What Jobs can I do after completing AAT level 2?

Gtsbaby

Hello, long time reader first time poster. :001_smile:

As the title says really. I have my last 2 exams for level 2 this month and am starting to look for jobs to utilise what I have learnt and help me through the next 2 levels hopefully.

The thing is, having never worked in a finance capacity I am unsure of what I can do with the knowledge I have gained purely from AAT level 2. :huh:

SashaDella

Look for training jobs or apprentices.

I started my accounts assistant job without ANY prior experience! and then a few months in I start my AAT level 2.

Perhaps look for a department job like purchase ledger clerk, and then try and branch out to other departments while your there.

Basically any junior accounts roles, try REED job agency (they are really helpful)

Good Luck

Gtsbaby

SashaDella wrote: »

Look for training jobs or apprentices.

I started my accounts assistant job without ANY prior experience! and then a few months in I start my AAT level 2.

Perhaps look for a department job like purchase ledger clerk, and then try and branch out to other departments while your there.

Basically any junior accounts roles, try REED job agency (they are really helpful)

Good Luck

Thanks for your response SashaDella, Purchase/Sales Ledger Clerk was the kind of answer I was looking for, something slightly specific. I think my problem is more of a confidence issue with my ability so wanted someone to say "Luke, you are capable of x as you have done AAT level 2.".

Reed here I come, thanks again.

SashaDella

You will be more than capable, and you'll really gain SOO much experience even from your first few days on the job.

Try and not be disheartened as it can take a long time to find work. But just take on as much good advice as you can

P.s. try calling accounting firms as well

CeeJaySix

Do you have other relevant skills/experience? What do you ultimately want to do in accountancy?

I landed 3 job offers in training positions with general practices from sending out speculative CVs after level 2 if that's the direction you want to go. Agencies I found friendly but generally not great at our level, as they're more geared towards filling specific position with the right person to gain a commission - firms generally don't need an agency to fill a training position as they have plenty of applicants anyway, and don't want to pay several thousand £ to fill a £12-£20k role. Doesn't hurt to register with them on the off-chance though.

Always remember - jobs only get advertised for around 1/4 of their availability. For the first 3/4 they're going through the founding stage, identifying the need, working out how to fill it, working out the best way to find people, etc etc - if a speculative CV lands on someone's desk once the need for someone has been identified but before it gets to advertisement, and you fit the bill, you'll have very few competitors and potentially save the firm a lot of money in advertising and agency costs - giving you a much better chance of landing the job. Reed is great, but I've never applied for a job on there with fewer than 30 or so other applicants to fight against! One job I was offered was going to be advertised for a newly qualified chartered accountant, but they liked my background and figured training me on the accountancy side would be easier than training a new accountant in the other skills they needed. Work out what you want to do, learn to sell yourself and put yourself out there.

steve2008

Thanks CJ, I am planning on sending out speculative CV's after completing level 3. Glad to see it is possible to get offers that way.

sadia tariq

hi i did my aat level 2 (online) from kaplan ..i am ready to do any junior level job but unable to find any ..what is missing on my CV ,can you name any accounting agency where i could directly apply?

sadia tariq

i did aat level 2 from Kaplan (online).i tried searching many jobs but could not find any.i am 28 unable to apply for apprenticeship .have no prior experience .waht is missing on my CV.Can you name any accounting agency where i could apply

ShortASSET

Honestly guys, with level 2 you can`t find any job. For the apprenticeship you need at least 5-6 GCSE grade A-B and even you have them you have to have a very good reference. Everyone is asking for experiences which not sure how to obtain if you don`t get hired. Of course it is not something Aat have anything to do with. I think most likely the problem escalated by the recruitment agencies. As they manipulated the job market enough not to be able to go around them straight to the employer. Which means they advertise example a Junior accountant role with at least 2 years of experiences and at least Aat level 3 Diploma almost forgot with excellent MS Office experience. The bigger firms won`t take you in since they accept mostly graduate who finishing University. So I think the only future is to complete all level 4 and with the exemption it gets you start 2nd year at Uni. That is all I can see as the best results. Some University (most) provide you a placement job so get the skills and later can find a job not only as an accountant but also in many other positions.

Sharon123

It may seem old fashioned but have you tried looking in your local papers for job adverts. These are often from smaller firms with not much to spend on recruitment. Level 2 should equip you for purchase ledger roles where you would be matching delivery notes with invoices, putting expense codes on invoices and posting them to the ledger and checking and reconciling supplier statements. Good luck!

clees

ShortASSET said:

Honestly guys, with level 2 you can`t find any job. For the apprenticeship you need at least 5-6 GCSE grade A-B and even you have them you have to have a very good reference. Everyone is asking for experiences which not sure how to obtain if you don`t get hired. Of course it is not something Aat have anything to do with. I think most likely the problem escalated by the recruitment agencies. As they manipulated the job market enough not to be able to go around them straight to the employer. Which means they advertise example a Junior accountant role with at least 2 years of experiences and at least Aat level 3 Diploma almost forgot with excellent MS Office experience. The bigger firms won`t take you in since they accept mostly graduate who finishing University. So I think the only future is to complete all level 4 and with the exemption it gets you start 2nd year at Uni. That is all I can see as the best results. Some University (most) provide you a placement job so get the skills and later can find a job not only as an accountant but also in many other positions.

