Is your approach to job hunting holding you back? Matt Craven from CIMA partner The CV & Interview Advisors shares eight of the biggest mistakes that accounting professionals are making when they’re applying for jobs. Find out which ones you’re guilty of, and how you can put a stop to them today.
8 biggest job-hunting mistakes made by accounting professionals
1. Neglecting LinkedIn
LinkedIn has 690 million members worldwide. It’s now the biggest candidate and talent database in the world and it’s where recruiters do their due diligence on applicants. So it’s really important that a) you’ve got a LinkedIn profile b) you’ve got a good presence on the platform.
Common LinkedIn Mistakes:
No photo or a bad photo
Research carried out by LinkedIn shows you’ll get 14x more engagement on the platform if you have a good profile picture. Think high quality headshot that shows you looking professional. And don’t forget about that background image. Choose something that’s synonymous with being a financial professional and it will give your profile a polished look.
Ignoring connection requests
Don’t instantly dismiss a connection request if you don’t know the contact —they might have a great job to talk to you about. LinkedIn is essentially a virtual networking event, so be open to speaking with new people.
Poorly written or incomplete profile
When deciding whether to hire you, 85% of recruitment decision makers will look up your LinkedIn profile, so it really pays to spend some time on it. We like the WHOSEES formula to write your About section: tell people who you are professionally and explain what your value proposition is. Then talk about your strengths, backed up by examples, mention your ethos and highlight your skills.
If wordsmithing isn’t your thing, the CV & Interview Advisors can help you with that — and CIMA students and members get a discounted rate.
Not having recommendations
LinkedIn research showed you’re 3 x more likely to be contacted about an opportunity if you have recommendations on your profile. Try to get four recommendations from each role you’ve had: from your boss, a stakeholder, a peer, and a junior team member.
2. Being generic
Even if you’ve followed these 5 dos and don’ts when it comes to your CV, remember that tailoring your CV to each role is crucial. Yes, you might need multiple targeted CVs aimed at different roles. But, if you’re willing to put in a bit of preparation from the outset, it doesn’t have to take hours.
Top tips to create a targeted CV:
- Match your job title on your CV with the job title you’re applying for
- Change your Key Skills section to match the job description. This section could be part of your summary at the top of your CV or could sit underneath it.
- Don’t just tell a prospective employer that you’re good – show them. Instead of skills statements, use FAB statements – that’s features and benefits statements – aligned with the role. Think about the skill you have and the benefit that the employer gets by you having it.
- Have a Career Highlights section on your CV – little stories about your biggest accomplishments. Use the STAR model to structure them – that’s situation, tasks, actions and results. If you take some time to write several down, you can pick the 3 most relevant to whichever position you’re applying for and pop them onto your CV.
3. Lack of social proof
You wouldn’t book a holiday without reading a review – so you can’t expect recruiters to hire you without googling you. In fact, over 70% of companies use social media to screen candidates.
We can’t say it enough: be proactive in seeking recommendations on LinkedIn – they’re the equivalent to holiday reviews you read on TripAdvisor. Plus, having recommendations and endorsements improve your ranking and search visibility. And the higher you rank, the more likely you are to be contacted.
Recommendations also work well on CVs – it’s worth featuring a few concise testimonials on yours.
4. Not preparing for interviews
10 – 15 hours preparation should go into prepping for an interview, but the average candidate only spends a couple of hours. If you fall into that category, it’s worth setting up a career autobiography. Think of it as a record of all the major events that have happened in your career: your successes, failures, projects, and difficult situations. Write them down using that STAR methodology we mentioned, and you’ll end up with a series of case studies all about your career.
You can assign skills to each case study, thinking about which skills each one demonstrates that you have. It’s a good idea to build your career autobiography in a spreadsheet, organised by ‘skill’ tabs.
Take some time to set up your career autobiography once, maintain it, and it makes interview preparation a breeze.
5. Lack of outcomes
Is your CV just a list of jobs with some bullet points describing your tasks? You need to talk about outcomes. Outcomes are achievements and accomplishments: tangible, measurable, statistical evidence that you’re good at your job. You should list as many relevant accomplishments as possible in your experience section. And don’t be too modest – the prospective employer needs to understand the ROI they get by hiring you.
6. Relationships with recruiters
Instead of getting angry if you get ghosted by a recruiter, or don’t get feedback on a job you’re not shortlisted for, try to build relationships with them and foster mutual respect. Treat recruiters as an extension of the company you want to work for and capitalise on their knowledge and expertise to find out as much about the job and the company before interviews. Ultimately, the recruiter wants you to get the job as much as you do.
7. Neglecting ‘Brand You’
Your personal brand is what people say about you when you’re not in the room. All professionals have a brand, consciously or not. If you’re not aware of it, make yourself aware. Your brand is how you’re perceived by both internal and external audiences, so it affects your career prospects and job-seeking capability.
Top tips for working on your personal brand:
- Make sure your LinkedIn profile is tip top. LinkedIn isn’t just a recruitment tool — external audiences use it as a way to check out a company.
- Embrace thought-leadership and release your expertise into the wild, whether that’s writing some blogs or volunteering to speak at events.
- Don’t get embroiled in disagreements on social media
- Be authentic and find your own style
8. Not optimising your CV for Applicant Tracking Systems
Recruiters will rarely plough through CVs manually – they’ll use ATS, or Applicant Tracking Systems, to do it for them. So, if your CV isn’t optimised for recruitment software, a human may never see it. The good news is that it’s not hard to tweak your CV to make sure it’s picked up by ATS.
Top tips for getting your CV seen:
- Use obvious headings and widely accepted terminology
- Include a job title after your name at the top of your CV that matches with the role you’re applying for
- Say that you’re an Expert in… whatever the job specification is looking for
- Have a Key Skills section and make sure it includes keywords used in the job description
- Include your address at the top of your CV, as the ATS will sometimes scan postcodes for jobs dependent on a certain location
- Avoid headers, footers, graphics and unnecessary formatting
