3 Considerations When Looking for a New Accounting Job
A couple of weeks ago, I posted about potential roles you could pursue when looking to leave audit.
And while trying to determine what specific role you are looking for is an obvious step, equally important is defining the specific aspects you want in that role.
In this post, I cover three items to consider as you determine which roles and companies you want to focus on during your job search.
Define why you want to leave your current role
If you’re looking to leave your current role, there’s usually some reason. And this reason (or reasons) will vary by individual.
And when looking for a new role, you want to make sure you have those reasons top of mind, because the worst possible scenario is landing a job that has all the same pain points, so you want to make sure you pursue roles that either eliminate or minimize these items.
And while this list can be endless, some common areas to consider, especially in accounting roles, include:
Overall Work/Life Balance: No surprise (and supported in studies highlighted in this article), burnout is one of (if not the) top reasons accountants leave their jobs.
Levels of stress: I always want to separate this out from work life balance because there are plenty of jobs where you have great work life balance but still find stress in the role.
Need (or Hating) Predictability: Hating either the lack of predictability (often in client facing roles) or getting bored because your job is too predictable (same processes every month) could be a reason you are seeking employment elsewhere.
Boss/Mentor: Your boss/manager plays a HUGE factor in your work experience, and you may be looking for a move if you’re just not clicking with your boss or they are not the mentor you were hoping for.
Promotion/Career Progression: You can’t see a path to the next level in your current role.
You’re not solving your overworked problem if you seek a job where you’ll be just as overworked. If you’re feeling bored because of the monotony of month-end close, you are likely not going to feel more invigorated by performing a similar month end close at a different company.
So defining the list of why you are leaving sets you up to pursue roles that hopefully alleviate these issues, which leads to our next consideration….
Define what you want in your next role
You know what you DON’T want, so now is a great time to define what you DO want. Some items you can consider:
Work/Life Balance or Stress Levels: Going off of the point above, if this is a work/life balance problem in your current role, define what an ideal (or at least better) work/life balance looks like to you. Is it less hours? Less responsibility? Something else? Really give this one some thought so you can define a work/life balance north star.
Specific Skill Set: Like we covered last week, there are a ton of different roles and niche skills that can be learned in accounting. If there is something specific you want to learn, incorporate it into your job search.
Role and/or Title: If a specific title or level is important to you, define it and pursue it. Personally, I think titles can be tricky as different companies define them differently (i.e., two controllers from two different organizations can have completely different responsibilities and compensation packages), so I personally think looking at the actual duties of the role itself is more important than the title (but this isn’t about me, this is about what is important to YOU).
Team Structure/Independent Contributor: Do you love a big team environment or would you prefer working more as an independent contributor?
Industry: Especially in accounting, each industry has their own nuances and opportunities. Defining which industry you want to try next can really help narrow your search.
Compensation: Have a number in your head? First, do your research to make sure it’s realistic. Second, write it down and be prepared to ask for it. Recruiters and early stage/preliminary interviews will often ask the question, so you should be prepared to state that number. And in some states, the job posting itself is required to include a compensation range, so you’re able to know ahead of time if its worth applying for the role.
What’s great about this activity is you don’t need to have all the answers, and in some cases, you may not know if you would like something until you try it. But determining what you want, even if you only think you want it, is a huge step towards honing in on your next move.
Considerations when searching for a new company
So you’ve now defined both why you want to leave your current role and what you want in your new role, and you’ve found there are tons of opportunities out there that meet the desired criteria.
Now you have to assess which potential company would be worth pursuing.
While the factors are endless, here are a few items to consider when choosing which types of companies to focus on. And I’ll caveat this by saying I use a lot of blanket generalities below, and in reality, all organizations don’t fit specific molds. But these are good things to at least keep in mind as you focus on specific organizations:
Public or Private Company: Public companies usually face stricter regulations and deadlines (annual and quarterly reports to the SEC, etc), but can have lucrative compensation packages (including better stock compensation), often provide that “predictable” workflow, and can have better compensation (especially around stock compensation). Private companies might be a bit more laid back but may be less predictable/accounting roles might have more responsibility and may be more limited in compensation and accounting team budgets.
Ownership Structure (Especially if Private): Single owner, venture capital (VC) backed, private equity (PE) backed, subsidiary. Ownership structures of companies can be endless and really impact a role. For example, while people often associate private companies with easier accounting roles, PE backed companies often have just as strict internal deadlines as public companies, but smaller budgets for accounting teams, which has enormous impact on their accountants’ day to day lives.
Company History, Ongoing Projects and Future Vision: What has the company’s path been to this point (Successes? Failures? Layoffs?), what current projects will you be responsible for, and what are the company’s future plans (such as an IPO)? Even offer to sign a non-disclosure agreement (if you have to) to learn more about what’s going on at the company and how that will impact your role. There is nothing worse than showing up to a new job and getting a rude awakening when you find out something major about the company that significantly impacts your role…I know this from personal experience, and it can really suck.
Boss’s Background and Experience: Does your boss have a background and enough experience to teach you what you want to learn? Or another question that is especially important for accountants: does finance leadership (i.e., CFO) have a background in accounting or, if not, are they appreciative of the work of accountants? Often CFOs with non-accounting backgrounds (banking, etc.) don’t appreciate the work of their accounting teams and, at times, can be less supportive of required accounting initiatives because they have no idea what you do (not all of them, but it often happens).
Role History: Is it a newly created role? Is it a long standing role? Why did the last person in this role leave? These factors can help determine if there is something potentially wrong with the org (i.e., constant turnover in this role is likely a sign the role or company is difficult).
Upward Mobility: If this is important to you, is there a path forward to move up within the company?
Remember, the same role at two different companies will be drastically different, and that’s driven by individual company, team culture, and trajectory, so really dive into learning about the company itself as you go through the interview process.
Consider the Things Most Important to You
As noted above, the list of considerations when trying to change jobs is endless.
While I highlight some big ones that I have either seen in my own career or have seen others experience, it’s up to you to decide what considerations are important to you.
But if you remember to really think about why you want to leave your current job and what is important to you in your next role, you’ll likely do the necessary diligence to hopefully set yourself up for success.
As always, feel free to follow me on Linkedin as I continue to post more content.