I have completed the computerised book keeping course up to level 2.
Can someone please advice what type of employers I should apply for to get the relevant book keeping experience in, for example, sales/purchase ledger etc? Shall I concentrate on applying to local accountants or any local small/medium sized firms? What about sole traders e.g. painters/decorators/window cleaners etc?
You are extremely unlikely to pick up a role within an accountancy practice but by all means apply as you stand absolutely no chance if you don't!
You mention sole traders indicating that you are thinking of going self employed so don't forget that you will need to get a practiuce licence to cover you for MLR and to get the practice licence you will need to have PII insurance in place.
A better option may be to consider gaining experience by temping. Have words with Reed accountancy who may be able to place you in a sales or purchase ledger role.
Good luck in your search.
kind regards,
Shaun.
P.S. congratulations on passing your level 2.
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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.
Very good point in relation to ageism in recruitment Debbie but it's often down to the combination of age plus inexperience rather than just age alone.
I've personally not had any problems with Reed and cannot recommend Kelly Brown (manager of the temp division) in the Wolverhampton offices highly enough.
But, as with all agencies it is all down to the agent that you get. I would certainly not recommend Robert Half in Birmingham to anyone as everything was fine when I spoke with them on the phone but as soon as I went into their offices I could tell as soon as I met the agent who was a twenty something Asian lady, even before I opened my mouth that there was absolutely no way that my CV would get forwarded to anyone regardless as to how much more suitable I was for the available positions.
It's a real problem in that employers are just not getting to see the CV's of people who could make a real positive impact on their businesses as agents have taken it upon themselves to act as gatekeepers respresenting themselves rather than the best interests of the candidates or to a certain extent cleints... OMG I'm sounding like Jerry Maguire... Maybe I should start work on a mission statement.
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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.
I have heard many stories from my friends that agents have been the complete opposite of gatekeepers, and have sent people who obviously do not fill the job description. I presume that is just an attempt to get any body in the role to get their commission.
I personally have applied to Hays and i thought they were very helpfull and professional.
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Nick
Nick Craggs FMAAT ACA AAT Distance Learning Manager
It does differ from agency to agency. The Reed office is Maidstone, Kent is rubbish though. I've applied for jobs that I'm over and under qualified for and am perfect for but despite chasing up on applications they just don't want to help me. Very frustrating.
And as mentioned above, not just agency to agency but even office to office of the same agency or even agent to agent in the same office.
With my bankers head on I've actually followed good agents rather than stayed loyal to an agency. However, with my accountancy hat on I've yet to be able to build a list of agents who I trust. (Mmm, not many sentences have both the words agent and trust in them!).
So far I would highly recommend Kelly Brown at Reed Accountancy Wolverhampton and Mitchell Thompson at RK Accountancy in Birmingham.
One thing that I will say at the moment though is that agencies are being absolutely flooded with CV's. I think I mentioned a few days back about an accounts position that came up in Wolverhampton and within two hours there had been 935 applications for it (the reed website shows the number of applications).
That came on the same day that Reed sent me another auto generated email to "improve my career prospects with an accountancy qualification from the Home Learning College".
Problem is that with so many CV's hitting the agents inbox from those with qualifications but without relevant experience they are ending up going straight to the bin and as more and more people go down the bookkeeping route on the back of redundancies from local government combined with emails such as the one's that I get from Reed / HLC then I can only see the situation getting worse.
It does sometimes seem that if you retrain into this field then really the only option open to you is working in a self employed capacity but as mentioned throughout the site that comes with no guarantee of finding sufficient clients to build a business.
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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.
I have managed to pick up bits by simply contacting Bookkeeping companies. I literally looked them up on the internet and emailed. It is all voluntary but at least it provides experience.
It is good to know that I am not the only one have such question. I am doing the course now and pass Level II is my goal at the moment - so congratulations for passed your exams!
However it is a bit of worrying to know that finding a job afterwards is not easy you know, I will face exactly the same situation as you do now in the near future (in fact next month, if my exam goes well)... I am thinking of self-employeed work eventually...
Please Shamus - please talk a bit more about going for self-employment, I am thinking of doing it after Level II, is it possible? or maybe I am day dreaming here, and more study is required...
Good Luck to your job hunting! let us know how you are getting on:)
you know, I will face exactly the same situation as you do now in the near future (in fact next month, if my exam goes well)... I am thinking of self-employeed work eventually...
