‘Speed Mentoring’ At FINSIAS Young Finance Professionals Evening

Last week we invited a great group of our valued candidates to join us at FINSIA’s Young Finance Professionals (YFP) – Current and Future Leaders networking event. The purpose of the event is to provide a gateway for young aspiring professionals to access unique ideas and meet inspiring business leaders. These leaders are top of their field, passionate about financial services and want to give back.

The format deployed, ‘speed mentoring and networking’, allowed for plenty of time to get around the room and either re-connect with current associates or make new industry connections. All participants were provided the opportunity to spend dedicated time with current leaders within our industry and ask questions about their career journey.

Our team was fortunate to spend time with industry leaders Travis Goudie, Tony Brain, Robert Babb, Fiona Trafford-Walker, Scott Parker and Paul Chin. Below is a summary of their very generous and valuable career insights.

• Travis Goudie, General Manager, Finance – Equity Trustees, opened the discussion at our table by taking us on a journey through his career to date. Key to his success thus far was about having a clear career plan and being accountable to taking the necessary steps to make it happen. Travis could not overstate the importance of having access to a mentor who can impart knowledge and help up and coming leaders identify areas of strength and development in moving closer to the desired ‘ideal role’.  Travis also shared the importance he places on working alongside people he respects and “creating a more efficient working environment that allows my team to utilise their time to add greater value to the business.”

• Tony Brain, Non-Executive Director – ASG, encouraged the table to share their thoughts on career aspirations and talked to the challenges and opportunities that can present along the way and how to deal with them. Tony discussed the importance of building and maintaining strong relationships throughout ones’ career and that it’s ‘okay’ and ‘normal’ to spend time exploring varied opportunities before truly understanding a desired career path.

• Robert Babb, Executive Director, Risk & Compliance – IFM Investors, discussed the challenge of dealing with risk and compliance obligations globally in parallel with a business that is also experiencing significant growth. To this end, Robert stated, “you can’t afford to sweat the small stuff”. Robert also spoke candidly around how he meets these challenges on a day to day basis. He gives credit to and places great importance on building a team around him that is aligned to a culture of embracing challenges built upon the foundations of trust and empowerment.

• Fiona Trafford-Walker, Director – Frontier, provided insight on the fine line between having a defined career plan and keeping an open mind stating that, “the advantage to not planning means your mind is open to more opportunities and prone to taking more risks.” She also stated that, “it is very essential to have passion in what you do. Focus on what you do, you’ll learn the rest. Technical skills are extremely important, something you rent out to the employer, and with time and experience, you learn the rest at your job”

• Scott Barker, Regional Head of Asia Pacific, Debt Investments – IFM Investors, provided pragmatic advice around setting and meeting career goals stating, “you need to have a goal but that goal must be fluid. Your progression will not be linear, sometimes you will need to take a step back to move forward.” He also stated that, “you need to be open, flexible and seize the opportunity when you can. You may at times be required to move around to get to your end goal.” Scott went on to say that we will all inevitably face setbacks along the way but it’s how you respond to those setbacks that provide real professional and personal development opportunities. “To succeed, you need to understand the industry, the dynamics, how to leverage your networks, recognise your value and understand your point of difference.”

• Paul Chin, Director Investment Research and Strategy – Jamieson Coote Bonds, encouraged everyone to explore the prospect of considering international work experience.  This type of exposure would help  broaden the horizons as well as force us to step out from our comfort zone. It would also open opportunities to develop new skills and experiences. Paul’s key messages were, “life is short so you need to make full use of it and you need to be happy with what you want to do”.  He went to say, “you need to always look for ways to continuously develop yourself, network and seek constructive feedback. Importantly, always have a sense of awareness of your strengths and weaknesses.”

Thank you to the organisers for putting on a great event and to the leaders who generously gave up their time to give all participants an insight into their professional experience. It was great to see so many industry professionals gather together in the one room as well as spend time with several Kaizen clients and candidates in a more social and relaxed environment.

Please go to this link to learn more about FINSIA’s Young Finance Professionals (YFP). Kaizen Recruitment highly recommends getting involved with this fantastic community of young financial services professionals to access exclusive networking and career development opportunities.

Best regards

Chris

Chris Goulas – Associate Director

Kaizen Recruitment specialises financial services recruitment across funds management, wealth management, superannuation, investment consulting and insurance. We are based in Melbourne and Sydney. For assistance or further information please telephone our office at +61 3 9095 7157 or submit an online form.

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