Recruitment expert Matt McGilton says networking and mentoring are crucial to finance professionals, regardless of what stage of your career.
Kaizen Recruitment MD Matt was speaking after our first Current & Future Leaders session in Sydney.
He urged those attendees to follow through on the connections they had made at the event where Judo Bank founder and CEO Joseph Healy gave his own reflections on mentoring.
The unique speed mentoring event which brought together more than 35 young finance professionals to network and learn from leaders will be repeated in capital cities across Australia in the second part of 2023.
Matt, who was a member of the Victorian Young Finance Professionals when the Current & Future Leaders concept was first devised a decade ago, said: “It’s so important to network and learn – and to form those important connections - in your mid to late 20s.
“For young aspirational professionals, the opportunity to learn from other senior leaders and cultivate relationships with other young people starting out on their career it’s vital.
“I was reflecting afterwards – when one of my team told me how excited she was to be able to recruit for the banks – was that it was an opportunity she needed to follow up on.
“And I would say that to all those who were at the event. Make sure you follow up with those people you met.
“If you don’t follow up with an email or a call and organise a meeting, it’s a wasted opportunity.
“Those future follow-ups and those relationships are where the real opportunities are – and with these events, it really depends on what you put in.”
Reflecting on his time as a member of the Victorian YFP, Matt said: “At that age, early on in your career, to get experience on an advisory committee is incredible.”
Matt – whose base is in Melbourne - was in Sydney for the event and to work with those in the newly-opened Kaizen office. But his visit was also to catch up with clients who he had met earlier during similar sessions.
“Building those ongoing relationships is so important. You just never know when you're going to interact with them again. You never know when you’re looking for an answer to something and it's easy to pick up your phone with that someone who you established a relationship with at FINSIA.”
Matt, whose team in Sydney has grown to six, says that the job market for finance professionals has just started to contract but that there are still great opportunities.”
He thinks that the days of huge wage demands are over with some businesses even making redundancies.
He said: “It's just rolling off a hill. But there's no theme around role type.
“It's a bit of everything. Strategy change, organisations paid too much, over-hired, supply price increasing. But from a recruitment perspective, there are still good opportunities in the market. Things have just tightened up a little bit.
“Candidates expectations were overinflated for a lot of the first nine months of 2022. They've softened now. Everyone's just getting a little bit more realistic.”
Read more: How Current & Future Leaders is best for networking - for extroverts and introverts
