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If you’re looking to embark on a career in accounting, you’ll know that relevant experience is a requirement for most paid roles. The initial accounting work experience is important for all candidates who aspire to advance their career in the accounting profession. But when you’re just starting, it can seem impossible to get your foot in the door. So where do you start?
Accounting work experience is essential for job placements particularly for accounting students lacking the practical skills to fulfill the role. Getting work experience can give accounting students and immigrants an edge in their job search. Accounting plays an important role in all business operations, such as sales, purchases, taxes, costs, and investment, in short, all operations and transactions are related in one way or another with accounting and is the primary basis for the taking of managerial and financial decisions. In this case, companies understand that apart from a good academic background, work experience in accounting is essential when choosing a candidate, especially when it is a department that will be responsible for ensuring the economic and financial resources. A candidate with accounting work experience gives the company confidence and trust and ensures that the new employee is familiar with the functions performed and will not be a long learning time. Accounting work experience gives incredible prospects to yearning for an accountant to pick up information and add to their accounting aptitudes.
Getting accepted into the work experience program or accounting internships is a significant accomplishment for aspiring accountants. It helps pave the pathway for accountants to enter the accounting occupation.
If you’re at the very beginning of your journey towards professional accountancy, you may be able to get some experience shadowing staff at accounting firms, or within finance departments at organizations.
Initiate by researching and identifying accounting firms or businesses you could get in touch with, and seeking relevant contacts. With smaller organizations, you could get in touch directly with heads of finance departments, while in larger organizations you might get a better response from human resources.
You can then email these contacts, stating that you’re looking to gain work experience in the sector, and explaining how this will contribute to your longer-term ambitions.
Just as you would when applying for a job, take care to express a specific interest in the organization, and don’t forget to sell yourself; after all, work experience is a two-way street, and you are unlikely to be offered experience unless you have something to offer in return.
Think about the kinds of tasks you could help out with, and how your traits and abilities could help things run more smoothly for the department. For example, do you have excellent organizational skills or a proven knack for numbers?
Follow up with phone calls after a few days, as some of your contacts might be willing to take up your offer, but have been too busy to respond.
If you have worked in an accounting role before, perhaps you would like to gain experience with a broader range of responsibilities. If it’s difficult to do this within your current role, you can develop new skills through volunteering.
Many charitable organizations advertise voluntary roles in their finance departments, allowing you to take on new tasks and develop new knowledge.
You may be able to begin gaining experience in an entry-level job role once you have acquired relevant knowledge through a recognized qualification. For example, you could apply to roles such as Accounts Assistant, Purchase Ledger Clerk, or Junior Bookkeeper.
You could even begin your accounting career through an apprenticeship. This allows you to work as part of an accounting team while attending a learning center one day a week. And this is all while earning an hourly wage!
If you’re looking to make a career change into accounting, you may find you already have lots of relevant experience. Many of the skills required in accounting can be gained through roles that entail administrative and management duties.
If you’ve held a senior role in a different sector, you’ve likely been responsible for a budget, which is a bonus when applying for accounting roles.
Something you’re likely to have gained in other roles, and which is a requirement for most accounting jobs, is experienced working to deadlines. Whether it’s running major time-constrained projects or completing small tasks within given time frames, you can relate your organizational and time-keeping skills to your potential to excel in accounts.
Similarly, you probably already have experience with problem-solving. Perhaps you’ve gained this in a previous role that involved making sense of complex information or resolving issues. Perhaps you have even solved problems as part of personal projects. This could impress potential employers, as accountants need to resolve financial challenges, as well as simply report on figures.
You will find it easier to gain work experience in accounting when you have started to gain relevant qualifications. To find out more, get in touch below.
Numerous courses give accounting professionals a step up in the industry; these will help you differentiate yourself from the competition and earn higher salary rates. Reach out to Gettrainedgethired.com to book a free 30-Minute career counseling meeting. At Get Trained Get Hired we provide you with the necessary training to learn practical skills to become an accountant. Our training is based on practical real-life cases. After the training, we work on your resume and try to place you in accounting firms through our network. You will also get access to like-minded individuals who are looking for jobs through our WhatsApp group. Please feel free to contact us at [email protected]. Or call us at 647-275-7150.
Disclaimer: The information provided on this page is intended to provide general information. The information does not consider your situation and is not intended to be used without consultation from professionals. Salman Rundhawa and Gettrainedgethired.com will not be held liable for any problems that arise from the usage of the information provided on this page.
