I am currently doing IAB Diploma in Accounting and Advanvced Book Keeping and an IAB Diploma in Computerised Accounting at a local college in Bristol.
I also volunteer 1 day a month to Age Concern as a finance assistant which I really, really enjoy.
My main job does not involve any finance work so I was wondering if there was any paid trainee positions available in Bristol? I have applied for trainee roles via the internet and job boards but not been successful yet, is there another way?
welcome to the forum and really sorry that I missed your post.
the fact that your doing voluntary work in finance will score brownie points over those who have only theoretical knowledge, however, it's a world away from practice so you are still going to fall behind those applying for the jobs who are already working in practice or have worked in practice previously.
Use your experience to build a CV that will appeal to agencies such as Reed and take a serious look at temping in sales ledger / purchase ledger / credit control all of which will give you the much needed practice experience which will appeal to employers who despite what they may write in their ads really don't want to invest any time and money in basic training.
As you seem to be looking for a career rather than self employment, as a career plan think about using your existing experience to land temp jobs in order to pay for furthering you study and move from IAB to AAT (you will be able to gain exemptions for studies already completed with the IAB).
When you have completed AAT combined with your temping experience you will be in a strong position to land an accounts assistant job.
If you need further evidence that this is the approach to take just take a look at the Reed job site and see how many roles ask for ICB or IAB qualifications... I've yet to see one.
AAT on the other hand is a pre requirement of almost every job.
The good news (yes there is some) is that you did the right thing in choosing IAB instead of ICB as the qualification is recognised by other supervisory bodies such as the ACCA who do not recognise the ICB qualification for exemptions.
I wish you every success in your career and hope that you will take on my advice about temping and going AAT.
kind regards.
Shaun.
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Shaun
Responses are not meant as a substitute for professional advice. Answers are intended as outline only the advice of a qualified professional with access to all relevant information should be sought before acting on any response given.
Thank you for your advise, I really, really appreciate this.
I too have not seen a single role asking for IAB and so I am enrolling on AAT 3 from September!
Reed and Page Personnel do advertise loads of jobs and I think they are tired of seeing my CV so I will need to change my attack for them, maybe even wait until I have started a few lessons to then update my CV and hope the searches pick up my AAT!!!
At the moment I can't afford to temp as my current salary is paying towards my studies, I will however look for more voluntary work to build that experience and then make the brave move away from my current job.
Thank you once again, I stabled on this forum last year and was afraid to join but you have helped me focus on a path for which I am truly grateful and really pleased I registered.
No probs Salima, always glad to help newbies make the right choices as in this business there are just so many wrong ones.
The IAB was not a bad choice by the way. I'm going to be moving my allegiance to them as soon as my current ICB practice licence expires and I'm quite looking forwards to doing the international accounting standards exam with them as all of my ACCA studies are under UK GAAP (It's quite common for ACCA's to have multiple allegiences in order to get MLR cover and cheap PII).
Don't forget than when rewriting your CV, as soon as you join the AAT you are part qualified AAT (you have exemptions). Even at PQ AAT doors will open that were not open previously.l
This is a really friendly site with some excellent contributors and a broad range of experience.
As your studies progress you will change from an advice recipient to a net contributor so don't worry at all about asking questions now. We're always glad to help and also, in helping we keep ourselves technically fresh.
Glad to have you on board and look forward to chatting soon,
Shaun.
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Shaun
Responses are not meant as a substitute for professional advice. Answers are intended as outline only the advice of a qualified professional with access to all relevant information should be sought before acting on any response given.
