Career Reflection Assignment - Accounting Career Development Plan

This assignment is a career reflection document that explores the student's personal values, required hard skills for an accounting career, and demonstrated abilities. Task 1 focuses on identifying five personal values and five essential hard skills for a career in accounting, including proficiency in MS Office, tax preparation software, and financial statement interpretation. Task 2 highlights the student's communication, organizational, teamwork, customer service, and project management skills through work experiences. Finally, Task 3 presents an elevator pitch summarizing the student's career aspirations and qualifications. The assignment references relevant literature on career management and work-life balance, providing a comprehensive self-assessment and career planning exercise.

CAREER REFLECTION

Table of Contents
TASK 1 – VALUES AUDIT.......................................................................................................................1
1. 5 Personal values influencing life choices...........................................................................................1
2. 5 Hard skills required..........................................................................................................................1
TASK 2.......................................................................................................................................................1
TASK 3.......................................................................................................................................................3
REFERENCES............................................................................................................................................5

TASK 1 – VALUES AUDIT
1. 5 Personal values influencing life choices
The five personal values which influence my life choices are:
 Honesty
 Compassion
 Creativity
 Determination, and
 Learning
Consideration of values is imperative for career management because our values are the
subset of our ideas and beliefs. These are a crucial part of who we are. Hence, it is important to
identify them before we select a career or decide whether to take an employment offer (Kossek,
Lewis and Hammer, 2010).
2. 5 Hard skills required
I plan to pursue a career in accounting. For this, I require the following 5 core skills:
 Proficiency in MS Office suite, particularly Excel – 95% of the accounting work is done
in Excel, and hence I need to be able to work on it.
 Familiarity with tax preparation software – Accounting is no more manual and software
are used for everything to make work easier. Knowing how to use this software is
important to reduce my workload and perform effectively (Greenhaus, Callanan and
Godshalk, 2009)
 Familiarity with regulations, standards and practices – Every accounting transaction
needs to be prepared to keep in mind the accounting standards.
 Knowledge of preparing and interpreting financial statements – This is the most basic
accounting function which I must know
 Knowledge of implementing accounting control – Knowledge of accounting control is
required to mitigate risk.
TASK 2
Demonstrated capacity to communicate effectively
My work experience as an intern at XYZ company implied that I cultivated and applied
abilities in this area. I was regularly dealing with clients, suppliers and the staff both over the
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phone and in person. One of my main duties included field customer enquiries that used my
communication skills. I had to coordinate with different parties like creditors, banks, clients,
debtors and affiliate firms. Apart from performing regular accounting tasks, I also had to draft
letters, prepare reports, send emails, and write interpretations for management evaluation and
decisions. I clearly and precisely documented all the above information in the company’s filing
system. By using effective written and oral forms of communication, I ensured a healthy
relationship with our clients and other stakeholder groups which provided them with efficient
customer service. Resultantly, my supervisor appreciated my communication skills at the
completion of my internship.
Good organizational and administrative skills
As a competent junior accountant intern, I demonstrated a proven ability to organize
things effectively and solve problems. I am an extremely organized person with the potential to
maintain precision and work to stringent deadlines. I have also successfully discharged several
administrative responsibilities. In all such roles, I performed general admin duties like arranging
meetings, sorting and sending emails, handling telephonic and client enquiries etc. Through my
role as an intern, I have drawn on my administrative and organizational experience to
recommend several improvements to augment office efficacy and add professionalism to the
client base. These recommendations have been implemented.
Proven ability to work as part of a team
I have worked as part of a team in both my graduation and during my internship, and
hence I understand the significance of good teamwork. As a member of a team, I am aware of
my role plus the roles of my peers to ensure expected results. I have been engaged in teams
which have a problem-solving method to tasks and have assisted in the formulation of action
plans. I really enjoy the opportunity to collaborate and brainstorm opinions and ideas. In one
such experience, I recommended an alternative method to solve an accounting problem, and
other team members contributed toward other domains of that project. Great teamwork resulted
in the project being highly successful. I collaborate effectively with all my teammates to
facilitate a flexible communication environment by discussing issues we might have. I also
coached others, junior members, when required.
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Well-developed customer service skills
I have worked in the customer service domain in the finance industry during my
internship. My job involved direct contact with customers and I was usually the first point of
contact for our company’s clients. I was proactive in my association with clients and was
successful in building a loyal consumer base in my community. This involved frequent calling in
talking about any needs the clients may have. I am committed to and passionate about offering
exceptional customer service and am keen on taking further training in conflict resolution,
customer feedback and customer relations. I have confidence in my ability to handle any
situation which may arise.
Proven ability to manage projects
My project management abilities are demonstrated well enough through the completion
of a significant research project that I undertook for my Honors Degree, plus working as a
volunteer at Community Care where also I formed a grant submission. The latter experience
encompassed creating a project plan outlining the crucial milestones of the project and producing
a GANTT chart to set out the timelines for every milestone. I prepared two presentations to the
team on my progress. My proposal was approved by the Fundraising Officer, and the institution
received $5000 for new equipment for supporting community program. My Honors assignment
included the proper management of the entire project phase, from getting ethics permission to
conducting a literature review to undertaking interviews and evaluating and reporting the
findings.
TASK 3
Elevator pitch
Hello, my name is XYZ. I stand here today to sell my resume. But I want to tell you
personally what my resume does not include. My resume would tell you that I am an accounting
major at ABC college. However, my resume will not tell you I am not typical student as I believe
in practical learning. My resume shows that I have worked part-time and also as an intern where
I proved my mettle as an accountant. I have shown immense passion toward my work as I did
every task from a simple administrative job through to advanced financial statement reporting
and interpretation. Further, when I aim to accomplish something then I work mornings, nights,
holidays and weekends to accomplish it irrespective of hindrance factors. Everything I do has a
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purpose, and me being here is not an accident. I am deeply interested in the entry level
accountant position at your firm. I believe your organization is the ideal place to hone my skills
and then use those skills to contribute toward the achievement of business objectives. I know I
am right for this position as I am dedicated and motivated to move my career past multiple part-
time jobs and internships I have had before. Through these work experiences, I have learnt to be
a team player and have demonstrated sound abilities to organize and manage work. If you require
any further information, you can email me.
Linked in as social media branding
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REFERENCES
Kossek, E., Lewis, S. and Hammer, L.B., 2010. Work-life initiatives and organizational change:
Overcoming mixed messages to move from the margin to the mainstream. human
relations, 63(1), pp.3-19.
Greenhaus, J.H., Callanan, G.A. and Godshalk, V.M., 2009. Career management. Sage.
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