Deanna Stellato-Dudek is 42 years old and due to compete at the Winter Olympics 2026 in the figure skating doubles with Maxime Deschamps for Canada. What is astounding about this is that it will Stellato-Dudek’s Olympics debut. Stellato- Dudel had a successful junior career as a skater, stopped skating after an injury and it was 16 years later when she was 33 that she decided to go find her old skates in her mother’s house and started skating again. By 2024 she and her skating partner had become World Champions.

‘’You can change careers in your 30s, 40s, 50s,” Stellato-Dudek told Olympics.com recently while recounting her journey back to figure skating after an unheard-of 16-year hiatus. “Grit determination, they don't have an age limit, either.”

"You can be successful in that [new] career if it's something that you really have a passion for."

So, what do figure skating and a career in tax have in common? I’d say that having worked as an art historian, moved into tax and then into recruitment that a tax background is a good launching pad for all sorts of careers. It is also a good landing for those looking for more security; over my time in recruitment, I have helped four former professional footballers who have moved from football post injury into tax. I’ve seen, farmers, security guards, teachers, a fireman and a taxi driver all retrain and move into a career in tax.

I’ve seen people move from practice roles into industry, move from HMRC into accountancy firms, law firms and banks. I’ve seen people begin in indirect tax, enjoy a direct tax module in their exams and pivot their way into personal or corporate tax. Expat tax specialists move into transfer pricing, Tax Advisers retrain and become lawyers, CTA’s become editors, technical officers and writers. I’ve seen people come back to tax after raising families, battling illnesses or becoming teachers and joining the police. I should add a plug here for the excellent ‘return to work’ advice and support offered by the Association of Tax Technicians (ATT) and the Chartered Institute of Tax (CIOT) for more info see; Returning to work | The Association of Taxation Technicians. And Returners 2 Work #R2W | Chartered Institute of Taxation

Volunteering can be a great way of adding new skills that can help you change direction. By volunteering for your local branch of CIOT and ATT or helping with a steering group you can gain experience of chairing meetings, being a trustee, gain broader practical accounts experience or find out about tax education, lecturing or how charities work.

Another inspiring ‘pivot’ is the career of our latest Archbishop of Canterbury, Sarah Mullally, the first female Archbishop of Canterbury for over 1400 years. Born in 1962, she began training as a nurse in 1980 and was an extremely successful one; rising through the ranks to become the youngest ever Chief Nursing officer and she became a DBE (Dame of the British Empire) in 2005 in recognition of her contribution to nursing. She started her ministry by studying part time and retraining whilst still nursing and was 40 when she was ordained a minister. Really inspiring stuff. It reminds me of one of the vicars at my last church, he was a former PwC partner who retrained to become an Anglican minister in his 50’s.

Life is too short to remain in a role that you aren’t enjoying and it could be that you just need a change of direction. One other thing I took from Deanna Stellato-Dudek is that if you don’t ask, you don’t get, she asked Oscar Della Renta’s CEO via Linked-in whether they would design her an oufit for the Olympics. It is the first time the design house has designed a professional figure skating costume. So this should give you some courage to ask internally where you work what sort of roles you could do or to use the ATT’s Mentor Match to find a mentor to help you develop your career.

 For further information or advice contact Georgiana Head on 07957 842 402 or email her at georgiana@ghrtax.com