Finance Roles with no official qualification

richdeniro

I was just wondering if anyone might have any advice as I am getting quite desperate in my job search at the moment and I don't know if I should continue looking for finance roles.

I was made redundant back in April from a foreign governments Embassy based in London. I was there for 8 years - first 3 years were in a admin/visa processing environment and then 5 years doing a very generalised finance role - lots of accounts payable, expenses, spreadsheets, reconciliations, month end reporting, etc. I also have a HND in Business IT and a degree top up in Business Studies.

However as I kind of fell into the role by applying for the role internally I didn't do any formal finance qualification and so when I was made redundant I started the ACCA from scratch and up to now have only completed the knowledge module. Unfortunately due to lack of money I missed the deadline for Decembers exams and won't be taking any of the skills module exams until June 2013.

I just don't know whether I should stick with it - I have applied for over 1000 finance jobs through various websites as well as firing off tons of speculative enquiries over the past 8 months and am just getting nowhere apart from the odd interview which seem to come to nothing. Also have signed up with about 15 job agencies but they are pretty useless and I don't hear back from half of them once I have gone through the initial sign up.

I'm wondering if part of the problem is the fact I am coming from a public sector type environment where pretty much everything was bespoke - we used in-house computer systems, all the reporting was for internal use and we never had to worry about things like VAT returns, balance sheets, etc.

dizzyrascal

The first thing that struck me about your post was the fact that you say you have applied for over 1000 posts in 8 months.
I can already see a problem. You need to put a huge amount of effort and time into each application and tailor your skills and experience to each post that you see.
It is not possible for you to have done this if you have truly applied for this many jobs, therefore I think you are wasting your time.
Spend more time making sure that you answer all the competencies and relating them to your own experience and you will get more interviews.
I would also be much more selective about what and where you apply. Companies want to know that you really want to work for them. Your post says that you just want any job in finance. If your applications come over like that, you won't get noticed.

You should be stressing how you began (by accident) in finance and how much you want to develop your career in this field. How you are independently pursuing your qualifications and what this will mean to an employer.

makeyourdaddyproud

I would also be much more selective about what and where you apply. Companies
want to know that you really want to work for them. Your post says that you just
want any job in finance. If your applications come over like that, you
won't get noticed.

Carry on are you are, bespoke tailoring each application will simply take too much time and will make no difference to your job search - sorry. I've tried this, even going as far as hand delivering my CV with a covering letter.

I now scattergun my CV on the web, and it's working, I am getting calls and have 2 2nd interviews lined up with this approach.

I think you haven't gone far enough. Register with as many online uk jobsites as you possible can. Convert your CV to HTML, add tags to it and Wordpress / Blogger it.

In our game, numbers are crucial, consider LI as a tool too.

Do NOT get fooled by bespoke CV creation for each job, that is unworkable and simply going hurt you in the long run as will have to live up to the fake expectations of that 'sexed up' CV.

Sometimes playing a 'dumbed down' CV works better, since you can only improve once your in a job.

Imagine your next employer saying "You're a genius, I didn't know you knew that", as opposed to "I thought you had knowledge of this???".

Regards

makeyourdaddyproud

Vacancy Tailoring as CV invariably means telling an employer what they want to hear. This has an unfortunate manifestation as employers tend to liken good at to excellent. If they have hauled you in for an interview on this basis, you are in for a shock.

If you have done generic donkey work, do not be afraid of stating it as it is. You are in your comfort zone.

I think you will get overlooked by a good percent of employers. But the benefits of the scattergun outweight the disadvantage of the meticulous employer.

I would take anyday, the disorganised employer over the meticulous one, since my job will be far easier.

dizzyrascal

Well the OP has clearly tried the scattergun approach with no success.
I was talking about tailoring application forms not CV's
Employers can tell if you have just cut and pasted each application and it will end up in the bin. Therefore a pointless waste of time.
If you aren't prepared to spend some time getting your applications right or as good as they can be, why should an employer consider you?
You will be up against people who have put in the time and effort and it does show on their applications forms.

makeyourdaddyproud

I wholehearted agree with getting the application right, that is not under dispute. I am talking about the 'sexing up' of applications to fit a particular requirement. That should be avoided at all times.

