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I posted about this in the Accounting thread recently, but I still have questions/concerns and don't want to derail the discussion there. TLDR version is that I like my work but dislike my job, can't find a better option and can't decide what training might be helpful to pursue. Relevant details are as follows. Basic data: Approaching 40 years old, married with no kids, living in the Austin metro area. Education: Associate's in Accounting. When I was a young stupid first generation college student, I had no idea what to do with myself and persisted way longer than I should have before dropping out to work poo poo jobs and get myself sorted. At the community college they told me I was ineligible for federal aid due to previous credit hours, then asked me to pick between a transfer or non-transfer degree path. Since the cheapest university here costs $5K/semester, I picked non-transfer so I could afford to finish and finally have some degree on my resume. Experience in Field: Several years with a bookkeeping firm. I still enjoy the work, which is basically full charge bookkeeping (more on this in a moment). However, some management changes have created a toxic atmosphere that's only getting worse over time. Job Hunt Issue #1: The firm I work at hired me for bookkeeping/clerical with the intention that I would take on more difficult work over time. While that's modestly true, I've never been able to get hands-on experience with reporting, budgeting, helping with audits--standard tasks a full charge bookkeeper would be asked to do. Job Hunt Issue #2: I'm being paid almost half again the local average salary for a bookkeeper, working semi-flexible hours with untracked PTO. It's been extremely difficult to find anything to apply to that isn't 30-40% salary reduction plus the loss of those and other perks. Job Hunt Issue #3: I live in a single car household commuting into Austin proper, and my spouse works mid-town on west coast hours. North Austin is just not happening (it's not like that's where all the accounting jobs are located or anything  ) and neither is an 8-5 schedule.Job Hunt Overview to Date: I've applied to 25-30 jobs in the last three months and have gotten interest from exactly one of them. Actually made it to the second interview stage but was unable to proceed due to Issue #3. I also started talking with one of the accounting temp agencies but their benefits turned out to be pretty terrible, and I was afraid to count on a fast temp-to-hire turnaround so I politely disengaged. Thoughts on Extra Training: I'm a very methodical, pattern-oriented person so I was thinking either Statistics or something CS-oriented like VBA might be a good path for me to add value to my resume. I've started working on a stat course on Udacity and done some research on what that training path looks like through them, what it costs versus taking similar courses at the community college, etc. But I don't know what my end goal is and that's messing with my motivation. Is there really a job that uses Accounting/Stat or Accounting/CS that I can get with only an Associate's? Will having that kind of extra training on my resume at least make me more attractive for standard accounting jobs? I just don't know. Thoughts on a Bachelor's: I submitted a FAFSA but only qualify for unsubsidized loans which I hear have 6-9% interest these days. As noted, the local state university is $5K/semester. I have Gen Ed credits to spare but my Accounting core classes were non-transfer. So the best case scenario here is that I would have to take on about $20K in student loans and take full-time classes for two years. Chances are high that I would not be able to maintain full-time hours at my job since classes will be scheduled during the work day, so to be conservative figure I would also have to quit and take on part-time work instead. At the end, I'll be able to apply for those same Accountant jobs with degree in hand and finally make... about what I'm making now. As much as I'm sick of the situation at my job, I just don't see how I can justify this solution. So that's where things stand. I'm afraid employers are overlooking me due to lack of Bachelor's/lack of certain job experience/both but can't see any way to fix that. I'm willing to invest time in more affordable forms of training but don't know what to focus on that can realistically yield any results. Meanwhile the constant stress at work has me depressed and full of self-doubt, and while I am seeing a therapist there's only so much to be done about the sense that I'm spinning my wheels because really, right now I am. Please tell me, goons, where do I go from here?
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May 28, 2015 04:42
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| # ? May 5, 2024 09:58 |
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Post your resume.
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May 28, 2015 05:12
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I'm not sure how best to host it so here it is without formatting, at least, with the personal info redacted. Experience Accountant Jan 2012 - present Small Bookkeeping Firm Accounting for 20+ entities, Quickbooks, A/P, A/R, reconciliations, sales imports, inventory adjustments, payroll, sales and beverage tax, event settlements including Cost of Goods reporting, process 500+ 1099s annually, advanced Excel user, administrative, purchasing, clerical Owner June 2012 - present Side Bookkeeping Business Quickbooks, A/P, A/R, reconciliations, administrative Document Specialist Dec 2010 – Jan 2012 Temp Agency Processed confidential document and digital images for the Texas Health and Human Services Commission Team Member Sep 2005 – Sep 2010 Retail Maintained inventory, merchandising, sales tracking, customer service Transcriptionist Oct 2003 – Dec 2004 Self-Employed Transcribed handwritten documents into MS Word, scanned and adjusted images in Photoshop, proofread and made editing suggestions Operator Jul 2001 – Mar 2002 Answering Service Prioritized and distributed phone messages for approx. 200 local businesses Education Accounting Technician AAS 2013 Austin Community College – Austin, TX
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May 28, 2015 05:22
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Your descriptions of what you did at each position are unegaging, uninformative and don't show the value you added to the enterprise. Think about those things, especially the last one, when you write. For instance, for COGS reporting you might want to include the magnitude - something like "COGS reporting on over $XMM annual revenue on Y unique SKUs from Z suppliers with zero settlement errors over N years" is a lot more demonstrative of your value, engagement and expertise than "COGS reporting"
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May 28, 2015 12:46
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KYOON GRIFFEY JR posted:Your descriptions of what you did at each position are unegaging, uninformative and don't show the value you added to the enterprise. Think about those things, especially the last one, when you write. drat, I didn't realize it was that bad.  I guess I was thinking of "20+ clients" as being the scope of it, at least for the current bookkeeping job. When I think about it, though, you're right that that alone doesn't actually say much about the quantity and value of the work. I may not have time until this evening, but I'll definitely do some rewrites and then post it again.
