What to do when your career is stuck in a rut

Sooner or later, as you progress in your career in Finance, you’re going to feel stuck. Held back. Blocked.

Well, I guess it’s not inevitable.

But it is common. And it is demotivating and frustrating.

It certainly happened to me. And I’ve come across others who are struggling because they feel they have so much more to offer, but they are being held down.

I wrote an article that is packed with really useful, actionable, advice to help you in that kind of situation.

You may need to set aside some time to consider each point carefully.

In my opinion, even though it’s not heavy going, it’s not one to skim through if you want to get the best value out of it. Every point will give you food for thought that you’ll want to spend time reflecting on.

It’s called Help! My Finance Career Has Stalled!

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One of the reasons we get stuck is the natural fact that the higher you get, the less jobs there are, with more people vying for them. So, you have to stand out more the further you get.

That’s what makes it almost inevitable.

Anyway, take a look at the rest of my advice in the article! The most important advice, I think, is in the last section.

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Actually, no, maybe the most important thing to remember is – don’t give up!

I have a quote that I love: “When you set out for a goal with intention, you will either get the result that you wanted or the lesson that you needed.”

BUT, don’t make the mistake of drawing conclusions and lessons from just one knock-back, rejection, failed job application. You need feedback from multiple attempts before you can start to spot patterns that you can learn from.

(I’m just realising, I need to take my own advice! ??♂?)

Want more tips to move you career ahead?

I’ve put together a 23-page Finance Career Action Planner that you can download free of charge.

It’s a list of prompts that will help you to think through where you can either learn new things, improve your performance or enhance your experience, to move you in the right direction in your career in Finance...

... with the ultimate aim of getting CFO ready!

CLICK HERE to download the document.

CFO Readiness Builder

If you are keen to progress quickly in your Finance career, you need to focus on the skills and capabilities that make the difference – the business acumen and behavioural skills that make you a business leader.

Our CFO Readiness Builder program is designed to help you to do that. CLICK HERE to find out more.

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About the Author – Andy Burrows

I’m Andy Burrows, and I’m Founder and CEO of Supercharged Finance, a provider of online learning and coaching, aimed at helping Finance professionals get better at helping the businesses they work for.

I qualified as a chartered accountant in the UK, and have worked for more than 25 years as a senior Finance professional in a variety of businesses of different sizes and sectors.

I’m now a popular writer in Finance and Accounting. In 2019 Anders Liu-Lindberg described me as one of the "Top voices on LinkedIn for Finance, accounting and FP&A". And in 2024 I was given official LinkedIn Top Voice status (see the little blue badge on my profile!)

If you’d like to hear even more from me, go to my profile and click the follow button!