Bespoking an application to garner an interview is waste of time and money. Key difference being that you will look like an idiot when asked to expand on the issues the employer felt close their heart, and you couldn't deliver.

Wouldn't you rather be counted out in the CV perusal stage?

makeyourdaddyproud

And there's nothing wrong with cut 'n' pasting if the information is correct. I do it, and it works fine for me. I know it's accurate, not open to interpretation, does not pander to the whims of the employer. If they don't like it, then it becomes their problem.

If becomes an even bigger problem for them when they select a fantastic CV, interview them, wished they hadn't, and lost time and money. More fool them.

MissSarah1972

OP forget about qualifications, how many years accounts experience do you have?

dizzyrascal

makeyourdaddyproud wrote: »

I wholehearted agree with getting the application right, that is not under dispute. I am talking about the 'sexing up' of applications to fit a particular requirement. That should be avoided at all times.

Bespoking an application to garner an interview is waste of time and money. Key difference being that you will look like an idiot when asked to expand on the issues the employer felt close their heart, and you couldn't deliver.

Wouldn't you rather be counted out in the CV perusal stage?

I have at no point suggested that people "Sex up" their application forms or add anything that is not true.
There are ways of writing answers to application form questions that can make you stand out from the crowd.
I have suggested that the OP take a good look at their technique as they are sending out so many applications and not getting anywhere.
It must be something in what the OP is writing or I believe that they would be having more success. They have a wealth of work experience, a degree and further qualifications to add which they have studied independently. With the right approach all this should open some doors.
No one has suggested that the OP makes stuff up just to get an interview. That would be pointless and stupid

richdeniro

dizzyrascal wrote: »

The first thing that struck me about your post was the fact that you say you have applied for over 1000 posts in 8 months.
I can already see a problem. You need to put a huge amount of effort and time into each application and tailor your skills and experience to each post that you see.
It is not possible for you to have done this if you have truly applied for this many jobs, therefore I think you are wasting your time.
Spend more time making sure that you answer all the competencies and relating them to your own experience and you will get more interviews.
I would also be much more selective about what and where you apply. Companies want to know that you really want to work for them. Your post says that you just want any job in finance. If your applications come over like that, you won't get noticed.

To be honest I have done both in terms of tailoring my CV/Cover Letter and the scattergun approach.

I usually spend a lot longer on a application if it is direct to a company but when jobs are listed by recruitment agencies on jobsites such as Reed/Monster they tend not to give you much information about the company and the job descriptions are usually pretty generic and so I pretty much send the CV I have stored on their website and change the Cover Letter slightly.

MissSarah1972 wrote: »

OP forget about qualifications, how many years accounts experience do you have?

5 years at a foreign governments embassy but as I said in the opening post it was very specific to the foreign government so following their own rules and regulations with making payments, prepayments, bespoke reporting, using their own computer systems, etc.

makeyourdaddyproud

I usually spend a lot longer on a application if it is direct to a company
but when jobs are listed by recruitment agencies on jobsites such as
Reed/Monster they tend not to give you much information about the company and
the job descriptions are usually pretty generic and so I pretty much send the CV
I have stored on their website and change the Cover Letter slightly.

That's all you can do given the increasing reliance on jobsites by recruiters. As I said, it would be unworkable to have umpteen version of your CV uploaded to jobsites even though they actually allow this.

For company application forms, just cut 'n' paste where possible but look out for questions that are asking specifics questions and answer these seperately but don't labour too long on these questions as you run the danger of out narrating the relevance.

Another idea that might make your name stand out better is to perhaps drop a call to the recruiter to embolden willing on your behalf.

Regards.