What's the right amount of time to stay with a company?

Asking how long you should stay with an employer is like asking how long a piece of string is: it depends on how much (time) you need.

According to McCrindle research, the average Australian employee's tenure is just over three years, and those who belong to Gen Y remain in their roles for little more than two and a half years.

While the days of starting work and retiring with the same company may be coming to an end, that doesn't mean you should scratch the two-year itch. You need to consider a number of factors before jumping ship.

Why am I considering working for another company?

A lot of people find themselves stuck in a rut and subsequently feel as though working for another company is their only escape. Common reasons for leaving include:

• I no longer find my work challenging or enjoyable.
• I don't get paid as much as I should.
• I don't get along with my colleagues/I don't like the company culture.
• I can't attain the flexibility I need to fit my lifestyle.
• I've decided to take my career in a different direction.

If you work for a small company, the allure of working for a big-name firm can be tempting, especially if accompanied by greater financial rewards. Be sure you're comfortable with the change in culture, clients and role. Working for a big firm looks prestigious on your resume, but there may be fewer chances to make an impact or advance quickly, which could mean staying in a junior position longer.

 

Some employees like to switch to smaller firms because they feel they can make a difference. However, they could be giving up benefits such as a higher salary or study and travel opportunities.

 

Have I done all I can at my current organisation?

 

In many cases, the symptoms above can be remedied by a change of role rather than leaving for another company. Also think about untapped opportunities at your current workplace. Perhaps you could join a leadership program, or extend your education? These decisions may affect your willingness to move on.

 

With tenure you may also be able to negotiate better because you exert greater influence, so pushing for a pay rise or beneficial working conditions could become easier as time goes on.

 

What's the opportunity cost if I stay?

 

While the prospect of changing roles has its appeal, you also need to consider what you may be giving up by sticking around. This could be anything from better pay, conditions and opportunities to gaining a diversity of experience.

 

Starting anew may also be the easiest way to jump into a higher salary bracket, leverage beneficial working conditions, secure a new career title and expand your network rather than doing this over time in the same workplace. This makes the question of 'how long?' a question of 'how patient are you?' and 'what will you do today to make it happen?'  

 

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Acing your interview: Commercial awareness

A job interview is about more than just how you and your skill set will fill an available role. Many employers will want to know how commercially aware you are – and that requires some preparation.
Here are some common topics you should cover, and the research you’ll need to do to ensure you are adequately prepared to answer all types of questions.

About us

It goes without saying that you should investigate the organisation that may well become your employer. This research will give you an idea of what the organisation does, as well as how they want to be viewed in the marketplace.

The company’s website is an obvious place to start. Check their ‘About us’ page, but also any newsletters, media releases and blogs from recent months to get an idea of their history and the kind of activities they engage in. Employers will appreciate a candidate who is well versed in their company’s ethos and has a firm grounding in how they operate day to day. Consider who their typical clients might be, who their direct competitors are and what the key differences between this company and their competitors are.

Also try to get a sense of their culture. You can do this directly by speaking to people who work there. This is easier if there is already someone within your network employed at the company – you can take them out for coffee and have a chat – or there may be opportunities at networking events to find someone from the organisation.

Indirectly, take a look at networking platforms like LinkedIn. Do employees tend to stick around in their roles? Are they promoted from within? Have they been given educational opportunities while at the organisation? What do they have to say about their managers and colleagues?

Public knowledge

How people outside the organisation view it is also important. You can get a sense of this from the company’s social media engagement. What sort of messages are they trying to send? How do they engage with the wider community, and vice versa? Are they socially savvy? Do they even have a social presence?

News and media coverage over the last year may also give you some insight. Use a search engine to trawl through news coverage of the organisation from the past year. Is the coverage positive or negative? If the coverage is largely different from the messages on the organisation’s website, that will also tell you a few things about your potential employer.

Industry insider

Getting a feel for the industry in general is also a good idea so you have context for where the organisation sits. Media coverage is a good indicator, but delve a little deeper for insight from industry associations, journals and conferences. If you’ve started early by getting involved in the industry as a student and attending networking functions and industry events, you’ll have firsthand knowledge to draw on.

You may also find that competitors have a thing or two to say about the organisation. Although you need to view these comments with a contextual lens, you can often get a sense of how your potential employer is regarded within the industry.

Dedicated research will allow you to see the current issues and changes affecting the industry, as well as how your potential employer compares to its competitors. Being commercially savvy means knowing why you’re interested in the industry – and why you want the job on offer.

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Job trends for tax graduates

At the turn of the financial year, the short-term trend for jobs is usually accountancy based. What are the long-term trends tax graduates should heed?

Mid-year is always a busy time for tax professionals as individuals and organisations work to sort out their tax affairs following the turn of the financial year. As a result, tax graduates looking for work will find that tax accountancy roles are plentiful, ranging from filing individual tax returns to assisting larger businesses by joining corporate tax teams.

 

Core strengths

 

According to the government’s Job Outlook website, job prospects for tax accountants are high, with this trend to continue for the next five years. In the same period, job prospects for finance managers and analysts have an above-average rating. These three core areas for tax graduates are healthy and can all provide stepping stones to more complex areas of the tax industry if desired.

 

The nature of each of these areas, however, is shifting. In accounting and financial management, the roles will be less about compliance and more about providing advisory services, taking a holistic view of a client’s financial position. The complexity surrounding superannuation and trust structures in particular will require a tax professional’s advice.

