How to get a job and experience ???

George Tse

Hello

I am currently doing the AAT Technician year.

I have no Experience in accounts at all and i am not working in accounts.

I am wondering how i could find a job in accounts as every job I find online need work experience.

I have also sent letters to local accounts firms asking for training in accounts, some have got back saying they have not got an available position n some others have not got back at all !!!

I would like to know how you guys got your first job in accounts ??

The Help would be great

Kind Regards

George Tse

aatfree

I fell into my first job in a Finance Department - I was on the dole with that new deal rubbish and then they offered me this job which I had no idea what it was. Didn't want it because I was quite happy on the dole thank you very much. My mother told me to take it and I thought I would lose my benefit if I refused. So here I am ten years later still working in finance.

Unfortunately the majority of jobs want experience. Have you been applying for jobs or just asking employers if they have jobs? Have you tried the public sector employers? Universities, hospitals, council, schools, tax office etc? They have all their vacancies on their websites.

Do you have any office experience at all? You may have to look at a job that has an financial element but that isn't the only thing you do e.g. I worked as a senior clerk in a university department for about a year. I would check the expenses of the academics & print out reports once every three months, also I would create a purchase order once a year. It wasn't much financial experience but I could legitimately state that I had a years experience doing those tasks & of the finance system - SAP even though this was only a small part of the overall job.

George Tse

Hello

I have been doing both applying for jobs and asking local firms if they have jobs !

welshwizard

I know how you feel! Been there, done that too!

To me it seems that the employers and agencies do not regard the AAT Qualifications highly enough and I believe the AAT as a professional body should be doing more to address the issue - you and I can't do anything to change the attitudes of business I'm afraid. If you are lucky enough to find employment, you must make good use of the skills and knowledge you have acquired during your studies - your skills are important because they include things such as achieving personal effectiveness - something many people don't seem able to do - especially recruiters! You have a great wealth of knowledge and someone should recognise it soon. I gave up and am now training to teach - but I will not be extolling the virtues of gaining knowledge without experience.

Keep trying, there must be something out there for you.

PGM

Always a tough situation.

Try asking friends/family, see if they know someone who could help? Worked for me!

Other good option is applying to various local charities about a voluntary position in their accounts dept. There used to having volunteers, assuming you would work for free?! You might get expenses paid.

I think its a good option, because any further employers should be impressed with you working for nothing but experience!

mark130273

Gentle Jesus wrote: »

Hello

I am currently doing the AAT Technician year.

I have no Experience in accounts at all and i am not working in accounts.

I am wondering how i could find a job in accounts as every job I find online need work experience.

I have also sent letters to local accounts firms asking for training in accounts, some have got back saying they have not got an available position n some others have not got back at all !!!

I would like to know how you guys got your first job in accounts ??

The Help would be great

Kind Regards

George Tse

hey there is someone else in exactly the same position.....

got virtually now experience but i know my stuff...so they wont touch me !

visha

Look at this link

http://forums.aat.org.uk/showthread.php?t=18650&highlight=bureau

a bit further further down

George Tse

Man !!!

There is like no way in hell i will get any experience in accounts its getting too frustrating !!!! grrrrrrr !!!

I apply for some jobs that dont state you need experience but thye never seem to get back to me !!!!!

Baggybooks

Can I play Devil's Advocate here?

If you have no practical experience of working in an accounts environment, how do you know you will enjoy it? How will you be able to convince an employer to take a chance on employing you?

You must gain some kind of experience to add to your CV. It's a competitive market and unlikely that an employer will take a gamble when there will be a list of experienced applicants.

PGM's advice is good - you must focus on finding that voluntary work. Could you approach a local firm of accountants and offer your services there? They have charitable clients and normally try to charge out at little more than cost. By actually offering to help with a charity's accounts, you are dangling a carrot.

How impressive would that look on your CV?

Good luck.

George Tse

Thing is how much voluntary work will i need ?? 6 months ?? 1 year ??
I need to have an income !!

