Should I apply for these jobs?

What would you do?

Didn't find your answer?

So here is my issue. I am qualified through small practice and had some brief stints in industry through contracting roles. Some roles being advertised by recruiters seem interesting, but the job specification scares me. Because when I see the job duties, there are sometimes things on there that I haven't done before. Would you still apply for the job? Let's say the employer likes the CV, but you as the candidate are not certain about the job duties...would you still go to the interview? I just feel at times that I have self doubt about some of these roles, but the opportunity sounds good and money is good too. 

Replies (9)

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By the_drookit_dug
07th Oct 2020 20:38

Depends. If they're just minor/ad-hoc duties peripheral to the role - e.g. dealing with C79 forms for occasional imports - then I'd go for it and brush up on the skills you're less familiar with. You can always demonstrate at interview a good awareness of them but admit you don't have extensive experience. Nobody knows everything.

But if you're lacking experience fundamental to the performance of the role e.g. prior experience of payroll required to undertake a payroll manager role, then I wouldn't bother.

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By SXGuy
08th Oct 2020 09:26

What kind of extras are we talking? maybe if you give examples we could say whether they would be pretty easy or hard to work out.

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By I'msorryIhaven'taclue
08th Oct 2020 09:37

Agreed, experience of some of the duties will be essential requirements; experience of others merely desirable. A bonus, if you will.

Add "I enjoy learning new things" to your CV and demonstrate that by enrolling on a Financial Modelling course with a qualification or accreditation at the end. Now that's a desirable skill that many other candidates won't have. And of course it'll help convince the interviewer that you're likely to overcome any other knowledge-gaps.

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the sea otter
By memyself-eye
08th Oct 2020 10:03

I smile when I read some of the requirements in job ads - it's as though the employer has listed every possible task that prospective employees will be (but never are) required to do.
Remember it's just as much about whether you want (and will be happy doing) the job as whether you 'tick' every single box.

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By RaxJ
08th Oct 2020 12:24

If you haven't already, set up a linked in account and display your skills and experiences, even jobs you did before accountancy and finance. Employers like to search for candidates themselves and you would do them a favour by saving them money on recruitment fees. Think about the skills you can transfer to the job. However, more importantly, would you enjoy yourself doing that job? Do you like the industry, the company itself? Do some research on what sort of company/industry you would like to work for. Don't be too put off by job specs. Most of it is waffle.

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Red Leader
By Red Leader
08th Oct 2020 12:42

Go for it!

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By Kelly O
08th Oct 2020 13:17

No harm in going for the interview and discussing your concerns about certain tasks. You may still turn out to be the best candidate and the company might be able to train you on the tasks you don't know.

As long as you're roughly the right experience level, it's your attitude and character that matters most.

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paddle steamer
By DJKL
08th Oct 2020 13:38

The one thing your professional training ought to have given you is the ability to learn by yourself without needing guided by the nose by A N Other (university, to a degree, does similar though tends to be slightly more limiting re the skillsets acquired)

Accordingly unless they are asking you to say produce accounts in a language which currently you can only say Yes or No in (Pretty much akin to my French these days) then your training ought to have equipped you to acquire the new skills needed and possibly acquire them pretty quickly.

An accountancy career is constantly learning/relearning/acquiring new skills, I started my current job in 1999 knowing virtually nothing about property conveyancing, the planning process , rates, use classes, building control, development, its funding, interim valuations, building contracts, litigation re contracts, QS valuations etc and just picked up my knowledge as I went along.

My first industry role ,way back in 1990 when I was 30, landed me with HR, job contracts, redundancies, insurance renewals etc, all alien at the time. The only really new accounting bit of it was for the first time operating a real time computerised purchase ledger/nominal accounting system(it was early Sage) with a warehouse & branch stock control system (all manual records), at least with this I had seen larger accounting system when I had done auditing work during my apprenticeship.

If you are confident you can pick things up, use your own initiative etc, if you maybe have someone you can bounce ideas off, I always had my former firm and my Dad and in my current job a very experienced surveyor, then I would go for it.

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By I'msorryIhaven'taclue
08th Oct 2020 18:22

I recommend "Getting the Job you Want" by Howard Dowding and Sheila Boyce IDN 10:0706362020 / ISBN 13: 9780706362022 published by Littlehampton Books.

It's a little dated, but pure gold, and will change your mindset by taking the tack that it's the interviewer who has the greater problem (of hiring the right person). The book also walks you through the entire application / interview(s) / post-interview process, with excellent tips on how to be the stand-out candidate by demonstrating your learning / research skills (by knowing all about the company) as well as interpreting the underlying reasons behind an interviewer's questions.

Doing sufficient - but not too much - to get by a bureau interviewer and make the cut is one of the earlier chapters. Good hunting!

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