Considering starting AAT

DavidW

Hello my name is David, to start I will tell you a little bit about myself,
I am 28 years old and I work in Logistics, specifically in export/import. My whole career since I have been a teenager has been working in Logistics, I am currently on 26.5k+benefits. however I have now got to the point where I am bored and lacking motivation with my current role and also I do not see an interesting career path ahead.

Ive been looking around for a potential career change and for something that excites me, around 6 months ago I started toying with the idea of a move into Accounts/Finance, based on my love of numbers and spreadsheets as well as experience of problem solving and dealing with people.

After looking into accounts as an option and doing some research I have come across AAT, so now I am pondering taking the leap and signing up for the "AAT Level 2 Certificate in Accounting". Obviously this would be a risk due to the overall costs and self funding, so I was wondering if anyone has been in a similar situation?

I have no Accounts/Finance background at all. I assume I would be looking at taking a large pay cut to start off and I don't even know how easy it would be to find a job in accounts/finance even with AAT on my CV? Is studying AAT a good idea, will the qualification catch a potential employers eye? and what kind of salary/position can I be looking at as entry level into a finance position?

Any advice or information would be truly appreciated, and I am grateful for you taking time in reading my post.

CeeJaySix

Hi David,

First of all have a search on the forum for 'career change' or similar, there are a number of threads from people who have gone through the process which may help, myself included.

Don't worry about lack of background, AAT starts from scratch.

Yes you will almost certainly need to take a pay cut, most entry level roles in practice at least seem to be around £12-£18k starting salary (ignoring London). It's taken me around 3 years in practice to get back to what I was earning in my old job (>£30k), and that involved qualifying as ACA as well as AAT. I believe industry can be slightly better paid but you will need to be prepared to take a short-term hit.

AAT certainly helps with finding jobs; it seems to depend on whereabouts you are as to how easy it is to get that first position, many people report struggling to find one, but certainly in my area (central south coast) there seem to be a number of positions around and I was offered three jobs within a month or so of sending applications when I started.

Coming from a different background rather than straight from school/uni can be an advantage as you will have developed more soft skills than most younger candidates - you mention communication skills you already have. The key is to sell those skills and how they can transfer to the accounting world to give you an edge.

Hope that helps a little - no harm in starting the qualification whilst in your current job to see how well you take to it and whether it holds your interest.