Basic Job Hunting/Agency Questions
Discussion
Hi all,
since my wife and I returned from a two year secondment to the US she has been looking for work. Before we went she earned similar to me as a part qualified accountant with a charity.
Now that we're back, she's gone on "Indeed" and joined a number of agency's. She's amended her CV to make it a bit more readable etc and even stated she's consider a salary £10k less than what she was on before we went away.
So far, she's only had 2 interviews (both un-succesful) and has found that one of the agency's (turns out it's one of the biggest for her field apparently) aren't even putting her forward for roles she is clearly capable of doing. Their reason being because of the 2 years she hadn't worked while we were away (a crap excuse if you ask me).
So, the question is, do agency's expect clients to call them every day to push for things, or would this just piss them off? They've told her to call every week which she does, and always seems to be the one asking to be put forward for these roles.
It seems that most companies these days for this type of role go through agency's, yet if the agency isn't putting you forward for roles you're stuck.
Finally, do you guys think a 2 year gap in accounting is enough for her to be discounted? Is there anything else we can do?
It's really starting to get her down as it's eating in to our savings each month now and she's starting to regret giving up her job for just two years away.
Does anyone have any thoughts/ideas on what we can do to make her more marketable?
since my wife and I returned from a two year secondment to the US she has been looking for work. Before we went she earned similar to me as a part qualified accountant with a charity.
Now that we're back, she's gone on "Indeed" and joined a number of agency's. She's amended her CV to make it a bit more readable etc and even stated she's consider a salary £10k less than what she was on before we went away.
So far, she's only had 2 interviews (both un-succesful) and has found that one of the agency's (turns out it's one of the biggest for her field apparently) aren't even putting her forward for roles she is clearly capable of doing. Their reason being because of the 2 years she hadn't worked while we were away (a crap excuse if you ask me).
So, the question is, do agency's expect clients to call them every day to push for things, or would this just piss them off? They've told her to call every week which she does, and always seems to be the one asking to be put forward for these roles.
It seems that most companies these days for this type of role go through agency's, yet if the agency isn't putting you forward for roles you're stuck.
Finally, do you guys think a 2 year gap in accounting is enough for her to be discounted? Is there anything else we can do?
It's really starting to get her down as it's eating in to our savings each month now and she's starting to regret giving up her job for just two years away.
Does anyone have any thoughts/ideas on what we can do to make her more marketable?
Would she consider contract work as a way in / get ‘current’?* The advantage she would have over others is immediate availability plus a lot of contracts then go permananent and/or she’d be visible for other internal permanent roles.
- I don’t think the 2 year gap should be an issue but, regardless, the challenge is getting work when you’re out of work.
gl20 said:
Would she consider contract work as a way in / get ‘current’?* The advantage she would have over others is immediate availability plus a lot of contracts then go permananent and/or she’d be visible for other internal permanent roles.
Thanks for the reply,- I don’t think the 2 year gap should be an issue but, regardless, the challenge is getting work when you’re out of work.
Yes, at this stage she's considering, temp, permanent and contract stuff. One possible problem she may have is that a lot of places use a piece of s/w called Sage, which she didn't use in the last job (she was there for 17 years). So this weekend we're looking at a couple of options for courses on Sage. Hopefully that will at least close that gap.
Also, her CV needs some work, what people expect of CV's these days seems to be different (I've had my current job for nearly 20 years, so neither of us has had to update our CV for a long time). I think we need to make it a bit more "punchy", with better highlights, break downs of responsibility and also a break down of how much money she was responsible for in her last job. It was a global charity, so loads of foreign finance to deal with and a good few million in turnover. The charity was funded through an investment part of the same business, which dealt with high milions (at a guess 50-60m).
I think the Sage point is easily fixable. I’m Chartered (albeit don’t do accounting roles these days) and am sure I could pick up Sage very quickly if needed (in fact I may have to as looking at doing my own consulting so will need to set up a co.). With her experience she’ll probably find the pace of training frustrating but it’s a box it sounds like she will need to tick. (FWIW I was thinking of buying a lite version of Sage and just teaching myself but I’ve not looked into cost yet.)
With all her charity experience is that the obvious channel to get back into work? I appreciate the pay may not be great but would get her back on the ladder and could then move a year down the line.
Hope it works out.
With all her charity experience is that the obvious channel to get back into work? I appreciate the pay may not be great but would get her back on the ladder and could then move a year down the line.
Hope it works out.
Thanks again for the prompt reply and thoughts.
With Sage, as you say, it shouldn't really be a stopper, I imagine one accounting tool to have similar functionality to another. But just in case it is one of the reasons for her lack of success then we'll look at the course. I did look at downloading the software so she can just self teach, playing on Sage and watching any youtube videos on it. It didn't actually seem expensive to just download, if you were using it professionally there may be other costs for it though. As I said, we'll look at the courses this weekend and decide which is best.
Yes, getting back into a charity would be great, but it seems that not many company's advertise for roles now, they prefer to go through agencies. Then the agency is responsible for forwarding you for a role, which they often don't do for whatever reason.
She is on Indeed and sometimes employers advertise direct on there. Do you (or anyone reading) know of other such websites, or if there are job advertising places etc, local paper is no use at all these days. She's on Indeed and Monster.
With Sage, as you say, it shouldn't really be a stopper, I imagine one accounting tool to have similar functionality to another. But just in case it is one of the reasons for her lack of success then we'll look at the course. I did look at downloading the software so she can just self teach, playing on Sage and watching any youtube videos on it. It didn't actually seem expensive to just download, if you were using it professionally there may be other costs for it though. As I said, we'll look at the courses this weekend and decide which is best.
