Going back to accounting/ resume

[mozar]

TLDR: I quit accounting in 2018 and now I'm looking to go back

I never thought I would work in accounting again, but so much has changed in the past 4 years. Now there is remote work, a shortage of accountants, more focus on mental health... I also changed. I went through about 5 doctors before I find one who was willing to give me a referral for the surgery I needed. I got my surgery last summer and I've been able to recover and easily manage my chronic pain with just one medication. I've had the energy for the first time to self reflect on why I struggled so much at work.

I was fired from my last accounting job in 2018 and I couldn't work for two years due to chronic pain and I decided not to work during the pandemic. When I was lying around I decided to learn math because I didn't have the opportunity to learn math growing up. My math tutor suggested I should try teaching so I started tutoring, then got a part time job, and now I am a full time public school teacher.

As part of my reflection I realized that my experiences in accounting were very disjointed and entry level. So I'm taking a Udemy course on advanced excel functions and I'm going to take a course on the accounting cycle.

I am open minded about jobs. I could do full time or part time or freelancing, audit or accounting. So if you have a moment it would be great to get some feedback on my resume or whatever else.

Thank you.

[Sibley]

You worked in a niche area. I have no advice re the federal gov/contractor stuff. I'm in external audit, specializing in local governments, but the feds are a different beast.

Audit takes time to learn. It really takes 2 full cycles to get a grasp on it. The first audit cycle is just a shock. The 2nd is when you start putting the pieces together and figuring out what you're doing. However, not everyone is going to like it, be good at it, or want to continue in it. But audit isn't the only area in accounting. What do you want to do?

Yes, there are some improvements in the cultures and hour requirements, but its still going to vary based on the company. So be careful.

Also, at least in the Chicago region, recruiting firms are very helpful. Linkedin can help you get connected to them.

As for the resume, if you're going for accounting jobs, do a relevant work section, then move the non-accounting stuff to the bottom and shrink it. Askamanager.org has very good resume, cover letter, and interview advice.

[RunningintoFI]

One bit of feedback I can provide on your resume is the formatting of it.  Unless you have a direct interaction with the hiring manager (i.e. email exchange or physical hand-off), most job applications go through an ATS (applicant tracking system) and it is important to be aware of ways to work with the system. 

I know this will sound as dumb as it is, but in general, don't use / \ _ within resumes to separate things.  Use | instead since tracking systems will not automatically filter it out since it can't tell the difference between | and the letter l. 

I'm also curious from your resume what special things you have done in your past roles that differentiates you from other candidates?  I can't tell from your resume what actual value you added at prior roles.  Resumes need to do two things really well and really quickly - Explain what skill set you bring to the table & especially the quantity of value you generated in recent roles.  Those two things get you the interview where you get to explain HOW you accomplished the value generation. 

All of the bullet points read like a description of the role and not at all about a description of the value that YOU brought to the role. 

I'd second what Sibley said as well with one addition to it.  I'd eliminate anything more than 7 years old when it comes to experience and create a "skills" section within the resume at the top to make it extremely visually clear what your particular skill sets are. 

[mozar]

Thankyou @Sibley Did you always want to specialize in local governments?

For what I want to do...the sheer variety of accounting jobs is overwhelming. I got sent a job description from a recruiter a few days ago and it says that they are looking for a GAAP and tax specialist that can advise on government, media, and real estate. That would be a special person who could could advise on 3 completely different industries.

I live in an area (Washington DC) where there is a lot of government consulting. I'm not sure if I want to do that again. Especially since it's hard to avoid the military (I'm a liberal).
And when I was a consultant I didn't feel like I knew enough to be consulting. For example I was told to figure out why a cell on a budget spreadsheet wasn't working. I didn't know about dependents, precedents, error messages, etc. I was watching a video from a cpa who started off at a firm then went on to be a controller for a tech company. He said that the firm taught him advanced excel. That would be great to work somewhere that offered training.

I'm open to doing audit again for non government, depending on the hours. I could also start off small and do AP/AR work my way up to billing and work up from there. I'm at the very beginning of figuring that out. The course i bought on the accounting cycle will walk me through how to do entries through bank reconciliations through financial statements.