Baggybooks

If you did the accounts for one charitable organisation, that would demonstrate to an employer that not only are you capable, but you are keen too.

mark130273

Baggybooks wrote: »

Can I play Devil's Advocate here?

If you have no practical experience of working in an accounts environment, how do you know you will enjoy it? How will you be able to convince an employer to take a chance on employing you?

You must gain some kind of experience to add to your CV. It's a competitive market and unlikely that an employer will take a gamble when there will be a list of experienced applicants.

PGM's advice is good - you must focus on finding that voluntary work. Could you approach a local firm of accountants and offer your services there? They have charitable clients and normally try to charge out at little more than cost. By actually offering to help with a charity's accounts, you are dangling a carrot.

How impressive would that look on your CV?

Good luck.

just a quick reply......how do you do volentry work .when you have got no time free !!!!!!!!!

Baggybooks

Voluntary work can be done in just a few hours a week. Can you find 8 hours a month - just for a while?

George Tse

Ok thanks for the advise you guys

Any advise on what charities I could go for ??

Regards

Baggybooks

I meant that you contact a firm of accountants and offer to do the accounts of a charity for them for free.

Charities would have their own treasurers and it would take time to become involved at that level.

The worst that can happen is they say no!

PGM

Baggybooks wrote: »

I meant that you contact a firm of accountants and offer to do the accounts of a charity for them for free.

That is an option, or many charities will have an accounts department. Its likely you'd only get book keeping eperience, but its all experience and will give you a reference!

If time/cost is a factor, could do voluntary work part time and do paid work full time. Theres always option, just got to think of it in the same way as college.

I wouldn't like to say how long you'd have to do this, hopefully doing it would make job hunting easier!

laurad

hi
you could try doing what i did. i actually didnt mean to "fall" into accounts or doing the course but i saw an opportunity and took it

i first got my job as an "administrator" which was advertised as doing some reception work, general office admin and some accounts duties like coding invoices etc..

once i got my foot in the door as an administrator, i expressed an interest in accounts and my boss taught me a few extra things. i then played dumb and said in my probation review that i needed some extra training in basic accounts and that id like to do a course to help me. i then enrolled on AAT. since then iv taken on loads more accounts duties to the point where my job is now mainly accounts with a bit of HR admin thrown in for good measure. iv had my title changed to Finance and Admin Assistant (my request as i knew it would look better for future employment) and had 2 payrises all from doing the Level 2 course and starting on Level 3 so employers DO recognise the worth of the course if u look in the right places. (all this is in 12 months)

anyway the point was you should try and look for a job in "admin" which have some accounting duties such as coding invoices and raising PO's and basic stuff like that in the job spec. then once you have done that for year, you can apply for a job as an accounts assistant and on and up you go....

what have you been doing so far? have you any "transferrable" skills that could be promoted on your CV that an accounts job could benefit from?

PGM

laurad wrote: »

anyway the point was you should try and look for a job in "admin" which have some accounting duties such as coding invoices and raising PO's and basic stuff like that in the job spec. then once you have done that for year, you can apply for a job as an accounts assistant and on and up you go....

Thats a good plan. Is it a small company you work for? I can't imagine it working as well for larger firms were your role is usually more specific.

And even if it doesn't turn out accounts related, its still admin experience and will help you get another job..

laurad

yeah its only a small firm which seem to me to be easier to get a job with. i will be looking next year to move to a bigger company but its defo the way to go to get started. i have really tailored the job to my needs which is as you say, a lot easier to do in a small firm where your job is more general and covers lots of other areas too

Baggybooks

Laurad, that's excellent advice. Staff with many skills are always in demand. Knowing how the different parts of the business link together is valuable knowledge.

aatfree

Gentle Jesus wrote: »

Hello

I have been doing both applying for jobs and asking local firms if they have jobs !

Sorry I didn't mean to sound critical. It wasn't clear from your initial post.

Anyway I think you would be best to look for jobs that have a financial element rather than straight finance jobs. There are lots of office jobs that have a little bit of finance in them like raising purchase orders but aren't strictly finance jobs. As an added bonus you also pick up lots of other work experience which is a good thing particularly in this iffy climate.