In Praise of Accountants

Accountancy may never have been regarded as the most exciting or ground-breaking of professions, but a new survey has revealed how a significant number of accountants in the industry regard themselves embarrassed of their chosen occupation.

Accountants Ashamed of their Profession

The survey reveals that accountants stand out as the professionals most ashamed about what they do for a living. Of the 2000 people questioned, a mere 44% of accountants expressed pride in their career choice, compared to 90% of those surveyed in the insurance industry. So what on earth is the reason behind these collective red faces?

Accountants not to Blame for the Financial Crisis

We can trace some of the blame for this shame-faced reaction to the financial crisis. Whilst a tiny minority of the nation's accountants had their part to play in this dire situation, it does seem a bit rich for them to take the whole weight of the blame on their shoulders. Ironically, a majority of bankers questioned expressed pride in their profession.

Accountants are Cutting Edge

It's true that when many of us hear the word 'accountant', a cliched vision of a grey man marking up a ledger with a quill pen may leap uninvited into our minds. These days, though, accountancy is driven by sophisticated computer programs and cutting-edge technology. Accountants have the heavy responsibility of keeping a weather eye on the financial situations of the smallest of family firms as well as the highest echelon of government. Accountancy has moved with the times and those working within the industry now play a crucial role in safeguarding the precarious state of the nation's finances.

Accountants Contribute to the Financial Health of the Nation

Accountancy is a profession with lots of scope for flexibility. There will always be a demand for accountants and those in senior positions can command an impressive salary. It is an ideal profession for those professionals who wish to map out a steady career progression as there are clear and structured career paths. Many universities offer accountancy degrees, but if you have a good head for figures it is entirely possible to enter the profession at ground level and work your way up. There are few professions where your career path will be so clearly signposted. Additionally, many accountants contribute to the altruistic health of the nation with their vital and often unpaid work for charities.

All in all, there is no need for accountants to hang their heads in shame. They play a key part in keeping the country financially afloat. Where would we be without them?

Written by Niraj Joshi of Circle Square 

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According to market experts, the banking industry will be obliged to transform itself over the forthcoming five to ten years. Jean Pierre Mustier, a European investment banking veteran from UniCredit, has commented on the trend for lenders to re-organise their operating models along lines last seen in the 1980s.

Mustier is responsible for Unicredit's corporate and investment banking arm. Speaking to Bloomberg, he said that he anticipated a further increase in capital requirements. The knock-on effect would see the banking industry acting to further simplify their activities, and step back to a business model that focuses on transaction banking, lending and intermediation, which is similar to the 1980s model.

Banking industry regulators are strongly focusing on leverage, in a bid to prevent any recurrence of the bank rescues of 2008 funded by the tax payer. Universal banks, which combine commercial, investment and retail banking operations, will also be likely to farm out a greater proportion of their activities.

Although the banking industry transformation will not happen overnight, according to Mustier's predictions, it will be visible within the next five to ten years.

The idea of a banking world predicated on a previous model demonstrates the scale of challenge that lenders are facing as they deal with increasingly stringent regulations. Many believe that banks will simply abandon business activities that require too much capital, such as derivatives in particular.

The banking industry will increasingly embrace the commercial model, where clients are offered a broad range of credit options, from bonds to loans, with fundamentally local credit markets. Banks are realising that they don't necessarily need to have global operations in everything.

Some of these businesses - particularly investment banks - do require a certain critical mass in order to obtain acceptable returns. Universal banks might yet abandon activities such as merger advice, equities trading, and the servicing of hedge funds. By doing this, they will be able to obtain a stronger credit rating, see the cost of their funding decrease, be able to run off lower equity and see the ratio of loans to deposits decrease.

However, lending will also need to remain a focus. The banking industry will always risk losing money through poor lending decisions, regardless of their lending model. The financial market crisis of 2008 was driven by sub-prime mortgages or capital markets that were powered largely by the trade in securitised bonds. Equally, a spate of Latin American loan defaults in the 1980s showed that no totally foolproof banking system can ever exist across the board. However, elements can be controlled and improved, such as the recent regulatory tightening and challenges to banking excesses.

