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By Liza | Categories: Accounting Jobs Sydney, Insurance and accounting job market, Insurance Jobs Sydney, Recruitment advice | No Comments
We want to clear up a few common misconceptions about cover letters.
Yes we do read them.
A cover letter is your introduction to your experience and to you personally. In it you should tell us why you want the job, why you are suitable for that role plus highlight any achievements that are relevant to the role.
You may roll your eyes with what we are about to tell you and say “yes I do that already.” However so many people do not get the basics right, so covering these off may just get you across the line when we may have overlooked your resume.
Here are a few things that will impress us in your cover letter.
1) You tell us why you want the role we have advertised.
This tells us you have given some thought to your application and why you are suitable. It does show us that you are sincere in your approach.
2) You are brief.
We are not saying this because we are not interested in you. We are. But being realistic, if we receive hundreds of applications, we appreciate brevity and a layout that is easy to read.
Please limit your cover letters to one page, and use short paragraphs. That way we are not working late into the night to get through applications and can actually action yours quickly.
3) You address some of the key skills we have requested in the advertisement.
This tells us you have read the advertisement and are not just sending your resume off to everyone. You can use the scatter gun approach, but you may only succeed if your resume “hits the mark” in terms of the exact skills we require.
If you do send your resume everywhere without much contemplation, you can risk sounding vague when we call you. From our perspective there is nothing more disconcerting than a candidate having no idea about the role when we call them.
4) You have proof read your letter.
Now we know people are not perfect. We’re not perfect. Sometimes typos slip past even the most careful of eyes. What we would say however is that if you claim to have advanced word processing skills and strong attention to detail, and have a cover letter with three different fonts, we will not take that any further.
In 1997, I founded Enigma HR with the philosophy: “be ethical; be professional; be friendly and serve my clients well.” We specialise in insurance and accounting placements and have been assisting professionals in this industry for over 20 years.
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By Karalyn | Categories: Accounting Jobs Sydney, Career advice, Insurance Jobs Sydney | No Comments
Last year the Macquarie Dictionary’s word of the year was “Googleganger.”
Do you know what this means?
A Googleganger is a person with the same name as oneself, whose online references are mixed with one’s own among search results for one’s name.
My Googleganger is a gnome rescuer. In 2009 my rescue operations made headlines in the Penrith Press.
As people post, re-tweet, and share all over the place, you can’t have complete control over how you appear on Google. So it’s advisable Google stalking your Googleganger every so often. You never know who might pop up.
If your Googleganger has some unpleasant habits, here’s a really quick fix.
LinkedIn has a high Google ranking. Therefore your profile reference should appear in a Google search. Go into LinkedIn and check that your headline appears in searches. Include a line about what makes you unique. For ideas take a look at this post by LinkHumans on creative LinkedIn headlines.
When it comes to your good name, there are many things to be mindful of on social media. I’d tell you about these but I’m busy reading the speech my Googleganger made at annual dinner of the Blue Mountains Rotary Club in 2008.
It’s a cracker.
By Liza | Categories: Accounting Jobs Sydney, All Categories | 1 Comment
Accounting jobs in Sydney – the demand is still strong
In a jobs economy that is increasingly dominated by growth in temporary, part time, contract and casual roles, if you’re an accountant you can count yourself more fortunate than others.
What is the long term outlook for accounting jobs?
Job prospects in accounting continue to defy national trends. There are more Accountants working in full time positions than the national average and workers in accounting jobs earn more than other sectors. If you’re interested in where we get our numbers check out the government’s Job Outlook site.
Where are accounting jobs in Sydney?
We’re in Sydney. We recruit jobs for CA and CPA qualified accountants for professional services across a variety of roles and for all levels beyond graduate.
For people employed in this sector in Sydney, job prospects continue to be relatively solid, although we’ve found employers are taking longer to make decisions and are demanding top quality applicants.
During 2010/2011 we saw steady demand for jobs for Senior Level Accountants. This seems to be a trigger point for career decisions and decisions about exiting this profession. Once someone becomes CA qualified, they have the option of leaving the profession. Many head into commercial jobs within organisations.
As part of the hiring conservatism we mention we are seeing less demand for Supervisors jobs as many firms promote from within.
Demand for insolvency jobs in Sydney
Over the past decade, consistently in demand is insolvency professionals and business services professionals.
Insolvency professionals tend to be in demand when business is going backwards, or people are going bankrupt. While we have not seen a spike in demand for these jobs of late, there is definitely nervousness in the economy.
Demand for Business Services professionals in Sydney
The demand for business services professionals is a by product of the mining boom and the economic recovery. This has had the spin off benefits for business consulting, taxation and auditing type services. This growth in jobs in Sydney has been primarily for qualified or part qualified professionals who have very strong relationship management and interpersonal skills, and outstanding written and verbal communication skills.
Interestingly we’ve seen clients revisit the incentives offered for staff who are able to bring new clients in the firm. We’ve not seen performance incentives for client retention, which should be present. This would be an added carrot for attracting well rounded professionals.
Why do we say this?
Accounting candidates focus on the portfolio of clients they are given and the diverse nature of the work they do for these clients. Gone are the days when firms should expect their staff to do the same thing for the same clients over an extended period of time.
If you would like to discuss your staffing requirements or your next career move please give us a call – (02) 8221 0553. We’re experts in this field!
In 1997, I founded Enigma HR with the philosophy: “be ethical; be professional; be friendly and serve my clients well.” We specialise in insurance and accounting placements and have been assisting professionals in this industry for over 20 years.
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