Career advice

[GTV]

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


Any advice would be appreciated.


Thanks

 

[sigma]

Do both! Study whilst looking for a new job as it could take months to find the role you want. You could always negotiate a start date.

Keep as many doors open as possible.

 

[GTV]

Yes of course. I guess the other issue is that I'm not sure if starting a new job in a new company immediately is a good idea. For example, starting a job in April/May might be difficult as I will be preparing for my final exams in July and learning a new role. Also, I study the ACA, which is taught on day release, rather than evening and weekends. My previous employers has paid for all of these courses so it would be a shame to just let it go and waste it away.

Taking this all into consideration I am leaning towards looking for a job closer to a August start date in a few months, just trying to find out if looking at my whole story, is it all justifiable to have this potential long gap on my CV of 6-7 months ?

 

[dowie]

Why not do both? Like just tell the new employer that you’ve got these training schedules already arranged and seek employment on that basis.

I mean a new employer seeking an accountant or part qualified accountant is hardly going to be too fussed if you come to them and basically say you’ve got all your training paid for/covered and just need these days for the sessions/exams etc... You’re doing them a favour - they’ve not had to shell out anything for your training as your old employer already has.

I mean just apply for jobs now - use the time you have between jobs to study/maybe get a head start - like if you were otherwise going to be working and studying part time now if you have a few weeks gap you’ll get loads done. Just explain at interview/negotiate with new employer for the days off as unpaid leave/whatever and some revision time for the exams.

Don’t ask/don’t get... Its a perfectly reasonable request and if you ask up front then it’s sorted. Much better than leaving a big gap when others study for these things while working.

 

[GTV]

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.

 

[sigma]

Sounds like you've already made your mind up.

 

[paradigm]

No decent hiring manager is going to look at a gap of months (as opposed to years) as a negative thing as long as you can back up the claims of study for those months. Quite the contrary, I'd personally see it as a sign that the individual is serious about the field and has chosen to put their time, effort and own money into securing the qualification even at the expense of staying employed.

That said, a part-time or even full-time role in a different field to keep you from having to either rack up debt or eat into your savings wouldn't be the end of the world, again it's how you describe this time to a recruiter and hiring manager that will make the biggest difference.

 

[Sudden]

No decent hiring manager is going to look at a gap of months (as opposed to years) as a negative thing as long as you can back up the claims of study for those months. Quite the contrary, I'd personally see it as a sign that the individual is serious about the field and has chosen to put their time, effort and own money into securing the qualification even at the expense of staying employed.

Given that most people who are doing do the ACA do it alongside their job, like OP was doing earlier, it may raise the question why the OP felt like it was needed when almost everyone else doesn't. Though I know it's quite a tough exam. Also depends on where your ambitions lie afterwards. The Big 4 may look at it more negatively than others for instance.

Though that's all short-term. Once you've been qualified for years, I doubt it would matter.

 

[GTV]

As in the point that I'm also making was that I was forced into this situation by my previous employer. It's not common for a trainee to lose their job via redundancy. I also only had a months notice, which is not long enough to have secured the right role in another company. Considering my courses are due to start soon, if I were to start with a new employer, it will make it difficult to start a new role challenging role and complete exams. Most trainees at my current stage would have been doing their roles for three years, so would you not think any future hiring manager would think that it's actually understand and not have a problem with the gap in the CV. I'd already passed my previous 12 exams first time, whilst working, so I thought completing exams and working simultaneously was never an issue for me. I just currently find myself in an unfortunate situation which my employer put me in.

 

[dowie]

Most trainees at my current stage would have been doing their roles for three years, so would you not think any future hiring manager would think that it's actually understand and not have a problem with the gap in the CV.

A few years down the line it will be irrelevant in future interview tbh.. but I'd assume it could be viewed as a slight negative now and someone above seemed to have the view it might be a negative for some of the big firms - that might affect your potential career trajectory if that is the case.

I mean I don't see the point - why do you need several months off to study for some exams everyone else manages to do while working/studying on the weekends?

If you look for work now you might well have a gap of a month or so regardless where you're not working - if you have a month off anyway to study for exams you'd usually be studying for in the evenings over several months then surely you can make good use of that time, in fact I don't see why you can't be essentially ready for the exams in your short time off then anyway and just use the future training sessions as revision.

We're talking about you going to a new employer, telling them up front that you'll need time off for training sessions and the exams etc.. AND potentially you having a month before you start where you'll be able to study for them (time you'd not have had otherwise).

I think 7 months off for it is overkill and a bit pointless - you might as well go travelling in that time too etc...