Career advice

TKNY1989

Thanks so much for the advice. Really means a lot. Will try to see if I can find other hiring managers in this forum too.
I ultimately did not want to rush into a new role and of course when I do start that next role, I want to give it my all and thought It's much better to take my time and look for the right role than to rush into one. Plus the final few exams require a lot of time and dedication. Thought it would be crazy to start a new role and then be in and out of the office for college and using annual leave to study. Will of course selectively apply over the coming months and if successful, to negotiate a start date at around August when the exams are done if I'm lucky enough to be offered an opportunity. 

JayRitchie

Good luck. As a thought, most NQs will be on 3 months notice so you could apply for anything of particular interest in April to start in August. I'd have thought that full on job hunting would be a bit of a distraction from studying?
Also, and another reason I think its worth taking the time out, it can be an issue when people are close to qualifying to see how they place in the job market. You would be applying for NQ positions without having passed the exams - which can be a tough sell. Alternatively you apply for PQ jobs - which will be concerned that you would leave pretty quickly.

TKNY1989

Yes, was thinking maybe around May I can start looking slowly and hopefully something comes up. 
Yep, this is exactly the problem I am having right now with some really great companies that are interested in my profile but because I'm close to qualifying it's becoming difficult to consider me for a part qualified role and difficult to hire me for a fully qualified role. It's also a difficult sell when I need to be on day release to attend courses as there aren't ACA courses on evenings of weekends like how there are for ACCA/CIMA. Really do appreciate the time you've taken out to share your thoughts and advice, I think the more people I speak to on this, gives me some re-assurance that I'm doing the right thing. 

theoretica

One thing I think you want to avoid doing is giving the impression that you needed to study full time in order to pass these exams if they are normally done while working.  By all means make the decision not to look for a short term or part time job, but give some thought to how you will describe this time or what else you will be doing other than studying.

TKNY1989

I guess my argument would be that I've already passed 12 out of 15 exams with first time passes whilst working full time and that the only reason I found myself studying full time was because my role was made redundant. I would then add that I chose not to look for a full time role because if I did start a new role, it would have mean't I would have needed a significant portion of work time to go away and study. The issue with ACA courses are that they are taught during working hours, as opposed to other qualifications which have options of being taught on evenings and weekends. That means I have to attend these courses during working hours unfortunately. I can't really turn the opportunity down to not attend these courses because they've all been paid for by my previous employer, they just couldn't claw back the fees because of my redundancy. 

TKNY1989

Do they all seem like valid points if I faced that question ? 

TKNY1989

Also thought this could be some good time off to brush up on excel skills and do some extra online courses on LinkedIn learning whilst I'm studying.

JayRitchie

TKNY1989 said:

I guess my argument would be that I've already passed 12 out of 15 exams with first time passes whilst working full time and that the only reason I found myself studying full time was because my role was made redundant. I would then add that I chose not to look for a full time role because if I did start a new role, it would have mean't I would have needed a significant portion of work time to go away and study. The issue with ACA courses are that they are taught during working hours, as opposed to other qualifications which have options of being taught on evenings and weekends. That means I have to attend these courses during working hours unfortunately. I can't really turn the opportunity down to not attend these courses because they've all been paid for by my previous employer, they just couldn't claw back the fees because of my redundancy. 

Interviewers will entirely understand. For example, when I did the final level of Icaew exams (which was 4 papers - 3 plus case study) I had something like 5 or 6 weeks intensive study course, then a gap of a few weeks of which I took three or 4 as holiday/ time off in lieu, then a revision course - 5 weeks? 

So in reality I was a full time student for something like 13 - 14 weeks although I was paid a salary and a normal employee of a big 4 firm.

theoretica

Not what I meant - you are mainly rehashing your decision.  What will you be doing with the rest of your time?  Lucky enough to afford a holiday?  Train for a marathon?  Help the local cats' home? Refurbish your flat? Sitting at home getting used to watching daytime TV and out of the habit of working? 

TKNY1989

Yep I see what you mean. To be entirely honest I would be just doing extra courses, i.e online courses on Microsoft Excel and Python. Think this time off could be a good chance to build on those areas and would add some value to my CV. Other than that, the other time I was going to spend time getting back into Boxing/Kickboxing and gym. That's pretty much all else I would say I was doing with my time whilst studying.