 

The effect of tax reform

 

Changes to the tax system will inform the trend for tax analysts. The ongoing saga with the carbon tax is one to watch as it will affect a number of organisations directly and may have indirect follow-on effects for other organisations.

 

Further into the future, comprehensive tax reform is another item on the agenda that tax graduates will need to follow. There are roles on both sides of reform in policy research, advisory and development at the Australian Tax Office and other stakeholder organisations, as well as post-reform roles educating clients and rolling out the changes.

 

Globalisation

 

Globalisation will continue to occur with both Australian organisations going global and international interests being directed here. There are many legal and financial implications that intersect with the tax sector, including inbound and outbound employment, business and trade.

 

Understanding different tax jurisdictions will be an advantage if you want to work for multinational organisations, import/export businesses or in the foreign investment sector. There are a number of advisory and compliance roles in these areas, as well as a requirement for business planning and tax-structuring skills.

 

Being across the tax implications of foreign workers earning an income in Australia and Australian workers being employed elsewhere will also be helpful. You may work with individuals or the employing organisation.

 

While there is a general demand for tax professionals in the foreseeable future, you can ready yourself for specialisation by taking a look at what’s happening at different levels in the sector and angling towards the niche that interests you.

 

 

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CV writing advice: Using language to frame your strengths

You have a wealth of new knowledge alongside a catalogue of desirable attributes – everything you need to earn the job of your dreams. Transcribing these assets to paper, however, can be daunting.

Language sets the framework for how you present yourself to a potential new employer. Here are a few dos and don’ts to make sure this important document promotes your best attributes.

DO

 

Use the active voice: This is passive: The project was completed successfully. This is active: I completed the project successfully. The latter not only emphasises you as the agent in the role, it articulates your contribution.

 

Be specific: Short examples of your achievements are more informative than throwaway lines. Something like I am a fast learner can be improved by saying I started the role not knowing how to use the system but became an intermediate-level user within a week.

 

Highlight initiative: Even if your previous roles or experience haven’t been illuminating, you can frame it in a better light. Don’t describe the role that was given to you. Instead, narrate what you actually did. It’s the difference between answered phones and drafted emails for my manager and dealt with 30 to 40 customer enquiries a day and provided executive-level written correspondence.

 

Be positive: If you have a blight on your CV – for example a poor performance in a role – you can turn this around with the emphasis on the lessons you learnt rather than the negativity of the incident. Avoid words like struggled and use overcame, focusing on the outcome rather than the issue.

 

Be confident: Be upfront about owning your skills, knowledge and achievements, and use testimonials and other evidence to support this. Instead of writing managers have told me I'm good at writing reports, try I have strong written communication skills and managers often highlight the high standard of my reports.

 

DON’T

 

Use buzzwords you can’t support: It’s good to be positive, but don’t burden your writing with clichés or jargon that you don’t understand or can’t support with examples. Instead of using team player, for example, explain what you brought to the team.

 

Overuse lists: Bullet points are handy and they make a CV scan well, but overuse makes it look like you’ve handed them a list. Keep it to no more than five points per subheading and always add a concise explanatory note of no more than one line to clarify points if required.

 

Forget to conduct a spelling and grammar check: Small things like poor punctuation could put you out of the running if you’re coming up against a candidate of equal strength. One tip is to read the whole document aloud, or ask a friend to check it once you’re ready to send it.

 

Remember that a CV is a document that sells your skills and knowledge to a potential employer. By using the right language, they will understand what you can do and then use that information to decide if you should progress to the next stage.

 

 

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Surviving the semester: Unlikely tricks to train your memory

Your studies can feel like an overload of information with only a fraction of it becoming knowledge. Retain more with these six tricks to train your memory.

1. Repetition

While we don’t expect you to recite textbooks like a multiplication table, repeating something you’re trying to learn helps lodge it in your memory. A typical path might be your lecturer saying something important, you mouthing it and then writing it down to read later. Saying it, writing it and reading it means it has been repeated three times in different ways, creating different pathways to your brain. (Teaching it to another person counts as a fourth!)

2. Building blocks

Memorising is easier when you have a foundation and then make connections between the new information and your established knowledge. If you need to remember a slab of information, break it down and add it to your memory piece by piece. For example, when trying to remember a case study, start with the who and what, and then gradually add the when, why and how.

3. Finding patterns

A mnemonic device is a common technique that links information to patterns that are more memorable, for example remembering the number of elements in a contract then expanding that to the actual elements. Commonly, mnemonics use a phrase where the starting letter of each word relates to the piece of information, or short rhymes such as Thirty days has September.

4. Storytelling

The human brain is attracted to narrative, so developing a story can help you remember details that might otherwise escape you. Turn information into characters you can describe and explain the consequences of their actions. What happens when GST meets BAS? Humour also makes information sticky, and telling someone the story further embeds it in your memory.

5. Write a song

Delve into the meaning of nursery rhymes and you’ll find many are mini lessons in history effectively passed down by putting rhyme and music together. Choose a piece of simple music and write a short song about what you’re trying to learn. You may also find that someone else has done the hard work, like this economics rap on Hayek versus Keynes.

6. Create a game

Many games are geared to aid learning, and memory games reward recollection, such as matching a piece of information with another. Creating the game is often as important as playing it because it helps you structure information for easy recollection. You can also make a game for two or more people as learning in a group and constructive socialising also assists memorisation.

People respond differently to different techniques, so have a go at some of these to see which works best for you. You can also combine these tricks to enhance the effect.

Good luck with your studies this semester!

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