It’s like a CFO’s fever dream.

Picture it now: You’re settling in to the first day on the job—shaking hands, learning names. Suddenly, a horrific twist. It’s earnings day—and you’re about to lead the earnings call, analyst questions and all, and you might not even know where the water cooler is yet.

For Emily Reuter, Instacart’s CFO, that hypothetical nightmare came to life this May.

Her first day in the CFO seat was also the same day the grocery delivery company reported Q1 2024 earnings. Don’t worry: She lived to tell the tale. The only reason it wasn’t a waking nightmare? Her entire career leading up to it—including some particularly savvy career moves that any aspiring finance chief can learn from.

Well prepared. Reuter joined Instacart in January, making a speedy transition from VP of finance to CFO by May (and more on that in a minute). She came to Instacart after almost a decade at Uber, where her roles spanned both the finance function and posts outside finance. That all added up, in Reuter’s mind, to “collect[ing] the different skill sets of the CFO along the way.”

Click here to keep reading how Reuter prepared for her first day as CFO.—NP

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CFOs are just like you: They’re stressed about the election.

That’s according to Deloitte’s latest CFO Signals survey, a poll of more than 200 CFOs at organizations with at least $1 billion in revenue, which found that 58% of CFOs expect the result of the US presidential election to be “extremely or very consequential for their organizations.” The survey was fielded from mid to late July, and you might recall some notable political events that happened right around then.

Still, we’re deeply envious of the 3% of no-thoughts-just-vibes CFOs who said the election outcome won’t be at all consequential to them. Their sleep schedules must be things of beauty.

Unlike 2016 and 2020, election years when Deloitte found CFOs were most worried about tax policy, this time around, workforce issues emerged as the most top-of-mind concern: A third of CFOs said they should be a peak priority for the federal government.

“The high ranking of workforce-related issues might reflect trepidation about several recent proposals and actions, including the Department of Labor’s update of the independent contractor standard,” the survey’s authors noted.

But no matter how many times we’ve heard “unprecedented” and “now more than ever” thrown around since 2020, some things stayed the same-ish.

Click here to keep reading.—NP

AI this, AI that—why don’t you tr-AI learning some basic computer skills?

That’s what employers are looking for in the job market, according to a new report from job search giant Indeed’s Hiring Lab. The Sept. 10 research revealed that while roughly 2%–3% of listings mentioned AI as a prerequisite skill, nearly one in five asked for basic computer literacy.

“The current reality,” the report reads, “is that many employers are simply seeking workers possessing basic computer skills.”

New world. Hiring Lab researchers Alexandre Judes and Jack Kennedy wrote that the existing skill gap for basic computer knowledge is larger than you might expect, meaning AI’s effect on the labor market is less impactful than one might expect.

“While AI may eventually necessitate broad upskilling across the workforce to embrace advanced technologies, there remains a more pressing concern around closing basic digital skills gaps and allowing everyone to fully engage with work in the digital age,” they wrote.

Basic computer skills are necessary in a wide variety of professions, the report noted, from software to the health sector. Industry-specific tech knowledge is growing in importance across a number of industries: “Though general computer literacy is a common employer demand, there are specific technical, digital skills that are becoming increasingly prominent within certain job categories.”

To keep reading IT Brew’s story on the demand for basic computer skills, click here.—EH

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