How to get a job

Focus on the big four

We have many people ask us how to get a job. It can be very daunting for people, especially those getting their first professional role, and especially those who are from non-English speaking backgrounds.
Our senior staff have good experience in their professional careers and now “job hunting” is much less daunting for them. We are sharing what we have learnt to help others get a job. In fact there are only four things you need in order to get a job, so make sure you can get these items checked off.

The four things are:
1. Have the technical skills required
2. Have some similar, relevant experience
3. Have a professional looking resume
4. Perform well in interview

Sounds like a simple list, but each item can be difficult to check off.
For the technical skills, make sure you understand the actual work involved. Get to learn the terminology and the slang used in the industry. For accounting make sure you know what “BAS”, “PAYG”, “month end”, “EBITDA”, “capex” mean. We find that for technical questions asked in interview, they are not difficult. In fact, they are usually quite simple, so if you get them wrong, you will look very poorly equipped to do the job. Examples are “can you run me through step by step how you prepare BAS?” or “what are your month end tasks?”, or “run me through your monthly workflow?”. All these are very simple for experienced candidates.

For relevant experience, this is not easy. There is a big Catch-22. People will not hire you if you do not have experience. So then how can you get experience in the first place? For this situation, you can seek to do internships or volunteer work in your chosen field. There are accounting internships available so look out for them. Now, many jobs ads will say minimum “1 year” or “2 years” experience. This is really just a numerical representation of what they believe is the standard of skill needed. Therefore it is a secondary criteria and candidates should not put too much focus on this.
An employer is likely to value someone with a few months intern experience if they have the appropriate technical skills over someone who has the length of time advertised, but less relevant technical skills. You may get a call and these employers are looking for a “diamond in the rough”. Someone who they think they can get along with, enjoy their company and have the right attitude. So you need to make sure you sell yourself well in interview.

For a professional looking resume, make sure you look at some of your friend’s resumes, do your own research from books or publications or get a professional resume writer to look at it. There may be some initial cost but it can mean the difference between getting a phone call and not getting a phone call.

For performing well in interviews, you need to have a strategy around how you will answer behavioural questions. You need to get genuine critical advice on how you respond to questions, your conduct and your body language. Sometimes, you yourself may not know what image you are projecting (both good and bad). Sometimes, your friends might even be too polite to tell you because they dont want to hurt your feelings.
We at Florian can help you with these four areas so when you are looking for help or a training organisation, make sure they have a way to help you improve these four areas.

Good luck in your job hunting.

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