Reflecting On My Career as an Accounting Recruiter

Reflecting On My Career as an Accounting Recruiter – 28.10.24 

In 1998, I graduated from QUT with a Bachelor of Business – Accounting. I was fortunate enough to get my first Graduate Accounting role soon after, which I loved and stayed there for the next few years. This was such a great company, and all the staff had been there for such a long time.  

Naively and immaturely, I thought, how was I ever going to progress my career if no one was leaving? So, I decided to start looking for another accounting opportunity. It was an interesting experience, and I ended up taking a job that was a growing company, Corporate Head Office based in the CBD, fantastic culture and long-term tenure. It couldn’t have been further from the truth.  

All I remember thinking was, how could I have made such a bad mistake? I was so happy in my first job, had great bosses and was continually learning. It put a bad taste in my mouth as this company had some issues and high staff turnover. I felt like it ruined my career, and I was so scarred by it, I just wanted to leave accounting altogether. 

So, I did. I started my career as an Accounting Recruiter! I love talking to people and helping them, and thought this would be the perfect job for me.  

Here are some of the great things about working in Recruitment: 

• You have the ability to affect people’s lives. There’s no better feeling than offering a candidate their dream role and equally as fantastic when your client is happy. 

• It’s an autonomous role. I love having the autonomy of running and building my own accounting area. 

• It’s possible to earn great money – the harder you work, the hungrier you are, the more successful you become. 

• Recruitment is such a varied role. No two days are the same and that’s what I love about it. 

• You meet some wonderful people and get to help them not only with their job search, but their careers. 

I have loved the relationship building and the fantastic people I have met over the years. The highlight of my career has been placing people in their roles twenty years ago when they were at Assistant Accountant level and have progressed to Financial Controllers and CFO’s. It has also been wonderful building these relationships where I know receive calls to recruit for their teams, as I know what sort of skillsets they need and culturally what would be a great fit. It’s also been very rewarding building and mentoring teams over the years and watching my team succeed. It has also been fascinating working in challenging markets such as GFC and COVID. 

Last week was my 11^th year working for Optimum Consulting and next year marks my 25 years in accounting recruitment. I couldn’t be prouder to be in recruitment and working for Optimum Consulting. 

If you are considering a career in recruitment, please reach out to me for a confidential discussion on 0413 850 114 or mariannes@ogroup.com.au. 

Marianne Savas
Divisional Manager

Marianne started her career in recruitment, initially working for Hays in their accounting support division. Over time, she worked her way up to Accounting Manager, looking after a growing team of consultants, specialising in the placement of temporary and permanent staff in commerce and industry within the accounting and office support areas.