New job in insolvency - any advice?

xcathx

Hi

I've just found out that I've got a new job as receptionist/insolvency cashier and start next week. I'm really excited about the prospect of a new job, but am getting quite nervous about my lack of experience.

I'm currently studying AAT level 4, and have worked as an accounts manager in the past, but have absolutely no experience of insolvency. My new employers know this so will be giving me a bit of training, but I'd like to try prepare myself as much as I can so I have a better understanding of the work involved.

I've tried searching online to find out a bit more about what the role would involve, but have had limited success.


Do any of you work in Insolvency?

What advice would you give?

Will this experience be helpful in getting me other jobs in general accounting in the future, or is the role too specialised? (I'm not sure whether I want to specialise in insolvency in the future or not yet)

JodieR

Hello,

I temped for the Insolvency service part time for about a year 5 years ago, firstly on reception and later as the 'handover clerk'. You really don't need to worry about not having any previous experience. I know things may have changed and will vary from branch to branch, but my job invovled the following:

*Monitoring the diary - we printed out a copy each morning for the examiners to check their appointments on
*Dealing with phonecalls and visitors - most of the time it's just a case of learning who to refer the enquiry to - once you know the way things work you may be able to give out basic advice over the phone, but each bankrupt is allocated an admin person and an examiner, so usually you refer them to the relevant member of staff.
*Post - again this involves allocating the mail to the relevant case officer. Each case is given a reference number ie NEWC100 2011 will be given to the 100th person to be made bankrupt in 2011 at Newcastle Court, so if any mail comes in quoting a name and/or reference you can look it up on the system to see who the case officer is.
*'Obs' - When the examiners interview the bankrupts they make notes regarding the reasons the person ended up bankrupt and an abbreviated verson of this gets sent to their creditors - Most examiners typed up their own 'stories' but I think some of them hand wrote them for us to type - either way the story had to be added to the general letter which was sent to each creditor, and then we had to do enter all the credtior details onto the system and send them each a letter notifying them of the bankruptcy.
*Cheques - If a bankrupt makes more money than they need to live they are required to pay the surplus to the Insolvency Service and we dealt with the cheques. It wasn't very complicated, they just got logged on the system and posted to the head office in Birmingham.
*Sending Post - Great fun if you like playing with franking machines!
*Occasional trips to the courts to pick up/deliver files

That's about it - luckily when i did it I worked with some lovely people & my manager was fab so i really quite enjoyed it - I was setting myself up as an MIP at the time so it was nice to have a few 'easy' days to recharge. Although, as i said, i'm sure it varies greatly between offices.

Also, they usually promote internally rather than recruiting externally - most of the examiners where I worked had started as either admin staff or on reception, so if you do decide it's the right career for you you shouldn't have a problem moving up the ranks.


Good Luck with it!

jodie

xcathx

Hi Jodie

Thanks for the reply, it's very helpful.

It's actually gone a lot better than I was anticipating. I've managed to complete my first week without getting too overwhelmed, thankfully.

My duties seem straight forward enough, probably more so than what you were doing, but I don't really know anything about how the whole process of insolvency works. Armed with google and a stack of notes I've taken this week, I'm going to try to give myself a crash course over the weekend

My manager is being very understanding about me being a bit clueless atm. He mentioned that it's very difficult to find people with the relevant experience but is confident that my accounting knowledge would help me to get up to speed in no time.

It's quite a contrast from all the other accounting jobs I've been applying for over the past few years where I found myself in the no experience/no job vicious circle. Hopefully this will go some way to improve that situation. Although I think the role as it is atm may be too admin based to help me with my AAT level 4, I'm hoping I might be able to take on more complex tasks as I get the hang of it.

Cath