Career change?

[WestBerkshire]

My partner has recently had a brainwave that she wants to change career at the age of 29 fair enough always good to keep yourself happy I suppose doing what you want to do. Anyway she works as a teacher Reall doesn't like the job wants to become an accountant? Any one done similar? I was looking into it for her real head fudge the amount of different courses and qualifications etc out there anyone give good advice on best route?

 

[Dicko]

Can't help with any Accountancy knowledge (sorry!) but I know a few on here were discussing the different qualifications in another thread here recently (maybe DHSF?)

On a seperate note, My sister left her career to become a Teacher about 7-8 years ago after being bored of her office job. Despite loving teaching she's actually thinking now is the time to get out of it... apparently it's just too much stress, long hours, working a extra hours at home every evening, having to give up days over half-term to go in, constant inspections, people telling you you're school is brick, kids getting worse (AND parents) etc.

It feels like everybody knows someone who trained to be a teacher but didn't stick with it for one reason or another (mostly justified in my view). It's just a shame because teaching should be regarded much more highly than it has become.

 

[scotty220]

I came out of university having studied music production 5 years ago only to find that there were no paid jobs in music (it was right when recession started). I decided to start again with accountancy and did the AAT qualification through BPP:
http://www.bpp.com/professional-qualifications-course-details/d/professional-qualifications/AAT/65
the whole thing took 3 years but now I'm on a reasonable salary knowing that I'll always be able to find a job with it. Its good too because you can then choose to go into other fields and do one-year top up courses. Not the most enjoyable profession though!

 

[WestBerkshire]

I came out of university having studied music production 5 years ago only to find that there were no paid jobs in music (it was right when recession started). I decided to start again with accountancy and did the AAT qualification through BPP:
http://www.bpp.com/professional-qualifications-course-details/d/professional-qualifications/AAT/65
the whole thing took 3 years but now I'm on a reasonable salary knowing that I'll always be able to find a job with it. Its good too because you can then choose to go into other fields and do one-year top up courses. Not the most enjoyable profession though!

Do you need to have a job in the sector to do that qualification?

 

[scotty220]

Not that I know of, I was temping for an accountancy firm and they ended up putting me through the course and took me on full time. But some people on the course worked in other sectors like banks or even BIFFA. The good thing about BPP is that you can do the course either in evening classes or (as I did) over the internet.

 

[P.D.]

It depends on exactly what she wants to do. Are you talking doing accountancy as in book keeping or more tax type stuff like tax returns, consulting etc?

 

[Golfball]

My partner has recently had a brainwave that she wants to change career at the age of 29 fair enough always good to keep yourself happy I suppose doing what you want to do. Anyway she works as a teacher Reall doesn't like the job wants to become an accountant? Any one done similar? I was looking into it for her real head fudge the amount of different courses and qualifications etc out there anyone give good advice on best route?

Tell her to look at project management in big organisations if she wants to avoid re-training. Teachers are held in high regard and I've noticed most project managers I have worked with (managing IT projects) have come from various back grounds and then landed that job in an industry they knew little about as project management is more about organising and driving work to be done, rather than knowing a lot about what these people are actually doing. She might have to take a junior role in the project management area, but its a very quick route to big money.

She is young enough to start again if she is really set on accountancy, but its a pain having to re-train and go through the hassle of starting at the bottom when there are good jobs that can be picked up quickly on the job.

 

[DHSF]

My partner has recently had a brainwave that she wants to change career at the age of 29 fair enough always good to keep yourself happy I suppose doing what you want to do. Anyway she works as a teacher Reall doesn't like the job wants to become an accountant? Any one done similar? I was looking into it for her real head fudge the amount of different courses and qualifications etc out there anyone give good advice on best route?

I'm on phone but can elaborate later but there are ezsentially two conceivable routes she can tale. The first is ATA course which is good for beginners ie people who have never done any finance type work or basic accounting principles (then again I still don't know my double entries AYE). The second is ACCA which is generally completed following the ATA course but most skip the ATA as most will have done some sort of accounting before, or whilst, completing ACCA. Anyone can join ACCA in terms of entry requirements but jobs etc have their own requirements too. ACCA has about 14 exams and coupled that with having to have three years experience covering a range of areas.

It does require dedication as work and exams becomes too much at times. I have seen people crack up over this sort of thing.

The work thing could be an issue as it would be difficult getting that job.

BPP and Kaplan cost a fair bit - I did it through both of them which the company paid for. There is a substantial cost as she will need to do courses, exam prep then the exam itself.

 

[Danishfurniturelover]

I came out of university having studied music production 5 years ago only to find that there were no paid jobs in music (it was right when recession started). I decided to start again with accountancy and did the AAT qualification through BPP:
http://www.bpp.com/professional-qualifications-course-details/d/professional-qualifications/AAT/65
the whole thing took 3 years but now I'm on a reasonable salary knowing that I'll always be able to find a job with it. Its good too because you can then choose to go into other fields and do one-year top up courses. Not the most enjoyable profession though!

You have my respect for taking yourself to university do a degree in something you have a passion for and even more respect for retraining and doing something else when you could not find a job. Your what i would class a real man and wish the were more of you in this country.=D>

 

[scaramanga]

There's always a well-paid job around for a qualified accountant.

Beware though, it's a long process to get qualified and takes a lot of hard work - much more so than a degree. It's especially tough if you're not working in accounts whilst qualifying as it's also like learning a new language at the same time.

 

[Superhudd]

Thought about doing training in movie editing but just too expensive. Only other thing I have thought about doing is the knowledge.