Why Prioritizing Tasks is the Key to an Exceptional Career in Compliance?

Compliance is a wide field that offers exciting career options across different sectors like private industrial organizations, nonprofit organizations, regulatory bodies, and other entities. 

In the contemporary era, corporate compliance officers and compliance analysts are in higher demand than ever before. 

A career in compliance is a lucrative one, and it can be highly rewarding and fulfilling for someone with the right skill set and attitude. 

As with any other professional area, one requires a high degree of self-discipline and excellent planning skills to make it big as a compliance officer.

But before we jump into the reasons why prioritizing tasks is important in this field, let us look at what it takes to build a career in compliance.

How to Build a Career in Compliance?

Compliance professionals have to navigate a complex working environment. Job roles and pay scales for those in compliance-related fields vary considerably. 

If you are an aspiring graduate that's interested in a career in compliance, you will find these tips helpful.

1. Determine Your Specialization 

Compliance officers work in various industries. Depending on the customers/audiences the organization serves, the roles and duties of compliance officers vary. 

Compliance officers work in finance, higher education, health care, corporate and government environments, among others. 

2. Earn a Bachelor’s Degree in Your Field of Choice 

A bachelor’s degree is the bare minimum education needed to get into a compliance job. Aspiring compliance professionals can choose accounting, finance, statistics, law, or business as their major in college. 

After completing your bachelor’s degree, you may opt for a master’s degree in the area you want to work.

3. Find Internships and Gain Work Experience 

Finding internships while still in college will help you gain valuable work experience even before entering the job market. 

The skills you gain during your internships will prove to be an asset later on. After completing your education, you can look for jobs in your areas of preference. 

Getting work experience in a certain field will help you move into a compliance role in the same field as your career progresses.

4. Get Additional Certifications And Continue Learning 

To get ahead in your career, it is important to keep yourself updated on the latest industry developments. 

To improve your prospects, you can consider certification options like the Certified Compliance and Ethics Professional Program (CCEP) offered by the Society of Corporate Compliance and Ethics (SCCE). 

Certification programs are also conducted by the following organizations:

• The Ethics and Compliance Officer Association (ECOA)
• International Academy of Business and Financial Management (IABFM)
• National Association of Federal Credit Unions (NAFCU)
• American Bankers Association (ABA)

You can also go for an MLS degree or a graduate-level degree that is focused on compliance.

Why Prioritizing Tasks is the Key to an Exceptional Career in Compliance?

Since it is a challenging profession that demands undivided attention and full commitment, it is essential for compliance professionals to focus on efficient time management and prioritize tasks. 

Here is why prioritizing tasks is the key to an exceptional career in compliance:

1. Get Tasks Done On Time 

Prioritizing tasks helps you deliver work on time. Make a list of all the tasks that need to be done based on urgency and start working on them. 

This enables you to accomplish your important tasks within the stipulated time-frame.

2. Better Quality Of Work 

Better time management skills help a compliance professional deliver a better quality of work. 

Prioritization of activities leads to proper utilization of time, allowing one to work on each task with full attention and focus, thereby leading to a better quality of work.

3. Improved Decision-Making Ability 

One benefit of prioritizing tasks is that it helps a compliance professional properly manage their time and take decisions in an orderly manner. 

Not prioritizing tasks is likely to make you stressed and not in the right frame of mind for making an informed decision. 

Effective time management eliminates the pressure from feeling like you don’t have enough time and makes you more calm and composed.

4. Reduced Stress And Anxiety 

Between a heavy workload and meeting and exceeding client expectations, a career in compliance can be challenging and stressful at times. 

As a result, adopting good time management techniques can help you reduce your stress levels. 

Not having control over time can make you feel anxious and irritated, thus affecting your quality of work. Prioritizing tasks helps you accomplish them on time and reduce your stress.

5. Better Work-Life Balance 

A major challenge all compliance professionals face is maintaining a healthy work-life balance. 

Compliance careers could be very demanding, and it is not uncommon for professionals to spend long hours at work and less time at home. 

Prioritizing tasks at work enables busy professionals to complete their work on time and also find ample time for their personal pursuits and family responsibilities.

Tips For Effective Task Prioritization 

1. Adopt proper planning strategies to help you in effective time management and prioritization of tasks. You can use time management software to help you in this regard.
2. Avoid multitasking as it is one of the biggest time-wasting activities.
3. Instead of taking up many tasks at a time, pick one and complete it before moving to the next one. This way, you would be able to give your full attention to each task on hand.
4. Cut off all distractions like social media, mobile phones, and talkative coworkers. Resolve not to check your social media feeds or make unnecessary calls on your mobile phone amid an important task.
5. Take breaks throughout the day to keep your mind fresh and active. Taking occasional breaks of around ten minutes every few hours helps you stay productive all day.
6. Accept your limitations, and don’t be too hard on yourself if you sometimes struggle with time management.

In Closing

A career in compliance could be gratifying for those who are passionate about the field.

Compliance professionals earn well, and a compliance analyst salary is often in the higher range, with experienced professionals earning more than $100,000 annually.

Learning to prioritize your work and manage time puts you in a great position to make the most of this lucrative career.