Career Spotlight: Top 5 Tips for Furthering Your Finance Career

Our November AP Automation Digital Summit 2024 has now concluded. Our speakers delivered thought-provoking talks that painted an informative picture of today's AP Automation landscape. In our session ‘Career Spotlight: Top 5 Tips for Furthering Your Finance Career,’ speakers Haley Fritz, FIS, Lai Gaik Chew, Zalora Group, and Arpitha Shetty, Kohler Co, shared their 5 top tips for furthering your finance career.

What were the Biggest Challenges in your Early Finance Roles?

Fritz stated that “one of the biggest challenges you could face in your early finance roles is ‘imposter syndrome.’” The panel discussed how self-doubt in your ability to offer unique perspectives, can hinder your career process. Haley Fritz, Strategic Partnerships and Promotions Leader & Automated Finance GTM FIS shared that before joining FIS, she worked for a non-profit. Coming into a finance role she felt out of her element, never imagining that she could learn the relevant skills to excel in the finance world. However, she discovered that her background brought a different flair to her finance role. Her previous skills became an asset rather than a drawback. She emphasized that self-confidence and continuous learning can help you overcome this challenge and lead you to make a positive impact in a finance role.

How Do Finance Professionals Need to Transform Their Skill Set in the Age Of AI?

Reading a lot on AI is needed to “build a blueprint”, allowing you to understand the value you want to deliver as a finance professional. Lai Gaik Chew, GBS Director, Zalora Group added to this point stating that “continuous improvement and being knowledgeable on the market and what tools are suitable” is key in furthering this. Arpitha Shetty, General Manager, Global Service Delivery Lead R2R Kohler Co, offered, that a good place to start would be with data. As there is a vast amount of data, it must be morphed into a cohesive structure, so that AI solutions can be “slotted in” as best as possible once introduced.  

If You Could Recommend One Professional Development Activity for Advancing in Financial Roles, What Would It Be?

To advance within a finance career, a plethora of different capabilities are required. One key move highlighted by Fritz would be to network and “say yes to everything while you can.” Before inevitable life demands are intertwined with your career. Make sure to build professional connections and be open to talking and connecting with people across the industry. Connections through networking can open professional doors and offer support during your career development journey. Chew recommended participating in courses that offer problem-solving skills and those that can teach you what automation and AI are all about so that you can advance successfully in your finance role. 

These are simply just a few highlights from the session. To listen to the presentation in its entirety you can view the session on-demand above. If you would like to see more great insights from SSON, join our next online event, the Autonomous Finance Virtual Summit.