Career advice

TKNY1989

Hi all,

Hope you are all well.

I was hoping forum members can share some advice in regards to my next career move. Given that there are many hiring managers on this forum, it would be the best place to ask to get your thoughts and views.

To give you some background, I am a trainee chartered accountant in the UK. I have already time qualified with my training file completely signed off but just need to exam qualify, and the earliest this can be done by is August 2020. This will mean I will be fully qualified by August 2020 if I pass the remaining exams. My current issue is that last month I was told I was being made redundant and unfortunately there were no finance roles at my level in the business, that I could apply for. I was offered a non-finance role but decided to reject this, as I want to progress my career in finance. Given that the company I worked for is currently cutting costs, it means it's very unlikely a role at my level will come up soon if I decided to take the non-finance role short term to then move internally into a core finance function role. I therefore thought it was best in this case to take the redundancy and move on. 

After taking the decision to leave the business, I am currently in a dilemma as to whether I should finish off the final three exams I have remaining, stay unemployed and then look for a role ? Or should I be securing a job as soon as possible as having a gap in my CV of 7 - 8 months, would work against me when applying for jobs later.

I can comfortably support myself financially over the coming months and my previous employer has covered all my study support fees. 

Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks

Dox

TKNY1989 said:

After taking the decision to leave the business, I am currently in a dilemma as to whether I should finish off the final three exams I have remaining, stay unemployed and then look for a role ? Or should I be securing a job as soon as possible as having a gap in my CV of 7 - 8 months, would work against me when applying for jobs later.

Are your exams resits or will this be your first (and hopefully only) attempt to pass them?

TKNY1989

I've passed all of my exams first time to date. So hoping to pass these final few in July first time too. I'm trying to figure out if having this potential 6-7 month gap on my CV is justifiable to a hiring manager when I look for my next job ? As in if I went for an interview in August and they ask why the gap on my CV and explain all of the above, would they think that's my reasoning is justified ?

Savvy_Sue

Am I missing something? Is there a reason not to BOTH take the final exams AND look for a new job at the same time? 

TKNY1989

Yes of course completely agree but if I did just take these extra few months off, I'm certain to get through these last few exams and keep first time passes. By taking a job at any point between now and July means I have that extra burden of going to work during the day and then studying evenings and weekends, which I'm fine with if I was at my previous employer but when working somewhere new, there's that extra expectation at work to perform to a higher standard but then you're also conscious you need be home at a reasonable time to study. Given that these are the final exams and longest, it will require a lot of time and taking some annual leave too to study at home if I was working too. 

JayRitchie

Which exams do you have left to complete? When is the sitting and when will the results be released?

TKNY1989

So I have one certificate level exam to do next month (can do this exam at any point) and the final two Advance level exams which can only be done in July or November. Results for July sittings are published in late August. 

JayRitchie

Icaew? Do you have to pass the final certificate level paper before sitting the final two?

just to check - you have completed the training contract requirements? Any reason you didn’t complete the exams in this timeframe?

JayRitchie

Assuming you are doing either ICAS or ICAEW in an industry type position I think if you can stretch to afford it you are better off studying for the exams and not work until they are over. Just be aware that the recruitment market doesn't really kick off until mid Sept so you may want to allow for an extended period of holiday before kicking off a job search. If you have worked for the sort of position I'm guessing I'd imagine you have suitably impressive A level and degree grades (and subjects) so should be very employable and owe it to yourself to make the right move.

TKNY1989

Yes ICAEW, and just need to complete the one certificate level which I've nearly finished revising for. Then final two in July. 

Training contract has been completely signed off and is with ICAEW. 

The reason I didn't complete my exams in time is because my employer took quite a while to get the paper work sorted out for an ACA training agreement. It meant that I started my time qualification in January 2017 as that's when I registered as an ACA student but due to the paper work and exam fees not sorted out I couldn't start my exams until August 2017. Also when everything was given the all clear, year end was around that time so I had been told by my manager to wait until August to start exams. 

In terms of A-levels I have AAB and I have a first class degree from a Russell group university. 

So I guess in a hiring managers eyes, is saying to them that I decided not to look for a job over the coming months to focus solely on my exams and complete my qualification a good enough excuse ? Considering my training contract has been signed off, course fees for my remaining exams have been paid and it's just a case of completing my final few exams ? 
I personally feel it shouldn't matter but I'm trying to see how potential managers may react when they hear my story and my reasonings. 

JayRitchie

Well - I am a potential manager for people of your backgroun. There are at least a couple of others on these forums - if it puts your mind at ease you could PM them.

My thoughts - 
Taking time out to finish accounting exams used to be pretty common (more for ACCA than ACA - although lots of people took unpaid leave for ACA and I guess still do). This has changed over the years with more options to sit exams individually, but you won't be the first person a recruiting manager will have come across who will have done exactly this. 

Your reasoning is entirely robust - its tough to start a new job and study at the same time. You want to be able to gain a challenging new role and want to be able to dedicate the effort to the new role required to succeed. This doesn't really fit with sitting exams where most of the other candidates will be on extended periods of study leave and formal courses as part of their preparation.

It can be worth trying to make your leaving date in any current position later if possible - for example if you leave on 1 March instrad of 28 Feb this would appear as 'March 2020' on your CV which makes the period out of work look less, but I really wouldn't worry. Be prepared to be asked in every interview, but with a decent answer no-one will really have a problem. Actually a lot of candidates for newly qualified jobs will have taken time out to travel after leaving the profession so you may well not be the only interview candidate not currently working.