Thinking outside the box to get your foot in the door!

Introducing the latest addition to the CapitalQ Team – Hillary Mutowo MAppFin, BCom

Today we are very pleased to introduce to the CapitalQ Community our newest team member, Hillary Mutowo.

And also to share a little about how Hillary used thinking outside the box, while playing to her strengths, in order to capture our attention and secure that all important first interview.

Hillary is undertaking an internship for 8 weeks with the hope of securing a full-time Graduate Accountant position within our professional team (we hope she will too).

Having undertaking the big step of relocating from her beloved homeland of Zimbabwe to study here in Australia in 2014, Hillary has now completed her Bachelor of Commerce at Curtin University as well as a Masters of Applied Finance (well the exams are done, we are all now waiting for the results with nervous anticipation, watch this space)!

Why jump straight into a Masters you may ask?  Well Hillary confesses some none too subtle, though entirely good natured, hints from her family of high achievers suggested having completed ‘just’ a Bachelors was no time to call an end to tertiary studies 😉

And she admits to feeling just a little bit of pressure to live up to the standards set by her high achieving parents and four siblings.

Her father, now retired, was the Managing Director for Fidelity Printers & Refinery, the company wholly owned by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe and which was responsible for the printing and managing of the Zimbabwe currency.  No doubt he has seen some interesting times in this unique role!  His career also included time here at our own Perth Mint (which was the beginning of Hillary’s love affair with our great city).

Hillary’s mother is a business owner, operating Koala Education Services.  An education consultancy working closely with universities in Australia and all around the world.  Hillary actually designed and still manages the website, you can check it out here www.koalaeducationservices.com (The Aussie connection is clearly evident 😊)

And as alluded to, there are four siblings, all sisters, achieving great things in various parts of the world.

One is a research fellow at Macquarie University in Sydney, one is here in Perth working as an actuary at our own RAC, one is the General Manager at Old Mutual Insurance in Zimbabwe and the other, having called an end to her stock-broking career, is now learning the ropes in the family business.

Luckily for us, despite having options available to her much like her sisters, with the completion of her schooling Hillary now wishes to make Australia, and specifically Perth, her home.

Learning the Ropes

Prior to her first day in the office, we sent Hillary to the NTAA Tax Schools Seminars (both Days 1 and 2) so that she could immediately start upskilling in regards to individual and business tax return preparation.

During her internship she will also undertake the NTAA Tax Basics two day study program, AND commence her Tax Institute of Australia (“TIA”) studies beginning with the Foundations in Tax unit (a 12 week study program requiring substantial weekly study hours, weekly lectures, multiple ongoing tests and of course a concluding exam).

We wish her all the very best with these first steps towards her professional qualifications.

So how did she get her foot in the door?

To continue our recent theme of trying new things, we have asked Hillary to attempt to document, primarily via video, her journey towards joining the CapitalQ Team, her experience as an Intern and hopefully her progression to Graduate Accountant.

To start, with much trepidation, she has agreed to allow us to share her initial application video!

You see we gave applicants the option of either submitting a cover letter with their resume, or submit a low production value, two minute introductory video.  Most chose the letter, and didn’t get interviews, Hillary chose the video, and did!

She used out of the box thinking (she chose to record it in a place she felt comfortable to help with the nerves, that place ended up being… in her car!) and she took cues from our application page to really show who she is, not who she thought we wanted her to be!

So here it is, we believe it is a great way to get to know her, and I think you will agree she used the medium to really show she is a genuine and committed individual and someone we are lucky to have come on board.

Keep an eye out for more from Hillary, and in the meantime please join us in welcoming her to the CapitalQ Team, and of course we all wish her good luck with her internship and her future career endeavours.

https://www.instagram.com/tv/By4keF5HeTY/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link