By David D Sprake
Too many times, the field of accounting gets nicely boxed into typical stereotypes. For many, they assume it is all black and white with the constants that numbers provide. That is just not the case and certainly not in a modern society where nothing is ever as it seems. The same goes for your accounting career. You can easily choose to follow the predictable, yet boring, resume templates or can you take note of those little details that can often make the difference between you becoming the next senior accountant for a "to die for" accounting agency or facing another long week of interviews that never quite hit the mark.
Accountants are as dedicated to their numbers, figures and balances as a writer is to perfect grammar and superb typing skills. That said, even the best writers need to understand a bit of the magic numbers and clean spreadsheets provide - and every good accountant needs a working knowledge of proper grammar. This allows for a solid, consistent and well prepared resume. The very first sentence of the opening paragraph is often what determines if a potential employer looks even further. Not fair, but realistic to be sure. For instance, the following statement hits all the high notes and will work well for any public accountant:
Methodical, driven and experienced financial accountant with more than a decade of experience in Sarbanes-Oxley 404 Compliance and trend analyses.
In just a few short words, you have begun your resume with a powerful statement of who you are and what you are capable of. It is just the kind of opening line employers are thirsting for, too. It will stand apart and even if the interviewer looked at fifty before yours, you can be sure the one that is carefully prepared will make him take notice. And that is half the battle.
Many career coaches will also recommend that instead of wasting valuable space with bullet points, that professional accountants opt for a paragraph, at least one that defines you are. This can be placed at the very top of the resume. It will easily allow the reader to glide into finishing the review and ideally, will land it in the "must interview" stack.
Believe it or not, the one surefire way to not be taken seriously is to have a silly or ridiculous email address. It might work with all of your college buddies, but the last thing you want to do is lose credibility with a potential employer because they are forced to type out "2hot4u@blah.com". Do not underestimate the power of the details. You would be surprised at how many accounting firms will pass a candidate for an unlikely detail.
Finally, do not forget the details. Again, you might be surprised that leaving off the role you played in a previous employer's quest for new accounting software could be such a big deal. You never know when an interviewer is going to say, "We would really like for whoever we bring on board to have a bit of experience across the board in terms of choosing the right software". If you jump in and say, "Oh! I'm the person for you then. I have actually did that before", it is only going to cause the interviewer to wonder what else you left off.
Just remember that your resume will introduce you to the accounting firm long before you ever meet face to face. Keeping that perspective will allow you to keep the edge.
Accountants are as dedicated to their numbers, figures and balances as a writer is to perfect grammar and superb typing skills. That said, even the best writers need to understand a bit of the magic numbers and clean spreadsheets provide - and every good accountant needs a working knowledge of proper grammar. This allows for a solid, consistent and well prepared resume. The very first sentence of the opening paragraph is often what determines if a potential employer looks even further. Not fair, but realistic to be sure. For instance, the following statement hits all the high notes and will work well for any public accountant:
Methodical, driven and experienced financial accountant with more than a decade of experience in Sarbanes-Oxley 404 Compliance and trend analyses.
In just a few short words, you have begun your resume with a powerful statement of who you are and what you are capable of. It is just the kind of opening line employers are thirsting for, too. It will stand apart and even if the interviewer looked at fifty before yours, you can be sure the one that is carefully prepared will make him take notice. And that is half the battle.
Many career coaches will also recommend that instead of wasting valuable space with bullet points, that professional accountants opt for a paragraph, at least one that defines you are. This can be placed at the very top of the resume. It will easily allow the reader to glide into finishing the review and ideally, will land it in the "must interview" stack.
Believe it or not, the one surefire way to not be taken seriously is to have a silly or ridiculous email address. It might work with all of your college buddies, but the last thing you want to do is lose credibility with a potential employer because they are forced to type out "2hot4u@blah.com". Do not underestimate the power of the details. You would be surprised at how many accounting firms will pass a candidate for an unlikely detail.
Finally, do not forget the details. Again, you might be surprised that leaving off the role you played in a previous employer's quest for new accounting software could be such a big deal. You never know when an interviewer is going to say, "We would really like for whoever we bring on board to have a bit of experience across the board in terms of choosing the right software". If you jump in and say, "Oh! I'm the person for you then. I have actually did that before", it is only going to cause the interviewer to wonder what else you left off.
Just remember that your resume will introduce you to the accounting firm long before you ever meet face to face. Keeping that perspective will allow you to keep the edge.
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