Hi All

I am hoping someone can give me a bit of advice on how I should progress my career now that I have finished my final cima exams.

My Background  

For the last 3 years I have been working as a senior management accountant for a global advertising group. I manage a team of 3 part qualified management accountants.  Previously I worked as a management accountant for a distribution company. In total I have 5 and half years of finance experience.

Career Ambitions

My CFO and various other senior finance staff in the UK generally think my next move should be to a finance manager or financial controller position.  Due to the current climate there are no roles such as this internally, so I am looking externally.

My Problem 

However after speaking to various recruiters over the last few weeks my ambitions for go for a finance manager or financial controller position have been knocked back a bit.

The problem is that almost all the finance manager and financial controller roles require 3-5 years PQE (Post Qualified Experience) . Some recruiters have thought my CV strong enough to apply for these positions and have sent my CV onto their clients.

Feedback from the clients is positive as they think I would be able to do a role which requires 3-5 years PQE. However, have not been given an interview because the team I would be managing would have been qualified longer than me. Obviously this would cause problems in the team and therefore the company goes with someone with more PQE than me.

I am rather disheartened by all this, and am now unsure what my next move should be.

Most recruiters have said I should forget the managerial side of the role for now and move to a business where I can progress internally in 2 to 3 years time.

What is everyone’s thought on this? What should I do?