[illinoisguy]

I am hoping to get some advice on how to advance my accounting career as I seem to be stuck in a rut. I am 43 years old and have been in my current position (Project Accountant with an industrial company) for approximately 9 years. I do have both Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in accounting from a small, private college but no CPA. I had little accounting experience before I started this position and never worked for a public accounting firm.

I need to find a new position that 1) advances my career; 2) provides a decent increase in salary. I’ve been applying for senior staff accountant positions and assistant controller positions but have had little luck. The only interest I’ve had is through recruiters, but none of the leads have panned out either. So I’m hoping for some advice on positions I should be applying for, better ways to market myself, sites I should be applying through, etc. I know I’m way behind where I should be career-wise and am willing to do whatever it takes to get back on track. Thanks in advance!

[cpa1982]

pmsmith2032,

I googled Project accounting, and it seems like it's more related to cost accounting than financial accounting. Do you have any financial accounting experience? Passing CPA exam would help for sure.

[Missy]

I went from a senior cost accounting position to an accounting manager position at about your age. However that's because I was in a very specific industry (govt contractor) where my cost experience was more valuable than public accounting experience or more general experience. Being a project accountant that long may niche you to a particular industry. Make sure you're aligning your resume to every position you apply to. If working with other departments is the first thing in the job posting make sure it's the first thing on your resume. If reconciliation is second on the job listing you've got to have a responsibility that is very similar if not exactly a reconciliation but rewrite your responsibility to demonstrate you can drill down to find variances etc.

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

[Ryan – Just Another Dollar]

Recruiters probably a good bet to get you in front of people. I use a site like jobscan.com whenever I'm applying to a job; you copy and paste your resume and the job posting and it will rate how well you've got it tailored to the keywords. I would think even a lateral move into a growing company with better advancement potential would be a good call at this stage. If nothing else it'll be a change of scenery and hopefully a new type of work.

B - 88 (2/16)
A - 84 (4/16)
R - 73 (6/16), 82(7/16)
F - 67 (1/16), 84(4/16)

Ethics - 93

Roger course & Ninja MCQ - HiYa!

[Author]

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