Last year (2019) at this time, I was busy auditing away. My audit client was stressful given the acquisition, turnovers, and of course, accounting complications - but at least we got an extension.
I remember having a career conversation with my career coach (AK) about transferring into another line of service, and sitting at the call room in the client's office talking with my HR manager (D) about my next steps. I was deciding between two lines of service, and was leaning towards one option because it was more closely related to accounting, whereas the second option (FDD) would've been a new field. When I told D that I wanted to transfer into the first line of service, she encouraged me to go for FDD instead of being intimidated.
That led me to be introduced to some people from that team, and being interviewed in July. And throughout this time, an ex-coworker who had also transferred to the US (AH) reached out to me unexpectedly to share his tips, interview experience and compensation expectations. The timing and how people and things lined up was really amazing. If AH hadn't mentioned this team while we were chatting about something else, and D hadn't encouraged me to go for it, I would not have pursued my top choice or be where I am today. If AK and D hadn't advocated for me to transfer as a senior 3, or if AH did not give me a benchmark expectation for compensation to negotiate for, I would also have been paid 8% less for a whole year!
I have to admit I hadn't always been fully focused or devoted in my prayers in the last year. But one thing I actually prayed for with more intention was God's guidance with my career/next steps, because I really didn't know what I wanted and what was best for me. There was no longer one set path for me to follow after obtaining my CPA and big four experience, and as my friends were jumping out into industry and other roles, I also wondered whether I should too.
Someone had long-ago advised me: don't jump ship for the sake of jumping. Jump when I have reason to and a good exit plan, because what I jumped into next would determine the start of my new path, so make sure to jump into a good one. But the time had finally come when I knew that I was no longer learning and did not find the work meaningful/impactful in audit. So even though staying another year would have allowed me to make manager, the title alone wasn't worth my time. I felt that expanding my experience year by year would outweigh the value of a title when looking for my next job anyway.
Well, things weren't always that clear when I was in the middle of it. Not having clear principles to narrow down my options was semi-paralyzing. It wasn't until after one prayer that it occurred to me to ask myself: with my life ahead of me, what do I actually want to learn next? While I am still young, I can afford taking more risky, adventurous jobs, or even start over to pursue a new career path.
Knowing myself though, I didn't want my accounting experience to go to waste and preferred to leverage my CPA, so I was reluctant and not ready to fully jump out of my comfort zone. I had always been interested in mergers & acquisitions, and private equity/venture capital, so FDD seemed like a good place to be! Looking back now, I realize God had led me to the make the right choice. It's a much smoother journey to transition internally to another line of service, then externally into industry, than the other way around. Also, this last year was much more chill (given my 45% utilization this fiscal year LOL) compared to my perpetual audit stress in the past; this was much healthier for me and gave me time to work on my personal development/growth.
So thank God for His guidance, He truly answered my prayers when I put my heart into it! Time and time again He shows His wisdom and foresight, pointing me and leading me to the best direction even though I didn't know where I was heading. I really should seek Him and ask for His guidance more often! :)
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