I am a qualified New Zealand accountant and have been working in the industry for five years. I came here from China 11 years ago. I want to work in an international corporation where I can use my Mandarin language and business skills, not only accounting. What steps should I take?

Phoenix Recruitment director Jenny Durno says that when a business looks for an accountant, it is generally after someone to prepare the statutory or management accounts. In larger international corporations, the accounting division is a specialist internal service and the focus is even more pronounced.

In smaller organisations there may be scope to play a more general management role, and naturally this requires a broader range of skills than just accounting. You will need to develop these wider skills before you will be invited into a management role.

Durno says the best way to get initial experience is to grow into it from your accounting base. It is often necessary to have experience in your target industry as well. She says translation skills, especially in a business setting, require a very high standard of both languages, written and spoken.

"You need to design a matrix that takes all of these factors into consideration, then target the industry sector and the level of position that most closely meets your abilities." A new employer is only going to pay you for skills that you have, so your matrix should illustrate the gaps between what you want to do and what you can do. You can then fill in the gaps with targeted employment.

"There is presumably ample evidence of your competence in accounting, so you might need to target a position that shows that you are capable of translating English and Mandarin in a business environment."