Time goes slowly when you are waiting on the exam results to come in … Literally, your whole academic life has been building to this point.
Since taking the exam, you have analysed it a million times, did you do enough, could you have studied more? … No good now though, what’s done is done. … Seconds feel like hours as they tick by.
Then the email drops.
It’s either a great end to the year or a rotten cherry slapped onto the shit show that has been 2020.
If it’s the latter, spare a thought for those working at larger firms where their training contract is tied to the employment contract. … Ouch. … If this is you, skip to the end *
But it’s in and you have passed! … All those exams, all that study, you are now a Qualified Accountant!
Literally on cloud nine, the rush of adrenaline and dopamine making a heady mix and this is even before you crack open the hard stuff tonight.
The congratulations roll in from colleagues and family … One more time for the people at the back, YOU ARE A QUALIFIED ACCOUNTANT.
Bring it on! … Bring it all on. … But hang on, what does happen next?
Now at some firms, the conversations happened ages ago. You know if you pass or fail what the result will be. … For some it is an instant promotion, pay rise and a newly defined role as you glide up into the upper echelons. … If this is you, congratulations, we’ll speak one day but today is not that day. … You can stop reading now 😉
Others though, now with the results, it sparks the conversation, the one with your Manager to find out exactly what they have in store for you now that you are ‘one of them’…
Imagine then at this point, after all those years of study, all those exams, all those years building your experience and crafting your skill set you find that Monday is just another Monday … The same desk, the same job title, the same pay?
Where is the golden handshake? – The recognition? – The, something … anything??!
Now if this is you right now, just know that this is probably the only point in your career where there are two simultaneous and yet totally separate market rates for your qualification and skill set. … What your current firm pays and what other firms would be willing to pay.
Picture this, you start at a firm as a Trainee with small increments as you pass your exams with your eye on the big one, the moment you pass your last exam. … But the gap keeps getting wider from what you are currently on, to your expectation of what you should be on when you qualify. But you stick with it, your time will come. … Right now, that figure could be as much as £10,000, but sure, they’ll up it to the proper market rate, won’t they? … You know deep down they won’t, the gap has just got too large, you know it will be a figure somewhere in the middle and you know which side of the middle it will land on.
Yet the same firm could write a check for ‘market rate’ for someone with exactly the same qualifications, the same experience and a recruitment fee … Are you kidding me!
And there lies the pay gap.
Loyalty pays, but not always literally.
So, you now have two choices … Negotiate or look what is out there in the wider market.
Just remember, right now, you are the most employable you have ever been or ever likely to be. … Drop us a line as we have a whole range of companies in Practice and Industry that would be keen to speak with you.
01858 322360 / info@360-recruitment.co.uk
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* 2020 has been a horrible car-crash of a year but this will be a distant memory soon enough when you pass the exam on the next attempt … If you are still tied into the training contract, then you can look into booking onto the next sitting.
If your training contract is linked to your employment contract, we get dozens of requests by firms that would like to speak with you and more than happy to set you up on a new study package. … You might just find this is the opportunity to look at roles that offer more variety and will actually help your skill set become broader.