Yes, getting back into a charity would be great, but it seems that not many company's advertise for roles now, they prefer to go through agencies. Then the agency is responsible for forwarding you for a role, which they often don't do for whatever reason.
She is on Indeed and sometimes employers advertise direct on there. Do you (or anyone reading) know of other such websites, or if there are job advertising places etc, local paper is no use at all these days. She's on Indeed and Monster.
One site I’d recommend is gaapweb. It’s been going for years (I got my Big 4 job through them earlier in my career). It was actually an agency who recommended it to me. Basically, all agencies that focus on Finance roles post on here so it’s all in one place. Of course you could now say the same of LinkedIn so I’d track both.
Another option are the gig-market type ones where employers post assignments from a few days to a few months and you pitch your response and day rate. Talmix is one I’m on as I seek to build consultancy and they do have finance assignments on there. Keep in mind a lot of these gig-sites are quite US-centric. I don’t have the names of all of them to hand but if you google Talmix competitors then the likes of Owler.com will come up and will list all the other players. This whole gigging thing is getting so big now that even some of the Big-4 gave their own such sites to quickly backfill their engagements if they are short of SMEs or short of staff more generally.
Another option are the gig-market type ones where employers post assignments from a few days to a few months and you pitch your response and day rate. Talmix is one I’m on as I seek to build consultancy and they do have finance assignments on there. Keep in mind a lot of these gig-sites are quite US-centric. I don’t have the names of all of them to hand but if you google Talmix competitors then the likes of Owler.com will come up and will list all the other players. This whole gigging thing is getting so big now that even some of the Big-4 gave their own such sites to quickly backfill their engagements if they are short of SMEs or short of staff more generally.
It's always worth getting a fresh set of eyes on a CV; happy to have a look and provide some feedback. Equally, if she is getting to some interviews but is being pipped at the post, some interview technique coaching may be time well spent.
2 years of inactivity in a professional field is a turn off for many employers. If she genuinely did nothing, then you have to live with that and do some workarounds as you and others have suggested. I would always counsel people to at least do some volunteering or coursework during any downtime so as to not have an absolute void on a CV, particularly when its likely to be anything above a couple of months (which can be explained away like an extended holiday).
Agencies are but one route in to employment; there are a mass of other ways such as direct contact, Linkedin, job boards, own networks etc, etc.
Hope that adds some value
2 years of inactivity in a professional field is a turn off for many employers. If she genuinely did nothing, then you have to live with that and do some workarounds as you and others have suggested. I would always counsel people to at least do some volunteering or coursework during any downtime so as to not have an absolute void on a CV, particularly when its likely to be anything above a couple of months (which can be explained away like an extended holiday).
Agencies are but one route in to employment; there are a mass of other ways such as direct contact, Linkedin, job boards, own networks etc, etc.
Hope that adds some value
AshVX220 said:
Thanks for the reply,
Yes, at this stage she's considering, temp, permanent and contract stuff. One possible problem she may have is that a lot of places use a piece of s/w called Sage, which she didn't use in the last job (she was there for 17 years). So this weekend we're looking at a couple of options for courses on Sage. Hopefully that will at least close that gap.
Also, her CV needs some work, what people expect of CV's these days seems to be different (I've had my current job for nearly 20 years, so neither of us has had to update our CV for a long time). I think we need to make it a bit more "punchy", with better highlights, break downs of responsibility and also a break down of how much money she was responsible for in her last job. It was a global charity, so loads of foreign finance to deal with and a good few million in turnover. The charity was funded through an investment part of the same business, which dealt with high milions (at a guess 50-60m).
HI OP - The lack of SAGE knowledge isn’t a big issue. I assume she’s used integrated finance packages like Oracle, SAP, Agresso...? What are her salary expectations? IME companies are screaming out for Finance staff and for somebody who is PQ I think she’d struggle to get more than £35k for a charity. Yes, at this stage she's considering, temp, permanent and contract stuff. One possible problem she may have is that a lot of places use a piece of s/w called Sage, which she didn't use in the last job (she was there for 17 years). So this weekend we're looking at a couple of options for courses on Sage. Hopefully that will at least close that gap.
Also, her CV needs some work, what people expect of CV's these days seems to be different (I've had my current job for nearly 20 years, so neither of us has had to update our CV for a long time). I think we need to make it a bit more "punchy", with better highlights, break downs of responsibility and also a break down of how much money she was responsible for in her last job. It was a global charity, so loads of foreign finance to deal with and a good few million in turnover. The charity was funded through an investment part of the same business, which dealt with high milions (at a guess 50-60m).
All,
thanks very much for your input and advice, we'll have a look at the suggested websites and will see if we can do something with her CV. I'll forward when done if that's OK (to the poster that offered to give it a check).
She's now managing her expectations salary-wise (even £35k is £5k down on where she was a couple of years ago), she's even struggling to get an interview for £27k roles which is upsetting and she feels like she's taken a huge step backward. She isn't tied to doing charity work, obviously that's where her experience is, but she's happy to work in any sector really.
Again, thanks for your help and we'll look at those other websites for inspiration too.
thanks very much for your input and advice, we'll have a look at the suggested websites and will see if we can do something with her CV. I'll forward when done if that's OK (to the poster that offered to give it a check).
She's now managing her expectations salary-wise (even £35k is £5k down on where she was a couple of years ago), she's even struggling to get an interview for £27k roles which is upsetting and she feels like she's taken a huge step backward. She isn't tied to doing charity work, obviously that's where her experience is, but she's happy to work in any sector really.
Again, thanks for your help and we'll look at those other websites for inspiration too.
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