Finance specialist

1986 to 1988

Creating opportunity: I felt like I was behind the curve and needed to catch up. I decided to take time out each day and go talk to people in other departments under the pretense of seeing how their computer system was working for them. I quickly discovered how much Accountants know about business operations. So, when a position opened up to work on accounting systems ..I took it! Then, when accounting needed someone to audit shipping and receiving operations ..I volunteered! At first my superiors in IT balked. So I convinced them we needed to generate ‘good will’ with accounting to get their ‘buy-in’ on future projects. Consequently, I got tapped to lead a project installing a new General Ledger system. When installation was complete, I felt like I had enough experience, as well as confidence, to make a career change. I applied for a position directly with Finance. It actually required more experience than I had, but the managers in Accounting felt like they had invested enough time in me already so they petitioned the General Manager to waive the ‘years of experience’ guideline and I got the job. This put me in a position to participate in a broader range of business activities. I got to analyze business operations, set budgets and report progress to the Controller’s office. Although I would eventually return to information services, I now had greater latitude in choosing jobs I wanted, as well as the possibility of creating my own.