Professional women power: Take the opportunity to network in an interdisciplinary company

“Take the opportunity to work and network in an interdisciplinary company.”

Julia Heckele

Dear Julia, you started your professional career with the apprenticeship at Rödl & Partner, today you are Associate Partner. What were the milestones of your professional development at Rödl & Partner?

I must honestly admit that when I started my apprenticeship as a tax assistant, I did not expect to stay in this profession. A year before graduating from high school, the question arose, “What do I want to do after school?” Unfortunately, I only ever knew what I definitely didn't want to do. Luckily, my father, who was also a tax consultant and worked partially at Rödl & Partner, suggested an apprenticeship as a tax clerk to me. His tip: “You can't go wrong with an apprenticeship as a tax clerk!”

So after graduating from high school, I was able to start my apprenticeship in Heinrich Hübschmann's team. For someone who had never come into contact with accounting before and who only knew “debit” and “credit” from the German language, this was a culture shock at first. But what can I say? The more I settled into the tax world, the more I enjoyed it.

The first milestone was my very successful apprenticeship as a tax clerk. Afterwards, I decided to study business administration at the TH Nuremberg. Of course, how could it be otherwise, with a focus on taxation and accounting. During my time at university, I had the opportunity to continue working as a work student at Rödl & Partner and to expand my practical knowledge.

Further milestones were being taken on as a salaried tax assistant in the team of my colleagues Wolfgang Baumeister and Heinrich Hübschmann, and then, three years later, when I passed the tax consultant exam and the appointment as a senior associate.

I had always enjoyed looking after apprentices, interns, and working students. In 2018, I was then officially allowed to take on more responsibility, both for my team of around five employees and by taking on mandates. In 2019, this was followed by the appointment as Associate Partner, another career resp. development stage at Rödl & Partner.

Since mid-2021, together with our already mentioned Mr. Baumeister, I have taken over the team from Mr. Hübschmann. We, a team of about 40, are just settling into the new structure. The solo mandate responsibility as well as the leadership of a larger team is both challenging and rewarding.

Your job is surely very exciting. What is helpful to you in stressful and hectic phases?

My wonderful colleagues help me in my day-to-day work 😊. That's why I like being in the office so much and almost never work remote. I'm very lucky to be surrounded by such great people here. Especially in stressful times, a friendly and refreshing conversation is very helpful. I can also always reach out to my colleagues if I have any professional questions, and in particular my colleague Mr. Baumeister always takes time and supports me.

And if in luck, the candy bowl of our team assistants is also filled. To balance things out, I like to do sports, which is also necessary in connection with the candy bowl 😊. I have been professionally figure skating since I was 2 years old and have been competing in synchronized figure skating with my team for about 15 years, dance ballet, go on hikes and take advantage of Rödl & Partner's yoga offer. I am known by all my colleagues as a very sociable person. I enjoy spending time with my family and friends.

Which advice would you give to apprentices and career entrants at Rödl & Partner?

Take the opportunity to work in a large and interdisciplinary company and to network. Rödl & Partner in particular offers many possibilities for this:

Starting with the employee induction events to various other happenings: you should really take advantage of the chance to participate in such events in order to make contacts with colleagues from other teams as well as branches.

Since networking and interdisciplinarity are very important to me, I also participate in some events, e.g. the "Steuercampus" ("tax campus"), where I take part in the practical part of preparing the annual financial statements together with two colleagues from my team. Similarly, I am involved in our "Smart Up" development program, giving lawyers an insight into accounting with my friendly colleague Meike Munderloh.

I have met many interesting colleagues from different units at our internal Senior Associate Week events as well as at the Associate Partner Days. Since then, I work closely with some of them in client relationships and know who I can turn to in which situation.

This has led to friendships. Thus, regular lunches in our company restaurant "Campino" or visits to the Cologne and Bolzano offices take place. An invitation from Hamburg is also still pending and waiting to be fulfilled.