[AJE]

Anyone ever do this? I’ve done 5 months of public audit and saw a position listed at a startup that sounds awesome (and pays extremely well) that is asking for someone at the senior accountant level (3 years of public + 2 years of industry). The requirements of the position are fairly straightforward (month end close, recons, ad hoc projects, etc). Probably won’t apply but am curious to hear other peoples experience/general thoughts about this?

General thoughts?

FAR 91 - 04/16
BEC 87 - 05/15
REG 77 - 07/27
AUD 92 - 08/31

[Andyred04]

Never hurts to apply. Chances are you’ll never hear back but who knows, maybe no one who’s qualified will apply and they’ll have to resort to lesser qualified candidates.

FAR: 80 (Gleim, Ninja Notes, Ninja MCQs)
REG: 87 (Gleim, Ninja Notes, Ninja MCQs)
BEC: 87 (Gleim, Ninja Notes, Ninja MCQs)
AUD: 8/27/16

PA Candidate

[Missy]

That's not “way out of your league” at all. Sure it says 3 years exp, thats not a hard and fast requirement (both of my first two accounting jobs had bachelors degree listed as a requirement and i hadn't even started college yet but got the jobs)

Way out of your league would be a CFO position, etc. I think you should apply.

Licensed Massachusetts Non Reporting CPA since 2012
Finance/Admin/HR Manager

[logueco]

In fairness, it is fairly out of your league. 5 months in public really just isn't enough of a track record. They are a start-up so might be willing to take a chance on you so it can't hurt to throw out an application, but that is a pretty big stretch.

Generally those roles are advertised with much more requisite experience than they are actually willing to accept. If you've got 1 year of experience at big 4 I think you're within reason to apply for places advertising for 3+ years experience. After 2-3 years you can shoot for the ones asking for 5+ etc. etc. It's not an exact science, but don't be dismayed by the fact that companies are asking for X amount of experience when you only have Y.

As long as you can fulfill the requirements and have the skills they are looking for that's what really matters and experience is just a bonus.

Still though the interview experience alone would be worth putting an application in. I've managed to land a couple roles I was under-qualified for but I interview extremely well and manged to get them. The more experience you have in terms of selling yourself and interviewing, the more likely you will be able to get a job where you don't have the advertised requisite experience.

[Anonymous]

Yes, I have applied for jobs out of my league, and even managed to get them. 🙂 When I was 23, with 1 year as an accountant at a super-small tax and bookkeeping firm and 1 year as an accounting clerk in a large company, I applied for a Controller job. It didn't have a specific experience requirements, so I thought WTH, might as well try. I got the job. (I was 24 by the time I started…but sounds better to say I was 23 when I applied haha.) I had people tell me that there was no way I could do it, I wasn't old enough, didn't have enough experience, etc., but 18+ months into the job, I've excelled at it. It's a small accounting office, so as Controller I do some things that usually would be Staff Accountant or even Accounting Clerk, but I also do all the things that would be Controller.

I've also applied for jobs out of my league that I didn't get, but I got through the nerves of my first accounting interview by having it be one that I didn't qualify for (though granted, I got the interview through cold-calling and didn't know what they were looking for or whether I qualified till the interview), which helped me be more comfortable for the first one that I had a shot at (and which I landed).

All that being said…there are some that I don't think are worth the time and effort to apply to, unless you're out of a job and desperate. If I was in your spot, employed with 5 months experience, I probably wouldn't apply to one that required 5 years' experience. However, if I was unemployed with 5 months experience, I'd probably apply to it. So, I guess I wouldn't see it as impossible, just too improbable to be worth my time, if I already had a job and wasn't in dire straits to switch. But, I'd apply to something that required 5 years experience if I had 3-4, or apply to something that required 3 if I had about 2, etc.

One caution: if you're ever looking at governmental jobs, some of those have specifications in the application that by applying you swear that you meet the stated minimum qualifications, so for those, only apply if you have the experience it states. I applied to one state job that had such a statement in its application – thankfully that was one I did truly meet. 🙂

[Author]

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