When I started out my career in finance I must confess I got my first job by agreeing to sign for my interviewing managers football team! In hindsight, my football skills outweighed my accountancy skills! If ever a job got me a foot hold in industry that was the one.
One of the things a good accountant learns very quickly is to listen. This is reiterated throughout your career and especially as a big four management consultant. The art of listening used to be a “one to one” scenario however the whole concept of “listen and learn” has grown into a multimedia smorgasbord! Recruitment used to be dominated by a few big players and a few boutique recruiters again here is your first choice Big or Boutique?
The market when you decide on a career change is more complicated than ever. I have always been told when moving jobs go to companies that you really want to work for but also want you to work for them. I always liked FMCG companies as I really liked the idea that a can of Peardrax is produced from a list of ingredient’s concentrate pear juice, sugar and carbonation. Create one can then palletize it so you have 144 dozen then add another 21 pallets and ship it in a container. That’s when the commercials kick in with the invoice created with the shipping documents and custom declarations etc. As you go through your career there are always decisions to be made. Frequently geographical decisions Big City or Boutique location.
These Big or Boutique decisions never end. As my career in accountancy ended I moved to a multinational software provider Oracle and had probably the most enjoyable job I had ever had. I was basically working on my hobby- software! In this case Big won and my learning curve was phenomenal.
After leaving Oracle I joined a very big ERP Banking project in a very big city. Before I made this move I listened to a lot of advice on opportunities and career goals largely from two guys working for Maximus. Coincidently those two guys now have set up their own recruitment companies and gone from Big to Boutique. My travels took me to London to be precise and HSBC which was the biggest Oracle Fusion cloud project signed at the time. This project was to hone my consultancy skills which it certainly did. However, it’s amazing how working on a tiny area of a project can prove so limiting to an enquiring boutique mind set!
So, we are back to decision time again, and a boutique recruitment company advised me about a boutique oracle service provider, yes, the same one that I mentioned earlier (I kept listening)!
If any of you are at the career crossroads and are considering a change and Big or Boutique is an option come and chat to Namos Solutions where boutique means you will be involved 100% hands-on in the Oracle Fusion Practice with a phenomenal learning curve.
Andy Stamp
Cloud Practice Lead
Namos Solutions