Most people spend a very long time crafting the perfect resume because they believe it will open up the door to their dream job. You have to know what happens when a recruiter is working on behalf of a company, but before you can do that you must understand what their job entails. They need to provide a company with the best candidates and their performance is based on the company being able to employ the perfect person for the job.

This means they need to go through a huge number of resumes and they don't have time to sit around reading each one thoroughly. You'll be lucky if they spend 20 seconds scanning yours, so think about that the next time you have your resume out in front of you. It's not their job to take chances, so if your recruiter isn't up to scratch they'll throw it away. Let's look at some of the things they want to see when they're rushing through the pile in front of them.

Recent experience

When applying for a job it's easier to step into a new one where you'll be doing the same kind of thing. If you currently have a job selling electrical equipment to overseas companies it's easy to do the same thing for another company, but if you've not done it for 20 years it's completely different. Obviously you don't have to step into the exact same role, but if you don't have relevant experience it means you'll need a lot of training.

Educational background

The educational system is getting a lot of bad press in some quarters at the moment, but that doesn't take away the fact your resume will probably get thrown away if you don't have a college degree. In some cases you will even need a master's degree if you want to get to the next stage in the interview process. Recruiters are looking for the best and whether you like it or not a degree is one qualifier they use.

Relevant industry

Applying for a job in a completely different industry is going to be difficult when you're dealing with a recruiter because they're trying to pick the perfect person who can slip straight into a company. If your current industry is similar it's a little more realistic, but if they're at two different ends of the spectrum you can forget it. The client will probably tell the recruiter they're not willing to take someone from a completely different industry, so their hands are tied.

Obvious extras

There are some things you're probably aware of because they are so obvious, but we'll mention them anyway so you don't mess up. If someone can't read your resume because of spelling and grammatical errors it's easy to throw it into the reject pile. If you leave someone guessing they won't take the time to work out what you failed to mention. Instead of rambling on you also need to get straight to the point so the recruiter can read everything they need to see.

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The author of this post, Kevin David, works at Resume Service, home to the finest CV writers in Perth. He keeps himself busy during the weekends by taking up restoration work for his home.

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No Such Thing as the Perfect Job Candidate?

The Biggest Problem Being the Lack of Appropriately Skilled Candidates

Bullhorn have recently released their annual recruitment trends report in the USA, which is always interesting for those working in the UK recruitment sector too, as many of its findings apply to Europe as well. One particularly interesting finding was with regard to the biggest challenges for this year, according to recruiters. Around 33pc of respondents said that a lack of appropriately skilled applicants was the biggest challenge. And in a separate question, over three-quarters of respondents said that they were experiencing a shortage of candidates with the right skills in various sectors, including IT.  

This was particularly interesting given how high-growth the IT education sector is, both in the US and here in the UK. The number of people achieving qualifications is steadily growing, so how can there be a lack of appropriately skilled people looking for roles?  

Unrealistic Client Demands

Many believe that the 'issue' is a perception one, driven primarily by unrealistic client demands. In fact, this was highlighted in the report as being the second biggest challenge of 2013. Certainly, empirical data in the recruitment industry suggests that some recruiters are reluctant to be seen to criticise their clients - even in an anonymous report -and others have become accustomed to unrealistic demands as being the new norm. So in reality, this figure might be even higher.  

There shouldn't be a lack of skilled Job candidates

Or even problems with access to this pool, particularly as social media and data-mining allow recruiters to engage with passive candidates and fill vacancies more quickly than ever before. Another question in the study gave further insight, showing that compensation requirements from job candidates are not yet in line with the clients' expectations. This could be symptomatic of the wider client-expectation problem as a whole, particularly given the growth of the highly skilled IT sector and the vast amount of demand for roles within it.  

The Idea of the Perfect Job Candidate

It seems that in pursuing this idea of a 'perfect' job candidate, some clients are in danger of ignoring more cost-effective alternatives, such as hiring smart, fresh graduates and challenge-seeking unemployed individuals and giving them the training they need to work in the industry. If carried out correctly, this strategy could help deal with the shortage of specific industry skills, cut costs and also build employee engagement and loyalty. For clients and recruiters alike, there is a real opportunity to start doing things more realistically and reap the rewards accordingly.

Written by Ross Stokes of Circle Square - Finance & Accountancy Jobs London