I had the pleasure of sitting down with Heather not long before she ‘retired’ after a successful tax career spanning over 40 years.
She’s experienced roles for many different ‘businesses’ – she’s worked in practice, in house, for HMRC and for a law firm. She’s worked as a partner, most recently retiring from being a partner for firm Blick Rothenberg but was also a partner at EY earlier in her career. She’s worked as a tax director for Scottish Power too.
I’m sure not many can they have the breadth of experience that Heather has, which has provided her with invaluable insights, has made her a better tax professional, and has given her unique perspective.
She’s a founding member of Women in Tax (WIT), and she’s a big advocate of career planning – for everyone, but even more so if you want children.
The main focuses of this episode are career planning, the variety of different roles, and Heather’s story behind being a founder of Women in Tax (WIT) – but see the “You’ll Learn” section below which provides further details and includes timings.
Take a listen to hear about Heather’s career and advice!
Guest – Heather Self
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/heather-self-73693326/
Website: https://womenin.tax/
You’ll Learn
- An overview of Heather’s career
- (7:15) How roles for working in practice, industry, for HMRC or for law firms differ, in Heather’s view
- (18:00) Why Heather decided to go to HMRC later in her career, X years after working in tax, and the invaluable experience this gave her
- (25:30) Heather’s story about starting Women in Tax (WIT) with the other founding members
- (31:15) Heather’s advice around career planning, why she’s such a big advocate (particularly if you want children), and how to figure out where you want to be in 5 years’ time with some form of certainty
- (44:00) Heather’s answer to “Do you have to be good at ‘selling’ to become a tax partner?”, and advice around delegation and developing staff
- (51:30) Advice she would give her younger self and top tips for people wanting to progress, develop and improve their tax careers
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