Thomson Reuters has career development as a top priority for its employees

Have you ever thought about transitioning careers? It can be a big decision, made even more difficult if working in an environment that does not encourage growth or mobility.

At Thomson Reuters, career development is always a top priority — more than 50% of our roles are filled internally with our employees. Leaders across the organization encourage career mobility and empower their teams to grow, develop, and learn new skills, which may be part of the reason why our average employee tenure is 9.7 years.

Recently, we met with Rebecca, who made a significant career shift from a role as an Internal Auditor to a Human Resource Manager. Read our Q&A with her below to learn her perspective on making a career transition at Thomson Reuters.

 

 

What inspired you to transition from the Corporate Compliance and Audit team to Human Resources?

This year marked my sixth anniversary working as an Internal Auditor at Thomson Reuters. Reflecting on my journey, I promised myself to spend a year being intentional with where I wanted to take my career. I felt my personality would thrive in a Human Resources (HR) position and knew I would regret it if I never took a leap of faith and explored a new career path.

How did you find your new role? Did you do any networking internally?

In my prior role, I worked closely with HR and really liked the people and found what they did interesting. I became intentional about networking and started setting up meetings with people from HR that I crossed paths with over the years. I attended an internal career fair and continued to connect with colleagues from the team.

Each person along the way encouraged me and connected me with additional people to meet. A relevant role opened a lot quicker than I expected and a connection I had made forwarded me the job posting.

Have you had any mentors to guide your career journey?

I have not had formal mentors, but I consider many of my leaders at Thomson Reuters to be mentors. My previous director and manager knew me well and were always willing to have honest and open conversations about my personal and professional goals. They always encouraged me to pursue my goals, even if it meant leaving their team.

What transferrable skills will help you transition from an Internal Auditor to Human Resource Manager?

Thankfully, I have several. Project management is a big one. My experience planning, organizing, and executing projects is a skill that translates well to HR. Other skills that are highly transferable include:

• Communication with individuals at various levels across the organization
• Leading investigations and having challenging conversations 
• Experience handling sensitive/confidential information
• Partnering with the business to mitigate risk and work towards the best solution
• Being curious by asking questions and recognizing the importance of relationships and networking

For anyone else looking to make a career transition, how does Thomson Reuters support career development and mobility?

Thomson Reuters has many opportunities that allow employees to explore new career paths. There are endless networking events that happen virtually and in-person as well as the Ten Thousand Coffees program, which connects employees across the organization through a social networking platform. Another unique opportunity is what Thomson Reuters calls “Gigs.” When an employee accepts a Gig, they gain experience working with a different team on a specific project. The Gig could be similar to the employees' role or completely different. For example, an Accountant could accept a Gig as a Graphic Designer. This program opens up employees across the organization to new experiences, skill development and networking. This also helps to foster internal mobility within Thomson Reuters. In addition to these programs, Thomson Reuters offers plenty of learning opportunities through webinars, LinkedIn Learning, and much more.