How to land a Dream Accounting Job

Resume Layout - Do and Don'ts 

Putting yourself in the best Accounting Position

Putting up a new resume or updating your existing CV can be a complicated and tedious task. Remember the day when you decided to pursue finance to become an accountant? You entered into an implicit contract that day, binding you over to not get scared of complex and analytical tasks. The organisational and problem solving analytical skills that helped you ace your career shall also assist you in writing a successful CV. 

The Rat Race to an Accounting Job Search

You surely would be a whiz with numbers, but that is not okay if you freeze after seeing an accountant job description because of the fear of creating a killer accountant CV. Since accounting is a competitive industry, your Accountant CV should beat the crowd to get you in front of the hiring manager.

 

Are you a Resume Builder?

A hiring manager and employers are just like us. When reading an online article, the opening paragraph enables the reader to decide whether to continue or not. Similarly, the same principle applies to your accounting resume. If you have a generic beginning with an uninformative objective, it shall then determine the rest of the tone for your resume. Hence, crafting an effective CV will vault you into the top applicants. 

How to prove your experience in accounts stands out to employers

Considering that all accountant job positions have similar roles and elements, you should take a slightly different approach to knock it down depending upon your speciality or technical skills. For your convenience, this accountant CV guide has been dissected into several sections to address every bit of detail. Moreover, we have collected a few of the best accountant resume samples as an inspiration for your creation. 

Before creating an accountant CV, it is essential to comprehend the correct format to avoid unnecessary alterations. While it makes sense why hiring managers disapprove of generic CV's, hence they expect to see a specific style to skim through. 

Before selecitng your CV template, let's have a look at the correct layout and some accounting resume tips.

Diving into the Resume Format; How should an Accountant CV look?

Personal Information 

The hiring manager expects to see the requisite personal information at the beginning. Hence, adding your full name, email address, contact, and residential details is prime. However, you may need to add other information such as gender, birth date, marital status, and nationality. 

Personalised Statement 

This is undeniably the most crucial stage of your CV. It is usually the most interesting part where employers analyses if they intend to read on. All you need to do is summarise yourself in approximately 2 to 3 sentences, featuring your best professional skills and challenging qualities. Make sure to keep it short of making it a hit. 

Showcase Your Key Skills

Include the relevant skills that guarantee you are the best fit for the position. Write something original because the employers would have been skimming dozens of CVs, so you need to ensure yours stand out. Employers' most desired accounting skills include quick hands-on latest software's, experience with financial reporting, or post-qualification skillset.  Highlight your technical skills and soft skills that showcase your professional experience.

Professional Qualification and Degree in Accounting

Hiring managers look forward to how hard-earned the educational qualification has the candidate received. Keep in mind to enlist your qualification details in reverse chronological order, ensuring to list the most recent one first. When we talk about an accountant's CV, professional certifications depicts paramount importance. 

Employment History 

Since space is premium, it is not considered necessary to add more than three to four roles of accounting experience. However, it would be considered best if you include at least a job in accounting with skills and responsibilities similar to the potential new job. Also, don't forget to add the working duration when writing a job experience.  

Personal Interests and Hobbies for Accounting Professionals

It considered the least important part of the CV. However, some employers give it due attention. Even so, it is good to set aside the whole "accountants have no personality" stereotype. Taking it as an opportunity to fill in any gaps in your experience won't be a bad idea, especially for an accounting graduate. For instance, you can try highlighting your leadership skills by mentioning that you were the captain of a successful basketball team in high school or university. 

References

We have been through applications where employers demand up to four references. Only professional contacts such as previous employers, supervisors, educators can be added under this section. Include their name, job title, contact information, and address of the company, if available. 

After a few years of successful employment, returning to your accountant CV can leave you feeling like a fish out of water. Your experiences and skill sets must have evolved, and CV requirements would have been altered since the time you last applied. 

There are few elements that are certainly required for an exemplary accountant CV, including optimum length, right approach, and effective writing to showcase your talents. 

Success can be ensured if you hit the following points:

Refined Skill Sets

Review the job description and consolidate and match the skills that the employer may be looking for in an application. You need to be a little smart to position them wisely so that anyone skimming through can easily pick the attention.  

Optimum Length 

An accountant CV is considered ideal when it hits the length of two pages. Overall, it should not exceed four pages. 

An Honest Approach 

Employers do eliminate a candidate from the process if the background checks are found exaggerated and misstated. To effectively market yourself without exaggeration, try accentuating your skills outside your work experience with a solid personalised statement. 

Use of Active Verbs 

The words on your CV determine your personality and are the concept builder for potential employers. When listing out your skills and narrating the personal statement, remember to incorporate the use of active verbs to make it appealing. 

For instance, instead of using generic verbs like "led", "provided", "equipped", try more appealing verbs like "drove" or "headed". Adding active verbs in the beginning also increases the reader's engagement.

Who won't like to have additional tips and tricks to ace their crack the deal? Following are some tips to accelerate your CV performance to make it look outstanding. 

Get it Proofread and Edited 

Spelling and grammar mistakes are unfortunately inevitable. One out of every three CVs is detected with spelling and grammatical errors. It is recommended to ask a friend or anyone to proofread it before you intend to send it. 

Follow Up Email

Never hesitate to ask for a follow up if you haven't had a reply. However, it is suggested to leave ten days before contacting the prospective employer. Make sure that you stick to conventionally professional channels or to the mode you applied through. 

Dos and Don'ts of building your CV

Resumes are supposed to be personal; however, many use templates that sometimes fail to help them stand out from the pool of prospects. You should keenly observe and follow the following if conducting a job search to make your CV present to you in the best possible way. 

Do – Talk to Recruiters about Effective Resume Styles

Recruiters are a great source of advice since they know what precisely the employers are looking for in terms of qualification and experience. Ask about their preferences over resume styles and what styles are the best to work on.  

Don't – Let the Template Define You

Templates are good to start with, but keep in mind that templates you found on Google would be in the hands of many. Do tailor the template according to your personalised style to add in a little bit of your style statement and make it look appealing.  

Do – Review and Revise 

Don't forget to proofread your resumes before submitting to make sure that it is error-free. After all, it is your first impression of the potential employer. If your resume lacks to be perfect, it will then poorly reflect your ability to be a suitable employee. 

Don't – Overload the use of Jargons

Every industry has a particular and definite style of wording and phrasing. However, it would be best to try to make your objective clear and concise without restoring to buzzwords. Some giants are equipped with the applicant tracking system, so do make sure to incorporate keywords or phrases recognised by the software. You can get keyword suggestions from Wordle and TagCrowd.  

Do – Frame Your Experience Accordingly 

Think about your job history and combine the job duties and responsibilities that would be useful to the position you are currently applying for. It shall make you cross the bridge by making you look more credible and worthy. All of your work experience should be laid over the ground for letting the employer have deep knowledge about it.  

Do – Include Metrics

Accounting is the art of numbers, and many candidates excel here. Using data and figures with adequate action verbs can help you add an extra layer of credibility to your qualification and professional development. This strategy can be used by accountants having years of experience to give it a summarised look. 

After having deep insights on what to include and what to highlight, look for the samples of different CV formats and styles.