Anonymous wrote
I am a recently qualified accountant (ACA). I trained working for a large audit firm. I have a Multimedia systems degree and three As at A Levels. My degree covered diverse areas from animation to web and database design, although I limited programming experience. I am looking for a career change. I was wondering if financial software companies take on accountants as trainee developers?
Managers at Marks Sattin and her sister company, Greythorn, who specialise in IT recruitment wrote:
One thing that you will have to face is that you will experience quite a considerable pay cut if you want to move away from accountancy. You will however be in quite a good position due to your understanding of financial systems.
Our recommendation would be to approach the HR department in your current company to see whether a secondment into the information systems department would be possible. If this opportunity is not available to you, you are best trying to apply to financial software companies on their graduate training programmes. Even if it was a while ago that you graduated, the new laws on age discrimination mean that you will still have a chance to get on to these programmes.
Unfortunately Greythorn doesn't deal with graduate opportunities, but by all means come back to us in the future if you need help.
All the best in your search
About the WH Marks Sattin Job Doctor
WH Marks Sattin is a specialist recruitment agency dealing with accountancy, finance, tax and consultancy professionals. This is our Job Doctor forum/blog.
Looking for a career change? Want some advice on which industries are good to get into at the moment?
Go on, ask our consultants some questions! If you want you can comment on our answers... We hope you find it useful!
To ask a question follow these steps:
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4. Click "Publish your comment"
We will try to answer your question in 3 to 5 days.
http://www.whmarkssattin.com/
Looking for jobs in IT? Why not talk to our sister company Greythorn - specialist IT recruiter.
Looking for a career change? Want some advice on which industries are good to get into at the moment?
Go on, ask our consultants some questions! If you want you can comment on our answers... We hope you find it useful!
1. Click "comments" on any of the previous posts (even if it isn't related to your question
2. Type in your question in the box
3. Select "anonymous" if you don't have your own account
4. Click "Publish your comment"
We will try to answer your question in 3 to 5 days.
http://www.whmarkssattin.com/
Looking for jobs in IT? Why not talk to our sister company Greythorn - specialist IT recruiter.
Friday, 27 July 2007
Tuesday, 17 July 2007
Practice, commerce or legal accounts...
Conor wrote:
I am a qualified AAT (2001) together with a few other similar level accounting quals. My most recent assignments were in Internal Audit with a big 4 & a top 20 firm. Due to Regulatory changes in Sarbanes Oxley, I have been made redundant in March. Since then I have been completing the AAT Bookkeeping Certificate Course, Excel NVQ level 3, and Sage Line 50, so that I may return to an accounting role working as part of a team on a salary range of between £20 to £25K, I am interested in either practice, commerce or the accounts office of a legal firm (they always request legal accts experience?) What areas do you suggest? What challenges / difficulties will I face to get back into work?
A manager in the public practice team wrote:
It's very difficult to say with the limited information you've provided, though junior roles for individuals with this sort of experience are not in abundance within Public Practice. Internal Audit candidates are always in demand and the most likely avenue for you to pursue should be within the commercial sector where the demand is greatest.
I hope this is of some help to you. Good luck.
I am a qualified AAT (2001) together with a few other similar level accounting quals. My most recent assignments were in Internal Audit with a big 4 & a top 20 firm. Due to Regulatory changes in Sarbanes Oxley, I have been made redundant in March. Since then I have been completing the AAT Bookkeeping Certificate Course, Excel NVQ level 3, and Sage Line 50, so that I may return to an accounting role working as part of a team on a salary range of between £20 to £25K, I am interested in either practice, commerce or the accounts office of a legal firm (they always request legal accts experience?) What areas do you suggest? What challenges / difficulties will I face to get back into work?
A manager in the public practice team wrote:
It's very difficult to say with the limited information you've provided, though junior roles for individuals with this sort of experience are not in abundance within Public Practice. Internal Audit candidates are always in demand and the most likely avenue for you to pursue should be within the commercial sector where the demand is greatest.
I hope this is of some help to you. Good luck.
Becoming an account assistant
Anonymous wrote:
I am currently studying for Foundation In Finance (Diploma) and have successfully completed basic bookkeepig, purchase ledger, sales ledger and final accounts 1. But still studying for Sageline 50, excel proficient, data entry, and powerpoint profient. I am finding it difficult to work as an account assistant as the recruiters seem to want someone with some experiance, any advice?
A consultant at Marks Sattin wrote:
It is always very difficult to get your foot in the door as employers do tend to look for as much experience as possible - even for more junior roles. I would suggest that you do some voluntary work for a charity and also get as much advice as you can from your careers officer or tutor (if you are studying at a college). If not, I can only recommend that your are very persistent and write to lots of firms in your local area.
All the best in your search!
I am currently studying for Foundation In Finance (Diploma) and have successfully completed basic bookkeepig, purchase ledger, sales ledger and final accounts 1. But still studying for Sageline 50, excel proficient, data entry, and powerpoint profient. I am finding it difficult to work as an account assistant as the recruiters seem to want someone with some experiance, any advice?
A consultant at Marks Sattin wrote:
It is always very difficult to get your foot in the door as employers do tend to look for as much experience as possible - even for more junior roles. I would suggest that you do some voluntary work for a charity and also get as much advice as you can from your careers officer or tutor (if you are studying at a college). If not, I can only recommend that your are very persistent and write to lots of firms in your local area.
All the best in your search!
Thursday, 5 July 2007
Moving away from reinsurance?
Anonymous wrote:
I am a Reinsurance Technician with over 30 years experience. I have held positions ranging from Supervisor and Team Leader to Manager and Senior Technician all in a processing environment. I have internal audit and management information and gap analysis experience with advanced MS skills.I am today 59 yrs of age and looking to break into a more admin functional type role utilising my numerical, analysis and MS skills. I am finding this an impossible task, what am I doing wrong.
A Divisional Manager in Marks Sattin's Investment Management and Insurance Division wrote:
Whilst I cannot be clear on exactly what you mean by "admin functional type" the advice I would give would be stick to your strengths. People are going to hire you for what you have to offer, not just your ambitions. London is a huge people market and there will always be people with more to offer in a function you have no direct experience of.
With 30 years experience in something as specialised and complicated as reinsurance, and with a genuine skills shortage in internal audit I would recommend you play to your strengths and continue with roles that may include control review of a reinsurance claims dept or audit of reinsurance documentation etc.
Best of luck with your search.
I am a Reinsurance Technician with over 30 years experience. I have held positions ranging from Supervisor and Team Leader to Manager and Senior Technician all in a processing environment. I have internal audit and management information and gap analysis experience with advanced MS skills.I am today 59 yrs of age and looking to break into a more admin functional type role utilising my numerical, analysis and MS skills. I am finding this an impossible task, what am I doing wrong.
A Divisional Manager in Marks Sattin's Investment Management and Insurance Division wrote:
Whilst I cannot be clear on exactly what you mean by "admin functional type" the advice I would give would be stick to your strengths. People are going to hire you for what you have to offer, not just your ambitions. London is a huge people market and there will always be people with more to offer in a function you have no direct experience of.
With 30 years experience in something as specialised and complicated as reinsurance, and with a genuine skills shortage in internal audit I would recommend you play to your strengths and continue with roles that may include control review of a reinsurance claims dept or audit of reinsurance documentation etc.
Best of luck with your search.
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