Advice: Do I stay or do I go?

Although most commerce and industry training programmes train to retain their trainees (80–90% of trainees stay on post-articles), an audit firm usually does not have the capacity to retain all of its trainees as managers. If your audit firm has granted you an opportunity to stay on as a manager, it means they have the space and want to keep your potential.

This can seem like the perfect opportunity for a newly qualified young professional to get that much-needed ‘post-articles’ experience without having to search too far and wide for an employment opportunity. While it is true that you need to consider getting the ‘post-article’ experience to have a proper foot in the door, you also need to consider whether the opportunity your employer is providing you is worth staying on far.

WHAT YOU HAVE TO CONSIDER
There are a few things you need to consider before you decide whether to stay or go:

Market-related salary
The mistake young professionals often make when considering whether to stay or to go is assuming their employer will make them a market-related salary offer. I have found too often that the offers made to newly qualified professionals are below market related for a position because there is the assumption that the person is desperate for a job and will accept any salary or is too humble to negotiate a higher salary. Do your research on market related salaries when you consider the offer which has been presented, and if it is below market related address it before agreeing to stay on.

Post-articles experience
By the time you finish your training contract, you know whether this is an industry you want to continue your career in or whether you want to move into a more corporate environment.
Usually you know more or less where your interest in a new career path will take you. If this is not within the environment where you are currently in, do not stay on just because you were made the offer – consider whether this next career move will help you get where you want to be.

Is there a growth opportunity?
I am not saying your next job after your training training contract will be your forever job, because, let’s face it, you are still young and aspiring to greater heights!
But this is probably a position you will be in for the next two to five years of your life, and during this time you need to be able to grow. Whether this is professional growth, such as receiving opportunities for promotions, or interpersonal growth of learning how to lead and manage teams with effective soft skills, there should be a growth aspect in your employment opportunity.

Will I be happy here?
It sounds strange thinking ‘will I be happy here’ if you consider that you have just spent a minimum of three years with the company, but you need to remember that being a trainee is one thing but being in a managerial position in a company is a different ballgame.

There is a different rule book for managers than for trainees, and if you are honest, you know this by having observed your managers in the last few years. You need to consider things like:

• What was the company’s ability to retain their managers; was there a high staff turnover?
• What was the reason for the previous managers leaving the company?
• Were your managers happy in their roles within the company?
• Did you ever before the offer think that you might want to be part of the management team?

Staying on at your current employer should not only be a matter of gaining ‘post-article’ experience, but it should also be an opportunity to set your career in the direction of your final destination, a place where you will be happy and grow as a young professional.

So, what do you think, should you stay or should you go?

Author
Chantal Potgieter AGA(SA), Senior in Charge at SAPRO