Unsure of what job to get (1 Viewer)

[ethancooler996]

Hey guys,

Just finished high school, looking for a job that may be useful in the long term in landing a job in finance. I have had prior experience as a bookkeeper. Open to more unique suggestions apart from the 'work at kmart' general advice.

 

[jimmysmith560]

With the kind of prior experience and qualifications that you currently possess, you are essentially looking at entry-level roles that will provide you with opportunities to gain and improve foundational skills to be applied to roles that you undertake within the field that you are interested in. Given that you have experience as a bookkeeper, this is your starting point as working in this role is likely to be the easiest for you, not only in terms of getting a job but also in terms of performing the actual tasks within this role. Depending on your previous experience as a bookkeeper, you may wish to consider searching for a bookkeeper role to further expand your knowledge and skills in this particular area.

Your experience as a bookkeeper could also make you suitable for a payroll-related job, primarily a position related to payroll administration. While this may not be directly intertwined with finance (it can perhaps be more closely associated with HR instead), this area does still deal with elements of finance and would equip you numerical skills that may be useful at a later stage in your career, thanks to its focus on numerical data on an operational (i.e. day-to-day) basis.

You may also wish to consider customer service roles at companies such as banks. While this option may not offer much in terms of developing finance-related skills, being able to work at a bank (or any financial institution for that matter) constitutes a good start and could trigger the possibility of becoming able to shift to a more specialised role (in your case, something related to finance) within the same company at a particular point in time.

Of course, opportunities that can be accessed during your time at university, such as internships and graduate programs are also important and are likely to provide you with the types of opportunities that would best support your professional development as someone who aspires to pursue a career in finance. For example, I recall recently coming across an internship offered by Apple called "Finance Development Program (FDP) Internship". From what I have observed, opportunities such as these seem excellent for someone like you.

I hope this helps!

 

[jimmysmith560]

Hey Jimmy, considering how most jobs tend to be full-time, how would you be able to manage university alongside that?

Students who work full-time may choose to take less subjects each semester/term (i.e. studying part-time), allowing them to balance their work and study commitments more effectively. However, this would extend the length of the degree(s) that a student is studying. Whether this is a reasonable option depends on whether a student is happy to extend the duration of their degree in exchange for an opportunity to gain experience early on.

There is the option of working full-time and studying full-time, although I would personally recommend avoiding this because, although it is not impossible to manage, it is likely to be overwhelming for several students, leading to negative effects on their well-being/mental health as well as performance at university. This can be exacerbated in the case of students studying a double degree or a more difficult degree.

The best avenue in my opinion is to study full-time and to opt for casual or part-time employment in a relevant field. This would offer the best balance in terms of completing your degree(s) in a timely manner (ideally consistent with the full-time study pattern of the chosen program) while still allowing you to gain experience that would be beneficial to have by the time you graduate. Entry-level roles and internships can be undertaken on a casual or part-time basis, meaning that you are not necessarily forced to work full-time.

 

[Etho_x]

Hey guys,

Just finished high school, looking for a job that may be useful in the long term in landing a job in finance. I have had prior experience as a bookkeeper. Open to more unique suggestions apart from the 'work at kmart' general advice.

Hey, I am in a similar position to you, though I never finished school. I have a Cert IV in Accounting and Bookkeeping so I am currently on the search for jobs as well while I am doing an accounts internship currently.

If you want to go through the bookkeeping route, my first recommendation is to make sure that you have a solid foundational knowledge of bookkeeping principles and how this is integrated into programs such as MYOB and Xero before applying. Perhaps if you wanted to do something payroll related like Jimmy said, you could also investigate Payroller.

There are other bookkeeping jobs you could try to apply for, such as a Receivables/Payables clerk or even a general accounting role. Accounting roles are better imo, since they expose you to BAS related tasks and other taxation matters, which you can use as hours towards a Tax Practitioners Board registration - allows you to become a contractor when you eventually have around 1400 hours.

Other than that, I can’t really provide much more guidance, that’s all I really know.

Hope all helps.