Looking for work in Berkshire - The Book-keepers Forum (UK)

StuartAnder · Senior Member

Looking for work in Berkshire

Shamus · Forum Moderator & Expert

Hi Stuart,

could I suggest that you contact Reed Accountancy division and push your Purchase ledger and Credit control experience and try to land some temp jobs.

All temp positions offer different practical experience. With luck you should be able to greatly increase your existing experience and fingers crossed move up to accounts assistant roles which would then help in getting the experience that you need in order to turn your studies into MAAT status when you will be able to command better roles and gain more relevant experience.

Just a thought, hope that it helps,

Shaun.

StuartAnder · Senior Member

I did think about that and i did infact contact Reed in reading, but as usual all they say is we will take your details and call you if we get anything appropriate for your skills, This is a normal thing in Reading, they only interested in their commission,and if they ent got anything then they dont wanna no ya.
I honestly cant afford to go temping, as i no a couple of friends that have ended up with no work for weeks and i cant afford to do this.
Thanks for your reply tho, Once the job market picks up tho im sure ill get something alot bettter, and probably be able to do as you suggestted.

Fingers crossed ah!!

Shamus · Forum Moderator & Expert

I know the feeling on Agents. A lot depends on the personality and professionalism of the agent. Reed in Wolverhampton (my closest) are really good now although the woman who used to be in charge provided a service similar to the one that you are getting now.

I appreciate fully the frustration. I've got to do two years supervised at some stage after I've passed my final exams and even though I want to do it in practice I know that I may end up getting my post qualification experience from a permie job in banking. (also counts for accountancy).

From your reply I take it that your still in full time employment in another field at the moment? What is it? is it a complimentary industry or something completely separate?

Strange as it might sound your other experience might be the key to landing the right role if a practice is looking for people with experience in a particular sector. You just have to know how to phrase it correctly on the old CV. Which of course is a good reason for always manipulating your CV for the job that your applying for.... You don't lie on a CV but there are a hundred different ways of saying the truth.

Good luck with landing a relevant role Stuart. We'll all have our fingers crossed for you.

Shaun.

-- Edited by Shamus on Tuesday 6th of April 2010 11:21:56 AM

StuartAnder · Senior Member

Well its not a very good story im afraid, I made a hugh mistake about a year and a half ago. I landed my first accounts role in 2008 in a purchase ledger clerk role for a medical reporting company, i was there about 8 months and there was something that went round my old company i worked for that the company i worked for was making redundancies, but in this case i was safe it was the operations that were making people redundant. so i had a letter from my old employer (where i did warehouse work) asking if i would like to come back and help with the accounts duties and purchasing etc..
So i finally made up my mind and returned and about 4 months later i hated it, i not doing wat i was promised and i seem to be being pushed towards the sales side of the business rather than doing more accounts work, also we have a 1 day a week accounts lady that comes in, i can see why this has happened from a business point to veiw, but its not help to me..
I hope that makes sence.
I dont think it like to be in your situation (but im sure i will be one day) knowing that you can do it but not being allowed its so unfair.

I think i might need help with writing my CV from scratch, its obviously not helping.

Good luck tho with gaining your experience when you start it.

Shamus · Forum Moderator & Expert

There's a line by Nieche "Anything that doesn't kill you makes you stronger".

There may have been mistakes made, we all make them, but everything that you have done will have added to your experience.

In the above scenario's you jumped ship on an assumption. It could have happened that your section was made redundant in which case you made the right move as you were still employed. The fact is that you did something to try and mitigate the risk (you took lower risk to ensure continuity of income) which in itself is a skill.

I wouldn't go to one of the CV writing companies as their promises seldom pan out and you just end up a couple of hundred pounds out of pocket.

You should be able to emphasise accounts experience in a medical supplies company (good for practices working with companies dealing with the NHS).

Logistics knowledge. (Stock control?)

Sales experience. (Sales Ledger? credit control?)

Man management?

Area's of sole responsibility?

Always think from the perspective that the more life skills that you have the more employable you are.

attilabenko · Guru

hi shaun,
just the other day i had this feeling you are reading Nietzsche...

Shamus · Forum Moderator & Expert

Hi Attila,

at least you spell it properly!!!

The only place that I read anything other that accountancy and business analysis books is when sitting on the porcelain throne!

Books in there at the moment are :

The Art of War (Sun Tzu)
How the Get Ahead in Business (Tom Cannon)
The Little Book of Chinese Proverbs
Strategy Bites Back (Henry Mintzberg)
The Little book of Rules of Thumb
The Dilbert Principle (Scott Adams)
The future of banking in a globalised world (Skinner)
The teachings of Buddha

I've also got the Gulag Archipelago (solzhenitsyn) on the shelf in there as well but as yet it's still unopened.

But no Nietzsche in the reading pile at the moment. Can't remember where I got the quote from but I am pretty sure that I've attributed it to the correct philosopher.

Anyway, shouldn't be here this time of night. I'm supposed to be looking up books on UML over on Amazon.

Hope that life and business are treating you well.

Talk soon,

Shaun.

attilabenko · Guru

get this book:

Buy This Book...or We'll Sue You!: Outrageous Lawsuits, Outlandish Settlements By Laura Benko Taylor, Attila Benko

very interesting and in fact entertaining.It is full of shocking and insane lawsuits that common sense had no place in. it is american and i have nothing to do with it. it shows you an other way of making money :)

semsley · Guru

Shamus wrote:

I've also got the Gulag Archipelago (solzhenitsyn) on the shelf in there as well but as yet it's still unopened.

I read that back in 1976, it took me three weeks whilst on holiday in France, the longest it's ever taken me to read a book!!!

The one I have on the bookshelf is Dostoyevsky's Crime and Punishment - I never got past the first page but I managed to trick hubbie into reading it all and when he questioned me about it after he'd ploughed through it I had to admit I'd never read it.

-- Edited by semsley on Monday 12th of April 2010 08:44:31 PM