Ho careers update 4-12-04

This is the second edition of the Ho Careers Update, which is back by popular demand. The only graduate careers newslettter which you need to read.

Pop Yo Collar

Many of us have heard of the term “white collar” as referring to working professionals, typically found in office jobs. But what about those people on those bling bling salaries, that might go overseas to work or reach upper upper management (I’m talking CEO, CFO, directors)? Would these people still be considered white collar…….or are they different? I’d argue that they are now classified as “gold collar”.

Gold collars (GC’s) are not a new class of worker. We always had people like that in the upper echelons of the workforce. But the classification of them is new and it is starting to get greater recognition in the HR industry and in news media. But why is it relevant? Because many of us aspire to become GC’s in the long term – everyone wants to be blingin’ and successful, don’t deny it! More importantly, local companies and the government are recognising that these people are incredibly hard to keep within Australia. If white collars and blue collars can be considered the engine room of the Australian workforce, then GC’s are the ones shifting the gearsticks, directing and changing the ebb and flow of commerce.

GC’s typically do go overseas for more money, opportunities and challenges. One side of the argument is that this represents a significant brain drain in our local economy. The highest talent levels are being taken away. But consider this. Many of them desire to come back and work. Hopefully, they will bring back new skills and ideas learnt from foreign countries. Furthermore, they provide the connection between our economy and foreign ones.

So pop yo collar!


Want opportunities? Go work in an accounting firm!!??!!

I used to work for a company known as High Fliers, a company which did surveys on graduate careers. I ran their focus group on campus and we surveyed the opinions of final year students. High fliers just released the results of one of their surveys in the Australian and particular one caught my attention (thanks to Kyle for DELIBERATELY mentioning it to me to rub it in). Students were asked:

"Which employer do you think offers the best opportunities for graduates?"

The results may shock you. It did to me. Some of the noticeable ones are as follows:

1.........................KPMG

2.......PricewaterhouseCoopers

3..................Ernst & Young

4........................Telstra

5...........................IBM

6.......................Deloitte

8.....................Accenture

12...............Macquarie Bank

19......................Citibank

More importantly, notice how the Big 4 Accounting firms (KPMG, EY, PWC, Deloitte) are well represented in the top 6. Initially it surprised me but it slowly dawned on me why. Accounting firms are excellent training ground for young people, providing and supporting further education. But just as important is their reputation in the marketplace – they are huge globally and are well recognised as the leaders in their field. You also add their diverse and top notch client base and the fact that you gain a lot of good solid professional skills there. They are an excellent launch pad for anyone, to jump into other industries and other careers. So it is justifiable that they represent the greatest career opportunity for a young person.

However, it must be qualified in that its not for everyone. If you know what you want eg. if you want to be a lawyer, your better off aiming to go a top law firm as that represents the greatest opportunity for you. Or if you want to be an IT person, you’d be better off going to an IT place. Similarly, if you’re a marketing person, scientist, teacher, or a graphic designer, an accounting firm is not going to be the best place for you.

But I’ll stand by my statement that for the average person, that is the normal person that graduates from uni, that might not know what they want in life, an accounting firm may represent their best starting point for their career* as they hire from a diverse range of degrees – people with business, law, IT, degrees. However they tend to be biased as they mainly hire people with accounting majors (surprise surprise, they are an accounting firm).

What really shocks me is that Ho Ho Gifts is not on the list for top gradutate employers. What’s up with that????!!!!!

*This author works in a Big 4 Accounting firm and may be slightly biased in his opinion :P.