How do you get an Assistant Accountant role ?

ambitious

I desperate to stop working at purchase/sales ledger level and be given a chance to either train as an accountant or become an assistant accountant or assistant management accoutant. But how does anyone get one of these roles ? I'm starting technician year in september and without the proper work experience I can't see myself getting the full AAT qualification. How do you make the grade, considering the roles always demand "experience" yet my experience does not seem to count ? Seems wrong entirely and surely organisations like the AAT should help students show how to make the step up from accounts assistant to mircaously become an assistant accountant or the more mysterious assistant management accountant. This is a very unclear career path to me if my own work experience is not considered. Very disappointing. Can someone explain ?

sharon

If i was you just get a good cv in place and contact as many agencys as possible. You will get something!

ambitious

I'm tempted to lie on my CV and job applications now as I'm fed up of not being given a chance on so many occassions after working at least 4 years on this level doing petty cash, purchase/sales ledger. I'm really sick of giving an honest account of myself only to be told that I don't have enough experience.

jorja1986

You can't lie on your CV as if you are found out the company is well withen their rights to get rid of you wth no warning.

You can omit things not relevant to the job you are applying for but that is about it.

Baggybooks

I would never recommend lying on a CV. Did anyone else get angry when that guy won the Apprentice after freely admitting to lying on his? It seems unfair that someone like Ambitious does the decent thing and gets nowhere, but a liar is almost congratulated for his bravado.

jorja1986

I completely agree I was fuming that a liar, who was clearly not the right person for the job, got awarded for being a scheming lying cheating toad.

Ambitious your honesty will be awarded and you will be all the better for doing it honestly as your concious will be clear.

Keep trying someone worth while of your skills will notice your potential.

:thumbup:

I won't lie it took me 2 years to get into my ideal job which is what I wanted to do so it could be along slog but I tell you this for nothing........once your there it is brilliant when you can sit amongst people knowing your concious is clear and someone wanted YOU and what new skills you could bring to the job. :thumbup:

ambitious

Hey thanks for the advice guys. After 172 views I thought no one was willing to say anything because they're already in these kind of roles and prefer not to offer up advice. Were it me I'd help anyone. I think the career path for these roles needs to be defined a lot lot better. Agencies are first for putting me in temp work which is why my CV is clogged up with temp work but nothing ever substantial (ie permanent). I've lost trust in the accountancy career path and I don't know if I will ever make the grade even if I were AAT qualified. Perhaps an employer or someone with "experience" could tell me otherwise.

As for lying I don't know whether to do this. Here's a few things I thought of:

- Change some of my previous job titles from Accounts Assistant to Assistant Accountant
- Add Fictious Management Accounts experience to my previous roles so I get in with a chance with employers and agencies

I hate this but if I don't lie how will I get a better job ? As mentioned above the guy in The Apprentice did and look where he went.

peugeot

I would tend to agree that lying is a dangerous tactic and it could place your employment at risk if found out.

If you're going to add fictitious management accounts experience, then potential employers will expect you to be fully conversant with management accounts prep work - if you're not then it will be a bit embarrassing when given such tasks to complete (often within strict deadlines).

Could you not approach your manager,explain your ambitions and perhaps ask for more management accounts prep work - maybe in addition to your current duties.

I would strongly advise against lying. I know it's frustrating getting up the career ladder, but honesty always pays off in the long run.

Best wishes
Steve

ambitious

Thanks for the reply Steve. Good to hear from a professional member of the boards. I'll do technician year and see if I can get a job elsewhere as my current employer plans to get rid of me in August so I've got limited choices up to then, and I've been the victim of corrupt internal interviewing and bad selections in my opinion. I won't name the huge organisation I work for or I'll be in deeper trouble! Thats why I suggested the lying route.

Just wish these agencies I register with would stop offering the same temp ledger jobs all the time and actaully find me a higher level job than transactions work. Honesty eh ? Well I'll push on. Tenacious me.

peugeot

I think you are at an advantage because you have experience (your foot's already in the door) and the fact that you are so keen to progress your career will mean that you will eventually get where you want to be.

Be absolutely clear with agencies as to what you want. From what I have seen on the forums over the years, the agencies sometimes seem to do as they please with no regard to the candidates on their books and are very commission-driven. You are their customer and they should aim to help you achieve your ambitions.

Good luck with your search.

Best wishes
Steve

ambitious

Thanks for the advice Steve. I will certainly heed your advice. My current employer has me under contract and when I leave in August I should be entitled to claim redundancy according to the law as I have worked for 2 years. Were it not for that, I would have resigned by now and stop pretending I'm working when in actual fact my employer no longer cares and is clearly looking to get rid of me by waiting for my contract to expire. I'm deeply frustrated becasue I had 3 interviews for Assistant Accountant jobs and was never given a chance for one reason or another. Furthermore I seem to find they just promoted the people who work closest to them as opposed to someone who really is making an effort to break the barrier. But yeah Agencies are certainly not putting my needs ahead of their commission targets as I 've found out countless of times. My worst experience was when I was one of nine temps who worked for a government organisation and after 13 months 8 got contracts and I was the only one laid off because of the lack of government funding which I was furious about. But when your a temp you have no say or power, your just a robot and you just hope your given a chance.