I landed an apprentiship with 3 GCSE's A-C and have been retaking my GCSE maths at night school as I got a D when i did it first time round.
so not sure where you get the 5-6 at A-B from?

and whilst ive been her have had 2 job offers from practices, but turned them down as they offered less money than i am on now.

you dont need experiance just determination and you have to keep trying.

theres also no need to go to uni, just apply for training jobs/apprentices.
the company i work for have garenteed my level 4 training given i pass level 3 and then will be placing my on a cipfa program (charted accounts)

the oportunites are out there you just have to look hard enough

Dwi2016

I'm planning to study AAT, will it help me to get a professional job?

SandyHood

Dwi2016

AAT will help.

If you scroll up you'll see plenty of discussion.
My advice is to try to start working with accounts before you start AAT.
You might even find that your employer will sponsor your training.
If you see SashaDella's post it describes the approach I recommend.

You'll also see some people have had problems moving into accounting especially if they can't match the level of pay they earn in non-accounting jobs. Added to that employers are often unwilling to recruit people who are taking a pay cut. If you start at the bottom you can work your way up.

Someone raised a similar point on another thread. I wrote that it is very important for career accounting technicians to train alongside work.
http://forums.aat.org.uk/discussion/443161/lack-of-motivation-on-financial-performance#latest

Exactly how much you are paid depends on you and your employer.
I have a view on this too. I think you should be paid. When your employer is paying you he/she has a vested interest in you doing something worthwhile. If you are starting out and don't need a lot of money, that can help. I do not recommend working just for experience. You need to be paid for both your benefit and for the respect employers give to paid employees.

AAT is a big help. When you have had a year's experience and a set of exams [maybe even the whole of level 2] you will be an attractive proposition and either worth a pay rise with your current employer or worth taking on by someone else.

I hope this helps

ShortASSET

clees said:

ShortASSET said:

Honestly guys, with level 2 you can`t find any job. For the apprenticeship you need at least 5-6 GCSE grade A-B and even you have them you have to have a very good reference. Everyone is asking for experiences which not sure how to obtain if you don`t get hired. Of course it is not something Aat have anything to do with. I think most likely the problem escalated by the recruitment agencies. As they manipulated the job market enough not to be able to go around them straight to the employer. Which means they advertise example a Junior accountant role with at least 2 years of experiences and at least Aat level 3 Diploma almost forgot with excellent MS Office experience. The bigger firms won`t take you in since they accept mostly graduate who finishing University. So I think the only future is to complete all level 4 and with the exemption it gets you start 2nd year at Uni. That is all I can see as the best results. Some University (most) provide you a placement job so get the skills and later can find a job not only as an accountant but also in many other positions.

I landed an apprentiship with 3 GCSE's A-C and have been retaking my GCSE maths at night school as I got a D when i did it first time round.
so not sure where you get the 5-6 at A-B from?

and whilst ive been her have had 2 job offers from practices, but turned them down as they offered less money than i am on now.

you dont need experiance just determination and you have to keep trying.

theres also no need to go to uni, just apply for training jobs/apprentices.
the company i work for have garenteed my level 4 training given i pass level 3 and then will be placing my on a cipfa program (charted accounts)

the oportunites are out there you just have to look hard enough

Well I was looking hard enough to find a firm which I did but left it later on for quality assurance reasons. So about the GCSE`s I am referring to what I see in many adverts across recruiters websites. I know they are completely irrelevant as they were asking for "A" Levels in Maths, Biology , Science , Chemistry , Physics , English at least one foreign language and the line goes on and on. I know these are recruiters and have not a single clue about the relevancy comes up with the job they are either trying to get or to conclude (not sure what are the purposes). But I have seen many - many adverts asking for all these I mentioned and even many times they ask example at least AAT level 2 but the role involves way above that purpose.
I am also having trouble to understand once you are qualified you are (must be ) able to deal with your duties no matter you have experience or not. I mean come on where the hell I am going to get experience on top I already earned during my studies. I mean you must be super stupid not to know what to do once you passed your exams!
I mean this firm I was starting to work at (part time) give me like book keeping duties which I done it very well even they were using excel sheets from how many years before and no matter you deleted them but there were formulas nobody could see, etc.
I mean I never worked before in office but for me the second day was like I born into it.
I did have trouble with ACCA studen`t as they think AAT is something for low end accountants even they could explain what a suspense account what so ever for.
So over all since I was suspecting money laundering or something similar by one of their member I decided not to continue working for them. This firm is in Malta and is also a training provider.
How I was figured out the hidden back round processes with this activity ? Well I noticed that this person always finds mistakes in my work while I knew I didn`t made those entries for sure. So once I was trying to save my work and Excel crushed. So I told my supervisor that somebody must have opened and changed something during my session as that is very common to happen if person opening one sheet.
So he said let`s call the IT guy and he can check if anyone tried to do anything.
Out of sudden this person showed up and told that she had opened the sheet not so long ago but have not changed anything. ( I was like what ever, every time I do work for her something is wrong but when I do work for others is always good). Than one day out of sudden she comes to work in expensive clothing (she always wears slightly normal stuff). So I immediately knew that she is taking money of clients for a reason. Well forst experience weren`t successful but I am desperate to find a professional firm where everyone can earn and progress.