HOW TO GET A JOB OR WORK WHILE OTHERS ARE BEING RETRENCHED

I was fortunate to get my 1st job just a month after my graduation. It was not a high flying one by any standard but I was so excited to have got a job! Many a graduate would have despised it, which Bachelor of Commerce degree holder would have wanted to work in an Indian family owned service station in a small town?

A couple of months into the job, they announced that they were going to retrench because the company was not doing well. I remember they had to choose between a secretary who could do accounting work or an Accountant who could do secretarial work. I happened to be the latter. Sadly therefore the secretary and personal assistant to the MD lost her job. I therefore became an Accountant and Secretary-cum- personal assistant to the MD.

I appreciated early in my carrier not to be choosy when I am seeking to gain experience, to learn as many skills as possible and not to be limited to my professional qualifications. I seek knowledge, I seek continuous improvement, I am not shy to embrace new roles and responsibilities. I learnt to look for WORK to do as opposed to looking for a JOB. In the words of the late Dr. Myles Munroe, “You can be fired from your JOB; but you can never be fired from your WORK”.

It was from that first job that my boss (the MD’s daughter) taught me how to use QuickBooks and many years later I am now a QuickBooks Professional Advisor and Trainer. Dr. Munroe said “think beyond your JOB, there is no future in any JOB; the future is in the one who holds the JOB”. I wish to submit that you should think beyond your professional qualifications because the bots are here to compete for the same jobs, thanks to artificial intelligence (AI)

According to internet sources, it is said that perhaps 75% of the jobs done by humans will be gone in 50 years. As they are starting to do today, machines will manage the routine while humans take on the unpredictable – tasks that require creativity, problem solving and flexibility. No existing or future job without exception is safe simply because computers as general purposes machines think smarter, less error prone and continue to be programmed to be more creative than humans in the long run.

So if you are a Driver, General Doctor, Lawyer, Accountant, Pharmacist, Artist, Wealth management Advisor, Writer, Music Composer, Researcher, Programmer, decision maker, (list is long), how are you evolving to remain indispensable in 2025 and beyond?

Though I am a Chartered Certified Accountant (FCCA) and Certified Public Accountant (CPA) with an MBA on top of it…..I have chosen not be bound by these titles…..I have chosen to work because I know “JOBS are temporary; WORK is permanent. You can retire from your JOB; but you can never retire from your WORK”, Dr. Myles Munroe.

"As the world changes and finance becomes an ever increasing priority for most organsations, there is a recognised need for the role of the finance professional to change. No longer can the finance professional sit behind a spreadsheet or spend hours simply playing with a chart of accounts. There is now a need, and in a lot of cases a pull from the business, for a finance professional to play a greater part in the strategic decision making and planning within a business.This has created the developing role of the Finance Business Partner." ICAS #Quote

The Accountancy 360 program is designed to mentor an Accountant into a strategic Business Partner.

Program: (each session includes a QuickBooks module)

Session 1: Traits of the indespensable Accountant 

Session 2: The Financial Dash Board

Session 3: Financial Health Check 

Session 4: Essential Controls to plug financial leaks

Session 5: The Taxation and compliance Game

Fee: Ugx80,000 per session or Ugx360,000 for all the 5 sessions

Venue: Business Development Centre, 3rd Floor, Forest Mall, Lugogo, Kampala

Time: 10am to 12pm

Duration: Every Saturday from 1st September to 29th September 2018

RSVP +256 782305125/ 759330706 (Limited slots available)

With best wishes!

Lilian Katiso