WHY SOFT SKILLS ARE SO IMPORTANT

Trainee Accountant to Senior: How to Progress in Practice (Quickly!)

Throughout my career as a specialist recruiter in professional practice, I’ve had the privilege of working with many talented, ambitious accountants, and some have progressed faster than others. While every journey is unique, there are clear patterns in what helps people move from trainee roles into more senior finance jobs within professional practice. Drawing from this experience, I’ve put together a set of strategies any accountant can adopt to accelerate their career up the professional practice ladder. These tactics have proven to be highly effective for those aiming to achieve their professional goals efficiently and successfully. Embrace Increasing ResponsibilityAs you begin your career in accountancy, the scope of your duties often starts with basic tasks such as data entry, reconciling accounts, and preparing reports. While these tasks are important for building a foundation, taking on more responsibility is key to developing the skills and experience needed for progression in practice.Start by volunteering for more complex tasks that stretch your skillset, such as handling larger client accounts, managing financial forecasting, or (if possible) participating in audits. These challenges will expose you to new aspects of accountancy and allow you to learn beyond the day-to-day duties. Another way to progress quickly is by taking on leadership roles within a team or department. Taking on the responsibility of overseeing junior staff, delegating tasks, and ensuring deadlines are met can significantly enhance your development and provide you with the invaluable ‘management experience’ which is essential for trainee accountants looking to advance to the next step in their professional practice careers. Continuous Learning and Self-DevelopmentAs you challenge yourself with new responsibilities, actively pursuing knowledge and development goes hand in hand with completing further qualifications. Traditionally, most accountants I work with are newly or nearly AAT qualified which is a fantastic accomplishment in itself but for those with aspirations of climbing the ladder the next step should be further studies. Qualifications such as the ACA, ACCA or CTA (depending on your chosen specialism) will allow you to strengthen your technical expertise. It’s worth mentioning here that a good training contract and mentor are invaluable for the next step in your journey and should be a big factor when deciding to look for a new role after completing your AAT. Finding a Mentor Another important aspect of progressing quickly in accountancy is developing relationships with more experienced colleagues, supervisors, and managers. By seeking mentorship from more experienced professionals, you can gain insights into how they managed their career progression. Also, they can guide you in taking on appropriate challenges and responsibilities and help you navigate the complexities of the profession. Many of the most successful finance professionals credit their career growth to strong mentorship relationships established early in their journey. NetworkingNetworking is one of the most underutilised tools for career progression in finance. While it might feel intimidating at first, networking allows you to connect with and learn from likeminded individuals, stay informed about trends in professional practice, and discover new opportunities. One of the primary reasons networking is important is that it helps build valuable relationships that can last your career. By connecting with colleagues, senior professionals, and other stakeholders, you gain access to a wealth of knowledge, insights, and opportunities that can propel your career forward. Ultimately, networking is not just about what you can gain but also about what you can offer to others. By fostering meaningful relationships, you contribute to a collaborative and supportive community that benefits everyone involved. Here at Sharp Consultancy, we host events across the year and have a long-standing relationship with various institutions and training groups including S&DCASS (Sheffield and District Chartered Accountants Student Society), LCASS (Leeds Chartered Accountants Students Society) and First Intuition to host events that bring studiers together from various firms throughout Yorkshire. It really is a brilliant first step in your networking journey. Whether you're just starting out or already on your way up, accelerating your career in professional practice comes down to a mix of mindset, opportunity, and action. By embracing responsibility, committing to continuous learning, building genuine relationships, and tapping into the right support networks, you’ll put yourself in the best possible position to thrive. If you’d like to explore how to take that next step—or just want to chat through your options—I’d love to hear from you. Let’s connect and start shaping your future together. Charlie Marper, Business Manager, charliemarper@sharpconsultancy.com – 0114 261 1700 Looking for your next career move in finance or accountancy? At Sharp Consultancy, our expertise lies in matching your potential with the perfect temporary, interim, or permanent position. With a well-established presence in Leeds and Sheffield, our seasoned team of consultants extends their services across Yorkshire and beyond. Don't wait for opportunity to knock, reach out to us TODAYand let's chart your career path together.

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When preparing for an interview for a new position or aiming to gain a promotion, it can be easy to focus upon your job specific knowledge and experience and over look the soft skills which are just as important to ensuring that you land the role.

With more and more employers utilising competency based interviews as part of the recruitment process, failing to understand the importance of soft skills could see you trip yourself up as these will often assist employers differentiate between candidates of a similar calibre.

Whilst hard skills – your qualifications, training courses, experience and expertise – are undoubtedly important, soft skills demonstrate more to an interviewer about your people or interpersonal skills and generally cover areas such as communication, teamwork and problem solving.

The majority of candidates applying for a role will no doubt tick many, if not all, of the boxes – the hard skills - necessary to perform the role and any which do require improvement, such as mastering a particular IT programme, will often be in areas that can be addressed through training. Softer skills however tend to be the skills that a person ‘naturally’ possesses, and as such are not so easy to teach therefore can be harder to find an individual that displays the right qualities that will make them an ideal cultural fit for a particular organisation.

During an interview, employers will look to assess your soft skills through a series of questions aimed at getting you to talk about real life situations where you will be required to describe how you approached a particular scenario, your behaviour and what the eventual outcome was and what you took away from the experience.

Before attending an interview, it is worth preparing a handful of relevant examples that will enable you to demonstrate these skills.

Our top five soft skills for success:

1.Communication

Demonstrate that you are a good communicator by illustrating your examples with the type of language that you used, your tone, delivery and also your ability to listen and take on board the views of others.

2.Problem Solving

Show that you can think around a problem and come up with creative solutions and put in place measures to address any obstacles which you may come up against. It is also beneficial to highlight examples of where you have been proactive in anticipating a problem and where you have been able to overcome unexpected issues to produce a successful outcome.

3.Negotiating Skills

Can you deliver a compelling case for approaching a project in a certain way? Can you build effective relationships with other team members and departments to ensure that everyone is working towards the same goal? Can you take on board other points of view and work collaboratively to help shape the eventual outcome?

4.Passion

Are you genuinely enthusiastic about the role and opportunity to join the company? Don’t be afraid to show that you are keen to become part of the team and that you have the drive and desire to make the role a success.

5.Confidence

It’s important that you demonstrate that you are confident in your ability – but don’t let that come across as being arrogant. Show that you believe you are the right person for the role with examples of how you have made successful contributions, by sharing your goals and ambitions for the future and how you think you can make a real difference to the organisation.

Sharp Consultancy specialises in the recruitment of temporary, interim and permanent finance professionals. With offices in Leeds and Sheffield our highly experienced team of consultants recruit for positions throughout Yorkshire and beyond. CONTACT US today to speak to a member of our team about your next career move.