Anneke Andrews, the Director of Human Capital at Deloitte, is a chartered accountant and was already some way into her auditing career when she made her the transition to talent acquisition. Her move from auditing was initiated from her involvement in a management solutions division, which, essentially, sought to assist clients with whatever business problem they might be facing.
“Often, the perception is that a business problem is a people problem and solutions are people-driven. People aren't always the solution - it could be a technology problem or a process problem - but's that's how I got into talent in any case," says Anneke, who, on Friday, met with Didi Sehume of CHRO South Africa, an organisation that seeks to help HR executives to boost their network, knowledge and careers through events, media and peer-to-peer advisory.
(In the photo from left to right: Anneke Andrews, Tumelo Seaketso and Didi Sehume)
Tumelo Seaketso, the director of Deloitte Consulting, was also part of the meet-and-greet and she, along with Anneke, is part of the human capital practice where they look at the broader human capital space in all its aspects, from talent acquisition and performance management to employee engagement and digitization. One of the things they do is assist organisations with their strategic planning and workforce planning, succession planning, and building a strategic talent pipeline and providing access to brilliant people in cases where we are ideally placed to do.
Anneke:
“Because, if you think about it, the single most important factor in the success of any organisation is having the very best people. It's not the strategy. It's not the structure of the company or its systems. Success is, first and foremost, dependent on the quality of the talent."
Her change of career path is not something that she dwells on because, the most important thing in life is making a difference and making the world a better place by contributing positively to the lives of those around us, and there can be nothing more rewarding than making a substantial difference in the lives talented youngsters and helping to rocket their careers at an early age.
“I've found that people often underestimate the value that one can add when they have experience and exposure and have an appreciation for both human resource and the accounting field.”