Thanks @RunningintoFI you have given me a lot to work on!

[Sibley]

I didn't intend to specialize. I was originally hired for tax, but the government audit team needed help and the tax department was quiet. So I fell into it. It has actually been detrimental in some respects, on the other hand I'm pretty much guaranteed a job offer from the companies doing this work. There are not many experienced governmental auditors.

Frankly, if you want to avoid government and military, move. The DC and surrounding area is so heavily influenced by the capital that it will be hard to avoid them. I don't live there, but I have friends and family who do. It's truly a different world.

Yes, the variety is overwhelming. And accounting is far more than debits and credits. Audit, internal controls, processes, SOX, IT, tax, M&A, and much more. Pick. You won't get good at multiple things.

You mentioned the excel formula fix. Learn excel. The more you can do - macros, pivot tables, formulas, etc, the more options you'll have. Training is nice, but most of learning it is just using it, playing around, trying different things. Google is very helpful.

The accounting profession is in quiet turmoil. The Big 4 have built their audit business around a steady stream of large numbers of new accounting grads, churning through them every year. There aren't enough grads to sustain this. The number of tax changes have overwhelmed the tax accountants. FASB and GASB keep churning out new pronouncements. The profession must adapt, and its not so easy.

[john c]

I personally think that, adjusted for cognitive ability and hours worked, accounting is a low paid profession with crappy working conditions.  This is causing a dearth of young people going into the profession, and is a big issue for the long term outlook.  Young people won't put up with the bullshit anymore, and we're going to have to retool and raise the pay to attract talent, going forward.

In your shoes, I recommend getting a government job working a straight 40 hours per week, with 4 weeks vacation every year, and hopefully a fat pension.  Your hourly compensation and quality of life will be much higher than as a staff accountant.  Worst case, if you can stand the bureaucracy, get a job with the IRS.  They're desperate for help.

One thing with government jobs is that the starting pay is too low.  On the flip side, I think the top step pay is too high, considering the hours they work.  Plenty of accounting managers in the private sector make $140k per year, but they work much more than 40 hours per week.

The downside to government jobs is the stultifying boredom.  Sometimes they work 3 hours per day, but you have to sit there for 8 hours.

I'm a CPA with 10 years in public accounting.  I didn't come up through a big firm, but looking at the abuse hurled at workers, I can't recommend it for anyone.  I have my own firm, and staff that work for me.  Because my background is corporate finance, I treat me people well.  I also pay my people hourly.  If I ask you to work an hour, you get paid an hour.  None of this "pay salary, demand crazy unpaid overtime" bullshit. 

I'm also in a HCOL area, so local government pay is very high.  Much higher, in my opinion, than public accounting considering that you'll only work 40 hours per week. 

[former player]

With the caveat that I'm coming to this with zero knowledge of your field of work:

What you emphasize when describing your professional experience depends on what you want the person reading your resume to concentrate on.

If you are looking for a teaching job then where you have been teaching and which curriculum will be important, because someone in the schools world will understand what it means.  If you want to leave teaching, then your demonstrated ability to understand and explain numbers is what is important, so the heading should be something like "High School Math Teacher", the bullet points should be something like "maths curriculum implementation, instruction and assessment for x grade students with y successful outcomes", then put names and locations of schools at the end of each bullet point.

For the rest, if you are looking to get back into government then where you worked is important.  If not, then you can make your experience look more coherent by putting names of organisations at the end of each job description.  Start each description with the job title instead.  Also, don't use "senior consultant" as this says nothing.  Use "Senior Audit consultant" or "Senior Consultant (Audit)".   That also emphasizes the breath and progress of your career, going from Audit Consultant to Audit Liaison Rep to External Auditor to Senior Audit Consultant.

A masters in accounting makes you highly qualified and you have a good length and breadth of experience.  The gap in your resume is explained by health issues now resolved - the proof is that you will have completed two years' teaching which takes physical and mental stamina.  Demand for people with accounting/audit skills seems high.  I think you should take your time to find something that will be right for you- that means the right people, the right organisational set up and the right working conditions as well as work that you feel confident in or are excited to learn.  Good luck.