is not an essay and it’s perfectly acceptable to break up your text with intuitive headings. Creating white space on a page or screen is easier on the eye and gets your point across to your client quicker.

6. Choose your words. They matter!
The power of words cannot be underestimated here. For example, what would your client do if you wrote: you ‘are’ running a business vs you ‘may’ be running a business. Is there a potential risk issue for you to write in definitive language? Consider words like ‘should’, ‘may’, ‘probable’ and ‘reasonably arguable’ instead.

The main thing to remember is that you are writing a document for your client to enable them to make sound business decisions. Ensure that your client can easily digest the information you are providing to ensure they do not miss or misinterpret any valuable information.

For further information, view the free How to Reason, Research and Write webinar, produced by The Tax Institute.

Learning beyond university: Taking your degree to the next level

You’ve spent years taking undergraduate tax courses and finally scored yourself a graduate position. You’re ready to hit the ground running, right?

Well, no actually. Most firms want their new recruits to complete further studies within their first year, such as the Tax Institute’s CTA1Foundations, to bridge the significant gap between academic principles and workplace practice.

We asked four senior staff members from leading accounting and financial services firms, such as Barringtons, DKM Group, Moore Stephens and Westcourt, to explain why they expect their early-career staff members to undertake a tax course with a vocational focus.

Plugging the gaps

The taxation education provided at Australia’s tertiary institutions is of a high standard, but no matter how prestigious the university you went to or what grades you achieved, there is still plenty you need to learn.

“Universities touch on many aspects of tax in their degree courses,” says Anne Goode, associate director at Moore Stephens. “Within a six-month study period the level of detail that can be taught is limited. That’s why we enroll all our tax and business service graduates in CTA1 Foundations. It’s a way to refresh the university course material and complement the in-house training.”

More training equals faster advancement

If the thought of hitting the books five minutes after graduating has you rolling your eyes, consider the fact that undertaking a tax training course will allow you to take on challenging projects sooner than might otherwise be possible.

“Getting graduates to do the Tax Institute’s CTA1 Foundations gives them a general overview – or refresher – in Australian tax law and reduces their write-offs and the consumption of existing staff resources [in supervision] during their first six months on the job,” says Ross Forrester, director at Westcourt. “Once they they’ve completed the course they can move on from just the fundamental professional work to doing simple research tasks.”

Leigh Dyson, senior manager at Barringtons, echoes Forrester’s remarks. “Staff who have completed CTA1 Foundations have a much better understanding of the tax framework and key provisions and don’t require as much supervision or to have basic concepts explained to them. Once staff are enrolled in the course we can get them to start doing compliance-based work, such as tax returns and BAS, which require an understanding of key concepts.”

Boost your soft skills

“I can remember the days when a textbook had so much value – now you can Google everything,” says Daleen Van der Merwe, HR manager at DKM Group. “How do you differentiate yourself in that environment? It’s about having skills.”

Van Der Merwe believes a tax training course such as CTA1 Foundations can teach those skills, creating savvy, sure-footed operators rather than uncertain newbies who are going to cause “other team members’ time to be wasted fixing errors”.   

Read about the importance of soft and hard skills.

Still need convincing about the wisdom of signing up for a post-university Australian tax course? We’ll give the final word to Ross Forrester: “CTA1 Foundations is not an intimidating course for younger staff, but it is an effective one, allowing them to better operate in a professional firm. And it sets them on a pathway to the CTA2A and CTA2B Advanced, which gives them the knowledge needed for a professional advice firm.”

Looking for that competitive edge? Look into completing The Tax Institute’s Programs, Single Subjects or Short-Courses.

Find out more.

How to use semester holidays to boost your career

You don’t need to veg out to relax these semester holidays. Doing something different can be just as effective. Why not use the time to help your future career?

Ever heard the expression “change is as good as a rest”? In short, it means learning new things can be a great distraction from the semester you’ve just been through, equating to a holiday. You can use this time to catch up on bad TV, or you can make a small investment towards your career or internship prospects.

1. Work experience

One or two weeks is plenty of time to make headway either at an organisation that might take you on as an intern in the future, or one that will look good on your résumé because of the skills and experience it affords. Start ringing around at least two weeks before you want to start.

2. Volunteering

Along similar lines is volunteering. If you don’t usually have time to spare during the semester, use the break to do an intensive volunteer stint. Some volunteer roles can give you what you need to secure an internship or an entry-level position while others are just a good way to do something different to recharge your batteries. Any form of giving time is well regarded on a résumé.

3. Picking up complementary skills

If you have a few skill gaps that won’t be met through coursework, semester break is a good time to focus on bridging those gaps through external training or, because you now have the time, simply practising what you need to. Don't forget that hard skills and softs skills are both important in the business world. Read our blog post about why both skills are so important when landing your ideal job.

4. Looking for prospects

Time poor while studying? Semester break gives you the chance to do some career research. While you’re investigating the job market and taking a closer look at different organisations, pursue any promising prospects you come across. Being proactive during this period could pay off by summer break.

5. Refining your résumé

Having an up-to-date résumé on hand means when an unexpected opportunity comes your way, you’re ready to take it. Prepare yourself by spending time refining this crucial document in the semester break so when the job-hunting season opens you’re first out of the blocks. Have a quick read of our blog post detailing how to build your résumé while you are studying. 

6. Enhance your digital footprint

A digital footprint is the trail of data that users leave on digital services. From websites to social media profiles, your digital footprint can be used to showcase your career – so make sure you know how to optimise it. Visit our blog post about 5 ways to enhance your digital footprint. 

Your mid-year break needn’t be idle time. There is plenty you can do to boost your career prospects while still catching some R&R from semester one, so make sure you use the time to prepare. When you’ve set yourself up, it makes for a less stressful second semester!

Looking for that competitive edge? Look into completing The Tax Institute’s Programs, Single Subjects or Short-Courses. 

Find out more.