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While most accountants are loyal to their employer, 23 percent plan to leave as soon as the economy improves, according to an informal survey by Ajilon Finance and the Institute of Management Accountants. The survey, taken at the end of an IMA Webinar, asked 458 accountants about their post-recession job plans. Only 57 percent said they planned to stick around once the economy improves.
Given that the Webinar was a daytime event and participants were likely answering the question via their work computer, some would suggest the 57 percent figure may be somewhat inflated.
But, Ajilon Senior Vice President Jodi Chavez doesn’t think the results would have changed that much if the question were asked in a more private setting.
“To a certain extent people are on a computer at work all the time,” she says. “Your supervisor isn’t standing over you to see what you’re on, they just know you’re on the computer.”
Specifically, the survey asked: What are your career plans once the economy improves? The respondents, who could choose more than one answer, also planned to ask for a raise (14 percent), or leave the profession (2 percent), while 16 percent weren’t sure what they were going to do.
Long-term Commitment
A sizeable proportion of those surveyed have long-term loyalty to their employer: 44 percent said they saw themselves working for the same company five years from now, while only 25 percent saw themselves at another company in five years.
That’s because accountants and finance professionals simply aren’t job hoppers by nature, Chavez says. “They find gratification in working with numbers and unless the culture is uncomfortable, the hours are outside the normal work-life balance, or the pay is significantly below industry average, there isn’t a lot of job hopping,” she says.
Jeffrey Thomson, the IMA's president and chief executive, suspects demographics and job market trends affected the survey results. Today’s youngest professionals move much more frequently than more experienced professionals, he explains.
“In the 24 years I was with AT&T, I had 12 to 16 jobs" within the company, Thomson says. “Now, it’s much more competitive. If I want to move to another business unit, I have to apply for that job almost as though I’m an outsider. Although there is some internal employee equity and hiring and promoting from within, at the end of the day it’s a tough business and you have to get the best employee at the best rate.”
He also suspects economic challenges have put accounting and finance professionals in leadership roles helping companies ensure healthy balance sheets and cash flows. Therefore, the 57 percent staying may want to be around to see how their strategies play out as the economy rebounds, he adds.
In addition to the 25 percent who planned to leave in five years, there were those who saw themselves in another profession (2 percent), starting their own company (2 percent) or retiring (5 percent). About 17 percent of the respondents didn’t know what they’d be doing in five years.
Should You Stay or Should You Go?
If you’re among the 23 percent who plan to seek a new job when the economy improves, spend a little time now reflecting about why your current job makes you unhappy and what’s missing. “Is it perks, career advancement, bonus potential, work hours?” Chavez asks. “Identify what’s not working before you make a strategic move to the next step.”
As you job hunt, stay within your specialty and your industry to get the best offers. Competency in the software a company uses and the industry in which it operates will put you to the top of the list when you search for a new role, Chavez says.
When you get to the interview, try to take the conversation beyond your specialty knowledge and industry experience by talking about the value you bring to the company, as well.
Experience on special projects, steering committees or testing new software plays especially well with today’s employers, she says. If you don’t have that experience, use this time to do those types of things, so you bring more value to your next company.
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