Advice please re work situation

Natural_worrier

I am just looking for some advice please about my job.

I started my new job in accountancy six months ago after wanting to change career to one with progression. My previous job was admin/basic accounts so i have never worked in practice but I have passed all aat exams first time and consider myself a quick learner.
I have come to the end of my 6 month training period and up until now I have been enjoying the work. However I have been told my work is very good but I'm not fast enough. I'm not against having lots of work or lots to learn, but without going in to too much detail I feel there are a number of factors there which together make me less confident as a trainee than I should be.

I do feel if I was in a smaller firm it might be different. I am now considering whether to send out my CV to smaller firms in the area in the hope they may have something for me. However I'm not sure how to word this to potential new employers or existing employer - how do I explain why I want to move on after 6 months? Will that look bad on an application? I also don't want to rock the boat with existing employer but will need to explain why I want to leave - what do I say?

Just after a bit of advice really, as i'm anxious about how the next few weeks are going to be. I really want to do well there and get up to their speed but also worried that I should have a plan B if the worst should happen. Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks for reading.

AcidHouse

Hi OP,

I'd try to resolve what's been raised instead of jumping ship. Take control of this situation that they've put you in, because it seems like they haven't given you a solution / help.

Create a list of all the tasks you have to do, and rate yourself on how 'fast' you think you can complete them on a scale of 1-10. Maybe do this tomorrow while you're at work.

Catch up with the manger who spoke to you.
Tell them that you want to bring yourself up to speed, so you've been through your tasks and rated your speed level for each one. Can they also rate you as well (honestly) on the sheet.

Then establish between the two of you:
- what they want to you be quicker at, in what order, prioritise the learning
- which existing staff you are best to learn from for those particular tasks
- dates for training
- or, a focus on you being given more of that particular work and less of other pieces of work that you can already do fast enough

At the moment it's a problem in your head with no work-around, so give it some structure.