How did you find an accounting job?

wbauk2002

Im having a nightmare trying to find a job in accounts

I have had my CV and covernote tweaked by a recruitment professional

Im on AAT Level 4
I have a Bsc Business IT degree
A Levels in business studies and accounting

Ran a ltd company for 3 years doing all the bookkeeping etc
Worked as finance admin for 8 months, temp position

And im applying for mainly accounts assistant or similiar roles, Im applying to entry level, experienced and whatever else in between, and will start on min wage. Even volunteering positions dont reply

And probably getting 5 rejections per 50 applications

Im using job centre, reed, monster, totaljobs, CV library, local newspaper websites, local temp agencies

Is anyone else finding it this hard?

How did you get your accounts jobs?

MarieNoelle

Hi,
I think you are doing everything right and you have a good experience so now I guess it's just a waiting game. Maybe you could send speculative application to local accountancy firms?

I started looking last September after a long career break - just had done volunteer jobs with my local school. I reworked on my CV and sent it to a few local accountancy firms. I was lucky to get a 6 weeks temporary position with one of them, which turned into a maternity cover for 3 months, and then was offered a permanent part-time position - At the time I would even have accepted a non-paid job.

Remember that most jobs aren't advertised. Try to make good use of social network sites (e.g LinkedIn), talk to friends... Also, if you are training with a college they may have jobs advertised through them....

Hopefully something will come up. Good luck,
MN:001_smile:

NicF

When you apply for a job do you send the same CV and covering letter to each or do you tailor them to the position you are applying for? If you are just sending them off to all places that have the kind of job you are interested in then maybe you are applying for too many jobs. My husband recently applied for a job (not accounting) and spent about ten hours on the application, ensuring he addressed all the points that the employer was looking for. He was offered an interview and the job.

The point I'm trying to make is you need to make sure your application stands out and shows you as being the ideal person for the job. The only way to do this is to ensure you reasearch the organisation and position you are applying for and tailor your application to show you have the skills and abilities they are looking for. This is just as important when sending speculative applictions to show that you have done your homework on the organisation you are writing to.

wbauk2002

Hi Nic

I used to do that, but when you spend hours on an application and not even get a reply its so demotivating.

I tend to tailor applications more when they are going direct, but I think recruitment agencies are a waste of time because they get so many applications for each role they just flick through them, so im told anyway



Marie I did setup a linkedin account but no quite sure how to find jobs on it yet, ill have to do some research

MarieNoelle

wbauk2002 wrote: »

Marie I did setup a linkedin account but no quite sure how to find jobs on it yet, ill have to do some research

I think the purpose of a LinkedIn account is more for others to find you. If you put the right key words in your profile, they can do a search on location, job types etc...also try to get people to write recommendations for you as it makes your profile stand out.

simonburian

you can try this: https://goo.gl/Pc5p1a
it's like Linkedin but reversed. you connect with companies, and they will contact you if they are interested. you have to build a profile, including your qualifications, interests and experiences. I've had good success on it myself!! Managed to get into a grad scheme with a consulting company.

burg

When I decided to move into accountancy years back it was difficult. I was in an unrelated role, had started AAT level 3 and had bookkeeping experience from working for my mum.
I regularly got interviews but couldn't convince anyone to take me on. Eventually I got a couple of offers but the pay and the distance made it too difficult to accept. After about 7 months of searching I got a role closer to home.

My suggestions would be:-

1 - Make your CV short but to the point. Cover everything but where there is little relevance to accountancy keep it short.
2 - Research every company you apply for. Understand what they do and what their objectives are.
3 - Tailor your covering letter/email to fit each job based on your research for 2.
4 - If you get an interview do more of 2 to get yourself knowing them as well as you can
5 - Answer questions in interview honestly but link back to 2 and 4 to show how interested you are
6 - Always try to have some questions yourself at interview. It is not about just getting any job afterall. It needs to be the right fit or you will be doing this all over again.
7 - Practice interview questions and know your answers to main questions.
8 - Be polite and chatty. Learn to control the nerves and channel them to be less of an issue
9 - If unsuccessful then contact the company and ask for honest feedback. Explain how you are disappointed not to get the role but you really want a career in accountancy and in their opinion how could you have improved. Make it clear you will take all feedback constructively (and make sure you do). Learn from this and improve for next time.

Hopefully that is not teaching you to suck eggs. I went straight from school to one job having had 1 interview and just got the job. Then several years later did many interviews in a relatively short space of time. I feel I perfected it eventually as I got 4 job offers in the space of 2 weeks. Maybe not but something went right.
I've not sat the other side of the table a few times. It's exactly the same. It took me a while to get it right. When you receive 100 CV's for one job something has to stand out very quickly to make me want to see you and find out more.
As an example of what not to do based on the opposite of the above. I decided to interview one candidate for a trainee role who on paper seemed fantastic. Good results, good mix of hobbies and seemed like they would fit really well. Happened to be a child of a client but applied off their own back without their involvement so was happy that there would be less issues. Also meant they should know what we were about. They basically had the job if they interviewed ok.
They were terrible. They dressed inappropriately, had no idea about accountancy at all, didn't really know what we did and had done no research. In the space of 30 minutes they went from being awesome to being terrible.

We have had good success since and we are building a good team.

Go ahead and sell yourself and give potential employers no reason not to employ you.

Good luck