When Gillian Munson was deciding whether to take her current job as Vimeo’s chief financial officer, not everyone in her life thought it was the best career move. I’m glad she didn’t listen to any objections.
“There’s someone I really respect who didn’t want me to take this job. They wanted me to get another job,” she told CNBC. told Make It. “I had no choice but to trust my instincts.”
Manson, 54, who has more than 30 years of professional financial experience, said following his instincts and joining the video services company proved to be a wise decision.
“I’ve had different people tell me what to pursue and what jobs to get based on what they want,” she explains. “From my perspective, other people’s perspectives on what you should be doing are helpful… but I think it’s really, really important to be a little more true to what you want to do.”
She says the finance team she built at Vimeo represents a career high for her, calling it “the best team I’ve ever had.”
“It’s about bringing together all of my years of experience and building a team that really reflects how I want to lead,” Manson says. “There’s nothing more fun.”
Why you should pursue a “fun” job
Manson says people spend so much time stressing about whether they’ll get and keep a job that they neglect to even consider whether they’ll be happy in the role. She says she wishes she had realized sooner what kind of work she enjoys, because after all, work “takes up the majority of my day.”
Early in her career, Munson worked in an investment bank and admired the bank’s senior female partners. But she said she was nervous at the thought of playing a similar role one day, adding that she thought, “What she’s good at isn’t for me.”
That made Manson ask himself a question. “What role have I always thought was the coolest job ever?” The answer was CFO.
“I always thought CFO was really interesting,” she says. “I was always so in awe of what they did.”
Munson added that he found role models in two CFOs he met early in his career, both of whom were “amazingly good at bringing their company’s story to life in numbers.” She was inspired to do the same.
Envisioning his dream job, Manson changed his career path from investment banking to corporate finance. Her #1 career advice for others is to think beyond your current job and even your next role.
“Look for a job about two jobs down from where you’re sitting now,” and imagine what your days would be like if you got that position, she says.
“Put yourself in that position and think, ‘I feel comfortable doing that,'” Munson added. “I get excited and want to get up and work.”
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