The twelfth episode of Career Goals is here and features unique career changer, Kaplan apprentice, and social media ambassador, Emily Gough.
Emily initially began her career as a beautician before making a huge, yet unexpected, career change to become an accountant. She’s passionate about showing other people that you can make drastic changes in whichever industry you work in.
Aside from changing careers, Emily is currently studying towards her full ACCA qualification. She runs a successful TikTok account where she discusses finance, careers, and life. She’s also enthusiastic about helping other people enter the industry with self-assurance and confidence, which is further supported by her role as a Kaplan social media ambassador - where she shares her experiences and tips from studying and working in the accounting and finance industry.
Key topics discussed
Introductions
Kelsey opens up the episode by asking Emily what made her choose to go from working as a beautician to becoming an accountant. Emily gives us a whistle stop tour about how one thing led to another and she found herself in the job she now loves.
Word association
Kelsey reads out several words including ‘exams,’ ‘career,’ and ‘power,’ as Emily provides the first word that comes to mind. They discuss Emily’s answers, where we find out about Emily’s anxieties when it comes to exams.
The discussion also leads to the topic of Emily’s qualifications and experience studying via the OnDemand study method with Kaplan, revealing how she began by studying for her AAT qualification and naturally progressed to studying for the ACCA qualification despite being unsure whether she wanted to continue to sit exams.
Dream commute
They move on to the game: Dream Commute. Kelsey asks Emily to provide her dream commute to work, granted that her workplace could be anywhere in the world.
Emily’s answers reveal much more about her background and what’s important to her but also suggest that she values connecting with others. This is transferable with her career as an accountant, where Emily directly addresses the stereotype that an accountant may not necessarily be a sociable career choice. In this discussion, Emily pulls from previous experiences that she’s had with clients, while also providing an easy-to-understand explanation of the differences between industry and practice accounting.
“Time is going to pass anyway. I’ve spoken to people who want to do their ACCA but say they’ll be 30 by the time they finish.
You’re going to be 30 anyway. You’re either going to be a 30 year old who has that qualification because you started it, or a 30 year old who still hates their job.”
The similarities between the beauty industry and accounting
The conversation moves onto the similarities that Emily has noticed between her previous role within the beauty industry and her career today as an accountant. She talks about how both industries require you to work with a wide clientele, which requires necessary skills and characteristics such as empathy, sensitivity, and creativity.
“When you have the people skills and the technical skills, you can be a really valuable accountant to your clients.”
Accountants and creativity
The previous topic leads onto the subject of creativity and how accountants can be creative when working with clients. Emily provides examples from her career on how she utilises her creative skills to successfully provide financial advice to clients of different backgrounds.
This or that?
Kelsey reads out a series of options and Emily quickly answers what she would choose. Examples include ‘knowledge or power,’ and ‘time or money.’ Explaining her choice of money over time, Emily suggests that money can buy you time, as it can lead to less time spent working and more time with family and friends. Similarly, Emily chooses knowledge over power - stating that knowledge is power, and that we should never stop learning.
Never Have I Ever
The conversation moves onto a game of Never Have I Ever. In this segment, Emily talks about not regretting the moves and decisions she has made throughout her career. She highlights how her previous roles and experiences have pushed her towards accounting, which she has now settled in.
Another topic discussed is the importance of keeping your social media platform safe and private. Emily shares a story about how she had an unsuccessful job interview because of content she posted on her personal social media platforms.
Her interview story leads on to Emily sharing the question she asks in every interview which is, ‘do you have any reservations about me?’ She highlights that transparency in job interviews should be evident on both sides, while it also allows the interviewee to share any more information to support their ability to perform in the role, which may have been missed otherwise.
Final thoughts
Emily answers the closing question: what does ‘career goals’ mean to you?
Become a social media ambassador
If you’re interested in becoming a social media ambassador with Kaplan, contact us via social media and our team will be happy to provide more information on what this entails.
You can reach us on the following social media platforms:
Start your career journey with Kaplan
If, like Emily, you’re interested in studying towards the ACCA qualification, have a look at the full course online. Alternatively, browse our other accounting and tax courses that will help you kickstart your career.
If you’re still unsure, you can also contact our Student Services team by emailing studentservices@kaplan.co.uk and they’ll be happy to help.