Hi,

don't have such a downer on yourself. Once upon a time everyone on here lacked experience and everyone has had nerves about whether they are doing the right thing and whether they might just be throwing their money away on training.

In doing the AAT ABC Bookkeeping you have shown a willingness to learn something new (well done on passing by the way). As you have rightly identified the next stage is getting some experience in the real world.

You've correctly identified a couple of roles which you should be pushing for. A third is credit control which covers an awful lot of bookkeeping skills when your trying to recast accounts back to scratch and chase lost payments through the system.

Whilst your looking could I suggest purchasing the BPP AAT units 1 - 4 revision companion (ISBN-13: 978-0751767148). This is one of the best books for keeping you on your toes with practical bookkeeping scenarios.

Whatever SAGE practice you can get in now do it as that's likely to be a major selling point with any employer. Also make sure that you are up to speed with Excel including VLookups and Pivot Tables.

Excel is one of those products that anyone can use but few can use it well. That product really is the key to a success in this business.

Try to get on the good side of someone at a recruitment agency. Reed seem to have a huge chunk of our market so have words with someone there and go in for a chat and to register with them.

Temping is a very good way of getting varied experience quickly. Getting the first temp role can take a while but once you have landed the first then it's like a snowball rolling down a hill and you'll find yourself moving between clients with relative ease.

Once you have a position it might be a good idea to build on your studies and do the full AAT qualification.

Don't forget to keep us all informed of your progress won't you.

Good luck,

Shaun.

I'd agree with Shaun regarding getting experience. The best way is through temping because you are presented with many different types of businesses, different systems, different ways of working, different situations and problems to solve which is all very good preparation for going it alone.

Good luck.

In fact, 2007 has now been replaced with 2010 so you could argue that your already wasting your time learning something that's outdated!

You still need to learn more than the basics though and Vlookups, Pivot tables and Macro programming are all still there.

Personally I don't like the Ribbon but through gritted teeth I've conceded that it's something that I'm going to have to live with.

Indeed, almost all big business that I work with has not moved to 2007 but has retained 2003 as that version is aimed more towards the serious power user... They're also still on XP as are all of the machines in my office although when I next replace a machine I have no qualms about moving to Windows 7, I just wouldn't have Vista on a business machine.

On the Excel front I maintain versions of Excel 97, 2000, 2003 and 2007 on my machines due to supporting Macro's written for various institutions.

Under the hood very little has actually changed with Excel since Excel 4, it's just that Microsoft keep getting better at hiding the things that you need!

Hi Sheila,

To view the page breaks try hitting CNTL + F2

There's also Page Break Preview (third item from the left in workbook views) on the view tab.

The one that grinds my gears is that switching off displaying grid lines and zero values is now hidden away in advanced options.

Is there a good study course that can get me to Excel Intermediate status? I consider myself at a level beyond basic but after having a look at online tests I am definitely not as competent as I'd hoped :(

Ideally it would be fairly cheap and not take 6-8 weeks as I'm all studied out now!

-- Edited by flimper on Sunday 27th of June 2010 11:14:50 AM

Hi Flimper,

Sage is something that you sell yourself on but Excel is something that it's expected that everyone will have.

The best way to learn Excel is to have a project of some sort.

My first one was a shares portfolio with separate worksheets for each share and a totals worksheet that was automatically updated.

Very simple concept but one of those things that can get more and more complex.

I'm sure that there's probably something in your life that you could build a multi sheet spreadsheet from.

What about calculating out your mortgage repayments for the next few years and recording credit card debts and loans?

Again, simple concept that you can build on.

Try to think of things that will require analysis, formula's, Vlookups and pivot tables.

If your still at a loss a good book that you could acquire would be Excel 2007 Data Analysis and Business Modeling by Microsoft Press.

As mentioned at the start of this reply. Excel is an essential but Sage will get you the job. You actually need to acquire both skills.

Good luck,

Shaun.

Hi Steve,

Good call. that one is really excellent.

The reason that I didn't give that pointer though was that I was thinking that it's really geared towards Excel 1997 - 2003 so as a newbie to Excel and using Excel 2007 flimper might get lost having to track down the commands.