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May 28, 2015 13:32
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strawberrymousse posted:drat, I didn't realize it was that bad. Moreover, you should only have the three most recent positions you held (more if relevant, but honestly that's a tough sell with your older positions.) If your resume is more than a single page then this is a must. Nix the following from your resume if they're on there: Team Member Sep 2005 – Sep 2010 Retail Maintained inventory, merchandising, sales tracking, customer service Transcriptionist Oct 2003 – Dec 2004 Self-Employed Transcribed handwritten documents into MS Word, scanned and adjusted images in Photoshop, proofread and made editing suggestions Operator Jul 2001 – Mar 2002 Answering Service Prioritized and distributed phone messages for approx. 200 local businesses
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May 28, 2015 18:55
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Okay, it's lunch break so I started doing some rewrites like KYOON GRIFFEY JR suggested. So far I took this:quote:Accountant Jan 2012 - present and I turned it into this: Accountant Jan 2012 - present Small Bookkeeping Firm *Increased efficiency 30% on daily Quickbooks tasks for 20+ entities. *Created tracking system for recurring A/P items across all entities to ensure timely payments. *Tracking expenses and COGS on events totaling $20M annual revenue, with zero reporting errors over 3 years *Fully overhauled and implemented a streamlined procedure for handling W9 and 1099 tax documentation. *Developed advanced Excel sheets to support accurate payroll and sales tax processing. How does that look, is it better? As far as older positions, the resume is currently just one page but I'm happy to hide all traces of my poo poo job past, so cutting it down to just Document Specialist and the two accounting jobs sounds fine to me. I don't look young enough to have joined the workforce in 2010, though, so is that something interviewers are likely to ask me about? Or is it just generally assumed anything earlier wasn't relevant and doesn't matter?
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May 28, 2015 19:35
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Sorry for the double post but I just realized the side business might need addressing as well. I only have one active client and no good prospects at the moment, so I'm not sure how to make that sound good in that results-oriented style. Also, while it's great that my employer doesn't care as long as I don't poach their current/prospective clients, will other places worry about that and avoid the issue by just not considering me? I thought seeming entrepreneurial would make me look good but now I wonder if it's hurting instead.
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May 28, 2015 19:50
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I'm by no means an expert, just an idiot they send from the business side to interview folks, but that looks a hell of a lot better to me. You might want to add a small bit of how - for instance, how did you improve efficiency on quickbooks tasks? Was it automating jobs? streamlining process? You want to highlight specific things you did that add value that you can also do for your potential future employer. Be prepared to be asked about each bullet. If I were interviewing you, I would ask about your tracking system - how does it work? what did you do? how did you get data and get colleagues to use the system? what would you do differently if you had to create a similar system? etc. I don't think you have to worry about your side business too much. If you get to an interview and it comes up, you can always say that you won't expand the side business or that at this point it's wound down to just one client or whatever.
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May 28, 2015 22:09
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KYOON GRIFFEY JR, Lelorox, I really appreciate your advice! I'm so glad n8r suggested posting my resume, I never would have realized how out of touch it was. I now have the entire thing redone using the suggestions on wording and trimming, so here is the new unformatted version: Experience Accountant Jan 2012 - present Small Bookkeeping Firm *Increased efficiency 30% on daily Quickbooks tasks for 20+ entities by standardizing procedures for handling similar items in different books. *Created tracking system for recurring A/P across all entities, ensuring timely payments through increased departmental awareness of normal due dates and historical Last Paid data. *Tracking expenses and COGS on events totaling $20M annual revenue, with zero reporting errors over 3 years. *Fully overhauled procedure for handling vendor W9s and processing 1099 tax documentation, and created a training manual to streamline onboarding of additional preparers. *Developed advanced Excel sheets to support accurate payroll and sales tax processing, including use of lookup fields. Owner June 2012 - present Side Bookkeeping Business *Providing full charge bookkeeping services for small businesses, with a focus on guidance and approachability for clients who are new to GAAP concepts. Document Specialist Dec 2010 – Jan 2012 Temp Agency *Reviewed approx. 3000 scanned images of birth/death records daily to verify legibility, making comparisons to original documents with caution for their age and fragility. *Guarded privacy of document owners by maintaining confidentiality under HIPAA guidelines and observing security clearance procedures. Education Accounting Technician AAS 2013 Austin Community College – Austin, TX
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May 29, 2015 00:18
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