LEADERSHIP LESSONS

Transcript

Anna Penny:
Welcome to another one of our Talent Talk with Robert Walters podcasts, recorded on a rainy autumnal afternoon, from the comfort of our very own home offices. Over the recent months, we've been speaking with leaders across the Robert Walters UK leadership team, along with industry guests discussing their career successes, challenges they have faced and lessons they've learned along the way. I'm Anna Penny, Senior Consultant at Robert Walters London looking after the Tech, Media and Telco space. Joining us today we have Christie Scott. Christie is currently the Head of Finance at The Delta Group and she qualified over in Australia back in 2012. Christie trained at William Buck in Sydney before joining Baker Tilly Pitcher Partners, where she worked as a senior accountant in the private client’s division. Christie then decided to make the jump across the world and joined Antler on a tear two sponsorship. Christie worked for three and a half years as a financial accountant before she joined The Delta Group as a Financial Controller and was recently promoted to Head of Finance. Today we will be discussing her journey from chartered accountant to date, how she got from A to B and any advice that she can offer along the way. Christie, welcome to the podcast.

Christie Scott:
Hello. Thanks for having me.

Anna Penny:
It is a pleasure. Thank you so much for joining us. To start with, I just thought it would be lovely if you could talk me through initial thought processes at the time when you decided to leave practice.

Christie Scott:
To be honest, it was mostly because I wanted to move to the UK. So I was quite happy working in practice at Pitcher Partners or Baker Tilly as it's known in the UK. I really liked the work I was doing and the partner I worked for, but I just always wanted to move to the UK. The easiest way to do that, I felt at the time was to move into industry and come over and day rate contract. So that's a really common thing for Australian and Kiwi accountants to do. I kind of just thought, Oh, I'll go to the UK for a couple of years, get some experience working for few different companies and then I can take that back with me. You know, I kind of planned to go back to practice, to be honest. Once I came back from London, so that was really that was the basis of my decision. That's one of the main reasons I chose to study chartered accounting and to go down that career path, because i'd always wanted to work overseas and it's very transferable. So yeah, that was really what led me to do that.

Anna Penny:
Fantastic. How did you go about it out of interest, making the move from practice to industry across the world?

Christie Scott:
I had a couple of friends who had done the same thing, a few years before me, they've given me some really good advice. I just did some research on different recruiters to use and got in touch before I left Australia. Then as soon as I arrived, I kind of hit the ground running. I set up a limited company and spoke to recruiters almost the first day. In hindsight, I probably could have waited a few days. I was nervous about making the move, to be honest. So I tried to get the ball rolling as quickly as I could and what I found was that there were plenty of jobs. Plenty of different roles out there and really, it wasn't a difficult process, I got a job fairly quickly. I had only had two interviews, but I took the first job I was offered. It was a little bit by chance, but I didn't find the move difficult at all. Luckily.

Anna Penny:
That's really good to hear. Do you reckon that if looking back on it, do you think you would have liked to have explored more opportunities? Or are you quite happy that you took the first job that was offered to you?

Christie Scott:
I think now I am. Probably at the time I could have calmed down a bit and taken a bit of time to be honest. I think my first day of work at Antler was within seven days of arriving in the UK, so I didn't really have much of a break. I just thought I better take the first job, I did have another interview for a role which was to help a company through a sale process which I just did not feel experienced enough for at the time so I knew that wasn't the right role for me and the Antler role did seem better suited. I think it's all worked out okay in the end but probably could have realized that there were enough roles out there and I probably could have taken my time a bit more, but I feel like it's all worked out fine now.

Anna Penny:
Absolutely. If you consider where you are now, of course, everything's easy in hindsight. What would you say was, I suppose, the biggest shock to the system in regards to leaving practice or leaving a professional services environment to going into a role in industry?

Christie Scott:
I think when you are working in practice, you're working with hundreds of Accountants with similar  career goals, similar training, everyone's quite driven. It's also quite competitive and that kind of spurs you on, you know, you're all in the same boat. It's totally different working in industry. You're with lots of different people from lots of different backgrounds, all different departments within the business. It's actually a really good thing because you learn so much from different people. Especially if you're in a bit of a business partnering role that you're working with marketing and you don't get that really when you're in practice. So I think that was a bit of a shock. Also, I think just learning how businesses operate. You just don't really get that when you're in practice, and you're almost like an outsider looking in. But when you're in the business, I don't want to use the word complicated but you know there's processes, non finance people that you're trying to work with, it's definitely a bit of a learning curve, but a really good one. I think you learn a lot. Very quickly. So that was probably the biggest shock for me. Like, it is quite different. But I liked the change

Anna Penny:
Would you say that you found it challenging at all, making that transition or that it worked quite smoothly? Were you eased into it?

Christie Scott:
I was definitely eased into it because I had a good handover from the lady I was taking over from. I felt like I knew what I needed to do, but I think it is totally different. And then, you know, getting into the routine, the month end cycle going through the first audit and I didn't work in audit when I was in practice. So that was kind of completely foreign to me. I think if you just ask lots of questions and go in knowing that your training in practice is a great foundation. But it is a little bit different, what I found working in industry. It is a little bit of a learning curve, but I think if you work hard and you're determined, then it's fine. But yeah, it was a little bit of a shock to the system. I think it depends if you have a decent handover or not, that makes all the difference.

Anna Penny:
So what advice would you give somebody that has just left practice is just joining a new role in industry, what advice would you give them for day one?

