Accountancy Recruitment in 2000
I started as an accountant back in the "dark ages" of 2000. Back then a lot of things were a lot different.
To put it in perspective, I started out as a cadet on a sandwich year from RMIT (Melbourne City campus) on the 1st of July 2020 on a salary of $26,000.
The process to even become an accountant back then was pretty sketchy.
Graduate programs only really existed for the Big 4 accountancy firms and if you didn't get top marks across all your Uni subjects or if your dad wasn't already a partner, client or associate (hello nepotism) of the firm (this was the early 2000s and the glass ceiling was unfortunately double reinforced back then) so if you didn’t know anyone then you weren't getting into those programs.....maybe some things don't change.
Fair to say that I did not fit into either of those buckets.
There was no LinkedIn.
There was no internships.
There were printed CVs and cover letters and there was work experience.
I had a CV of basic teenage jobs (sports refereeing, night stacking and even a month long stint doing hardcore manual labour), but I had no accounting or office experience to lean on or point to. I was a very blank canvas.
If you were like me you had to get an accountancy job the hard way.
Interview. Rejection
CV posted in. Declined.
CV posted in. No response.
Interview. You were into the last three, but sorry.
It came down to two possible options for me:
Moore Stephens in the Tax Consulting Division.
A sole practitioner suburban firm in Lilydale (outer suburbs of Melbourne).
It wasn't like I had a choice either, the firm in Lilydale rejected me.
Somehow, I got that job at Moore Stephens and to this day the only reasons I can think of why I got the job was because I had received a distinction in specialist tax (the only subject that I enjoyed at Uni) and had applied to a tax job. That and because I guess I didn't say anything stupid in the interview.
I still vividly remember sitting down with the tax partner (Steve Allan) in the boardroom on Level 14 of 607 Bourke St and him offering me a diet coke in a glass bottle from the boardroom fridge and then telling me that I got the job. A very, very happy moment in my life and honestly I don't know where I'd be without that diet coke and job offer.
Main thing I take away from the process I went through is that to always apply for something that you have the skills to do. I was only really good at tax then, so I applied for the tax role as a priority and pointed that out in my cover letter. The same applies when working with clients, don't promise something that you cannot deliver, all it does is break any trust that you have with the client, the same trust that got them to work with you in the first place.
The other thing I learnt is around personality and personalities and how that part of a person fits into making any business work well (it takes all sorts of people, even those who will just bust out popcorn in the microwave for no reason on a Thursday afternoon to share, which may or may not have been me).
Fast forward a few years and things were a little bit more structured at Moore Stephens and I was actually part of the recruitment program meaning I'd get to talk to lots of budding young accountants eager to get a graduate position at our firm. There's lots of things to learn from that as well, but that's one for another time.
I'm Kane Munro and if there's anything else you'd like me to cover about accountancy, drop me a line.
You can check out my history in my LinkedIn profile or my current experience in outsourcing including fixed fee SMSF outsourcing at www.activeoutsourcing.com.au