Sun, Sea and Jobs for Accountants - Part One

Our Managing Director, Abigail Stevens, has been away for the past month taking Think Global Recruitment on the international road, seeking out the best opportunities for our accountants. In this blog she visits London and Sydney to kick-start her global tour.

 

London’s Calling

 

On the 1st March I caught my first flight from Edinburgh to a location known famously as the City.  It was there that I met with the very knowledgeable and charismatic leader, Anne Swaine of APSCo. APSCo is the UK recruitment industries trade body of which I have just been appointed the Scottish Forum Chair. The organisation was hosting an international forum for consultancies with an interest in setting up offices overseas or recruiting internationally. These forums provide the expert advice and connections which are utilised to enhance the number of vacancies available for our accountants. After that I was off to Australia!

 

From Jetlag to Business

 

As soon as my flight touched down in Sydney, I began my busy schedule of meeting firms interested in hiring international accountants. Due to the economic downturn in the market businesses were unsurprisingly cautious, however, the market definitely is picking up in a number of areas post-recession.  

 

One of the contacts I met that is now seeking other accountants to join his firm had been helped by Think Global Recruitment, making the move from UK to Sydney, as a recently qualified accountant. Craig, who is still at the same firm today, has been a Partner there for a number years. Yet another success story for a British accountant building an international career overseas and a Life Improved!

 

Whilst in Sydney, I had the fortunate experience of meeting two more women with whom we assisted to make their first move to Australia and have done exceedingly well in their careers since! The first,  Chantal, moved over from South Africa with PKF and after just under four years with the firm, moved into the financial service sector.  She has since worked her way up to be a Senior Director with NASDAQ.  Her story can be read here. The second, Dorota, moved over from South Africa as a recently qualified auditor into an Internal Audit role with Macquarie Bank.  After just under three years she moved on to another two organisations to end up in her current role as a Senior Risk Manager. Her story will be in our next blog post so watch this space!

 

Social Networking

 

Through my contacts in the Scottish Government, I was lucky enough to receive an invitation to a charity luncheon ran by David Bocklehurst OEM of Reuters Charity. The charity arranges events for big businesses across the city to network, whilst donating the profits to a variety of Australian Charities.  The event was to present the chosen charities with cheques which amounted to a total of $1.5 million! The luncheon provided an excellent opportunity to talk with a number of high-profile individuals from some of the top global organisations.

 

My final engagement in Sydney was to go to an Australian British Chamber of Commerce's Whisky  Tasting event.  The chosen Bladnoch distillery could not have been more cross-continental, with the distillery being based in Scotland but wholly owned by an Australian company. The event was a great occasion to foster new business relationships and promote the Think Global Recruitment brand. I was also fortunate enough to win the door prize that had been donated by Whisky Live of a very special Islay Single Malt that was a one off special label and only five people in the world know which distillery it was from! It was the perfect way to end my stay in this beautiful city.