Christie Scott:
Oh, gosh, I think firstly in terms of finding a role, I would say just take your time and have a think about what kind of industry you might be interested in. I mean there's such a variety. That's a good thing about this career. You can work in any industry, any sector and then within that, there's so many different roles within the finance team. So I would say just spend some time thinking about what you're actually interested in and then what kind of role you want. Do you want to go down a reporting role, like financial accounting, financial controller, which is what I did. Do you want to be more analytical, like FP&A where you would be doing more forecasting and it's probably a bit more glamorous than the reporting, but I personally just preferred reporting. Then I think on day one, just remember your training and I think if you can master the accounting system, try and learn as much as you can from the person you're taking over from if you have that luxury to have a handover. Also different people around the business, you know, they might not have come from an accounting background like you or you know have completely different skills, but you can definitely learn a lot from everyone that you're working with in all different parts of the business. And it's only going to help you later on in your career. I think as well, it's important to remember if you do make the move to industry and you find that you prefer practice. You can you can go back and you could take that experience with you.

Anna Penny:
That's really, really good advice. Thank you. Christie. I think it's a sort of thing that we as recruiters can say to the people that we speak to and I think it's worth its weight in gold coming from somebody that's actually been through the process and gone through the motions. Because ultimately, it can it can feel very daunting. When you're, you know, leaving something you've known for three or four years going into a completely new world. That’s lovely advice. So back to you personally. A massive congratulations on your recent promotion. Really, really fantastic. Is this where you saw yourself eight years post qualified?

Christie Scott:
To be honest it’s not, because I thought that I would come to the UK for two years. Do some traveling, you know, decent direct contracting, get some different experience and then go back to Sydney, back to practice. But then, life doesn't really go to plan, Antler very kindly sponsored me because I decided I wanted to stay in the UK for longer so I ended up doing that and then I've been here for five and a half years now and I've stayed in industry. I'm definitely happy with where my career has led me, but I don't think it's what I planned initially and so yeah bit of a different path, but I think I'm pretty happy with how things have turned out.

Anna Penny:
It's amazing, the progression that you've had being particularly at The Delta Group, it's been absolutely fantastic. Do you think there would be anything you would have done differently, just looking at the most relevant three roles that we’re considering, Baker Tilly Pitcher Partners, Antler and The Delta Group.

Christie Scott:
I don't think so, to be honest, my probably only one regret is that I never had a gap year and I think that I would have liked to have done that but you know at the time I just was really keen to finish uni and get a grad job, but career wise, I don't think no. Now I don't think I would have done anything differently. I think I've had really good experience, Different experience for every company that I've worked for whether it's in practice or now in industry and I've learned a lot in each of those roles. And so no, I don't think I would have done anything differently, to be honest.

Anna Penny:
That’s a lovely position to be in. Out of interest, if you could have taken a gap year which point would you have done it?

Christie Scott:
I probably would have done it between university and starting work. Yeah. But I graduated at the end of 2009 which was during the global financial crisis and there was a lot of talk going around that there weren't a lot of grad jobs so I just applied and was keen to get started. In hindsight we look back and think actually, that would have been fine but yeah I think that would have been the time to do it if I had done it.

Anna Penny:
There is still time. You never know.

Christie Scott:
Since moving to the UK, i've been pretty lucky with travelling so I can't complain, to be honest.

Anna Penny:
So as I'm sure you know you know every year we get people qualifying and, you know, leaving practice, you know, twice a year and now is one of those hotspots. Lots of people really kind of considering their life outside of practice and looking at roles in industry. Is there any kind of advice that you would outside of the advice you've already given would give these candidates that are considering making that jump, what advice would you give it and why?

Christie Scott:
I think, as I said, just really think about what you want to do. Where do you see your career going and then which path? What kind of role do you think you should take to help further that? I think it's important to just learn as much as you can. It is quite different from working in practice. I mean you're not starting from scratch, because you've obviously got really great training, but it will be a bit of a learning curve and so I’d probably make sure your first role is something well rounded where you can get lots of experience. And think about the company that you're working for, you know. Does it suit, especially in this day and age, maybe do they have flexible working arrangements and is it a large company, is it a small company. If you went for something, say like a startup, you know, there's not going to be as the finance processes or the accounting processes might not be as solid as a better established company, but you'll be thrown right in the deep end, which is really good experience as well. And think about the company. The type of industry that you want to work for. Make sure that you're interested in it.

Anna Penny:
Again, such lovely advice to hear from you and actually kind of just to get moving back to what we spoke about initially and further advice. You mentioned that you took Antler because it was the first role that was presented to you. Now we find more and more candidates are in a position now where they're brand new to the market, a role is offered to them within a couple of weeks of exploring what's out there. What is your advice on them accepting that first role that's given to them or exploring the market further?

Christie Scott:
I think if you feel like it's not quite the role you're after. I think it's okay to wait. Don't always be swayed by money. You know, there might be a role that paying a little bit more that you think is not quite right. I think now's the time to be choosy if you can be. That first role that you get offered might be your dream role. So by all means take it. But yes, if you feel it's not quite right, I don't think there's any harm in in being a bit patient so that you can kind of pick and choose. Even if you have to go on a few interviews, interviews are hard, I think no matter how many you've done. For me, I find them, you know, it's nerve racking. So the interview experiences is always good. Whichever way it goes. I think it's okay to be choosy and take your time. If it takes a few months longer, then so be it. You might end up with a really great role because you've been patient.

Anna Penny:
Fantastic. Again that’s really, really lovely advice. I also think, certainly from where I sit on the recruitment side of things it’s so important to go with your gut instinct. Sometimes that is the first role, but ultimately it's like you say it is okay to wait. Honestly, Christy. Thank you so much for such really intelligent personal advice and it's been so lovely to have you join us on our Robert Walters podcast. Thank you so much for joining us, it really has been an absolute pleasure.

Christie Scott:
Not a problem. I hope it helps someone. Good luck to anyone who might be listening to this, who's making the move.

Anna Penny:
Thanks Christie