Considering a career in Financial Services?
19 Jan 2018
Grace Caraher
Becoming a Qualified Accountant is a huge achievement and no doubt the result of a lot of study, determination and hard work. With the ACCA exam results released last Monday the 15th of January, many newly qualified professionals are wondering what next?
One of the decisions you’ll face as a newly qualified accountant is which sector to move to next. The financial services industry is continuing to grow and offers exciting opportunities with strong salary and benefit packages for newly qualified professionals.
Why Financial Services?
Financial services accounting jobs are always in high demand and are naturally competitive as these companies seek out the best talent. With a large number of financial services companies based in Dublin there are many longterm career opportunities available and clear career ladders for you to climb.
It is possible to move into financial services with no previous experience in the sector. Highlight relevant sectors which you already have exposure of through your practice work, as this will give you a competitive edge during the interview process. If you have no previous experience within the financial services sector, it is still possible to build a career! Emphasis your technical accounting knowledge and showcase other relevant transferrable skills to ensure you stand out such as strong presentation and communication skills, how well you built and managed client relationships or involvement in improving processes and where you added value in previous roles.
One of the most common routes for newly qualified accountants is to come from an audit background into an Internal Audit, Financial Accounting , Financial Reporting or Management Accounting position. Accounting jobs within Banking, Insurance, Asset Management, Fund Administrators and Corporate Finance houses provide newly qualified accountants an excellent start to a post – qualification career.
What steps should I take?
Using a specialist accountancy recruiter will help make your decision to move and the move itself a smoother process. An accountancy recruitment consultant can help you to look at both Practice, Financial Services and Industry roles simultaneously, allowing you to make well informed career decisions.
In addition, recruiters can advise you on how to best structure your CV and highlight relevant skills, provide interview preparation so you can be as prepared as possible and give you advise regarding salaries and the market in general. The expectations and requirements from Practice, Financial Services and general Industry can be very different from job to job, so it’s essential to approach each job and sector accordingly.
The market for newly qualified accountants in Financial Services has been strong over the past year and we have vast knowledge and experience recruiting in this areas, our consultants work with a large variety of companies from SMEs to multinational companies.
With specialised consultants focused on specific areas of Financial Services, Practice, Industry and Commerce and also covering contract and temporary positions we can help advise and guide you in your decision making to ensure you get your qualified career off to the very best start.
Contact Grace Caraher on 01 662 1000 or [email protected] to arrange a meeting or for a chat on current opportunities available at this level.