MyCIMA

I am amazed at recruitment consultants - Keep being asked for roles i specifically do not want..

Posted: Monday 06 February 2012 by Tyson
Replies : 5

Hi,

I have signed up with a few agencies. I would say nigh on every job they want to put me forward for is a Financial controller/management accountant role...

I have done month end my whole career and am looking to move into a commercial role. Be it business partnering or pricing or whatever else.

Anything which does not involve producing the full management accounts pack...

I am starting to think i have pidgeon holed myself. It is so frustrating...

Seems whilst others move onto roles which involve travel abroad, consulting, IT, Projects and so on..

I am still stuck here producing the management accounts pack, managing a department and tearign my hair out with stress every month end.

There has to be something other than transactional accoutning out there!!!

 

Facts are...

Posted by B on Tuesday 07 February 2012 11:50

Apologies if I'm stating what you already know but if you don't here are some insights...   The market is incredibly difficult, there are opportunities but its very competitive and depending on where you are there will be more people competing for roles e.g. London ... 90/95% (and I'm being kind) of agencies are a waste of space. Personally I think they're vermin. They do not work for you, you are a commodity to them which they will try and sell at the best price or any price to get the sale...Hence if looking for say an FC for a media company they will search for people who are ... wait for it... FC's in Media companies... job done if (certainly in London) they are ACA's ex big 4 and from a red brick Uni with a high relevant 1st/2.1 degree in tiddly winks well that's just icing on the cake.... This is why so many roles these days focus on sector experience in some cases it really is necessary but in many it's not .... There are too many candidates because there are too many accountants because all the accountancy bodies are still self promoting accountancy as the best ever career which is no longer the case... look at the salaries at the moment....  Something will come along. You might get lucky quickly or it may take a while......

Could have written it myself

Posted by MJR on Sunday 18 March 2012 21:11

Tyson,  your post could have been written by me,  I am currently going through the exact same problem.  I apply for loads of roles with agencies in the business partnering / analysis / commercial field,  only for them to come back to me with FC roles!!!  which I am a FC at the moment so why would I want to change to another FC role ???

Agencies are a neccessary evil in the accounting world.  I've often thought of setting up my own agency as I have yet to find one that actually understands the difference between ACCA CIMA and ACA

The battle continues.......

a little less ractionary

Posted by Polar Bear on Sunday 18 March 2012 00:08

Personally I think they're vermin.

As said above agencies are scum

Come on guys - this is a little bit over the top, and a bit reactionary. Using your name on a public forum with posts like that probably isn't going to help your career.

There are bad agencies, there are some good ones, like with estate agents. Yes they are out to make money but they won't get paid unless you are happy with the role, its simple... sometimes you have to play a game.

So if you want to switch from a transactional role to a commercial role the best way to do it is internally. Most companies prefer to develop talent internally, if they are looking for an external role its probably because they need someone who is really good for that role not someone who fancies a career change.

So maybe take a lateral transfer to a big company and then go for an internal transfer once you have built a solid reputation. Lots of companies have rotation schemes to assist with career moves like ths - especially FTSE 100.

Too much power in accounting

Posted by Paul on Sunday 18 March 2012 10:13

As someone who graduated in the early 90s I have always found it frustrating just how much power and control Recruitment Agencies have in Accounting.

I have worked with many non-accounting professionals over the years and none appear to face the same problem whether that is in finding a new job or moving into another area.

In the case of accounting, however, there has always been an inequitable relationship between agent and candidate. Candidate expectations never appear to be addressed even when they have communicated a clear set of requirements to the agent usually at an interview. Jobs that are completely irrelevant are routinely proposed with a forceful sales pitch in many cases.

I don't see this situation changing; I see it getting worse in the current economic climate and the ever-increasing number of accountants being churned out. I feel sorry for people who are experiencing this at present.

In most cases agencies add no value

Posted by B on Monday 19 March 2012 22:59

M has sensibly changed his name which is good given that these threads appear in Google listings even though personally I feel they shouldn't.

@Polar Bear I'm not sure how much experience you have had with agencies but I stand by my comments and would have said something stronger but this forum probably would't permit that.

Over the course of my career I have interviewed for roles from assistant accountant to FD in direct response to companies own adverts. Except in the case of hard to fill roles e.g. due to specialised skills or lack of local talent agencies add little or no value.

Typical agency experiences:

Meet consultant who is new to business and basically trying to meet KPI stats to register new bodies. 

Attempt to follow up live roles with consultant email/phone invariably no response.

Attend interview go for first/second interview get no feedback and agency doesn't return calls/emails asking for status updates.

Ask basic questions about role/company being discussed e.g. company turnover, staff managed. Agent doesn't know.

I could go on. Maybe 5% know what the're talking about but probably no more than that.

Agencies generally get paid if you stay in a role 6 months tapering from 0-100% fee over this timeframe not based on whether you are happy. Actually once you are there more than 6 months they will happily try and place you somewhere else. 

It is also can be quite difficult to move from an SME to a larger organisation.It's much easier to go smaller. I have gone Bluechip to SME and back again but I don't think it's generally an easy thing to do unless done early in your career. Another symptom of agency sector and typecasting of accountants...

@Paul, yep basically agree with all that CIMA, ACCA etc churn out accountants a small percentage will get on the fastrack, average number will have mediocre careers and start to struggle at the circa 40/50 year age range and the rest will never even get started...

I find it quite distasteful these days when I see glossy advertising for accountancy by any of the bodies as for a large majority they are selling dreams that will not materialise.