u/VegetableWorry1492

I have two interviews lined up next week at accountancy practices for assistant accountant roles. I’m *very* rusty, and overall very inexperienced at interviews. And in this climate I’m quite prepared to take any job, so feels weird trying to think of questions to figure out if the company is a good fit for me (like, the only thing that could put me off and decline an offer is if they’re in the Epstein files) but I know they’re probably expecting it, so please help me!

I’ve only ever had one serious job interview and that was in 2014 for my first job after graduating! The next job after that I sort of ended up in by accident, and the last role I actually applied for in 2021 didn’t really have an interview, more just a meeting to tell me in person that they’d already decided to offer me the role based on my application. So as I mentioned, I don’t know what I’m doing.

I’ve been a bookkeeper for 10 years, QBE and have no formal qualifications. I started at a bookkeeping practice, and then for the past five years I’ve been in industry. I’ve outgrown my current role and was keen to get back into practice to work with a variety of clients, and managed pretty easily to get two interviews for next week. Both are at local firms, one is a bookkeeping / accounts assistant role, advertised at £30-35k FTE with no mention of study, and the other at a larger company is an accounts assistant role advertised at £25-30k FTE with full study support and specifically seeking someone who wants to train as an accountant. Both are part time, 25hrs per week, and flexible hybrid working, so 1 day in office and 2 days WFH.

Now initially I thought the lower salary in order to gain a qualification and have more progression potential seems like a decent deal, but I’ve seen comments on this sub wondering if accounting is as lucrative anymore as it once was. Also factoring in that I’ll be 40 this autumn so do I even have time for any meaningful wage progression as an accountant if I start the training now, or if I’d be better off just staying an experienced bookkeeper. I have zero interest going back to London to chase money.

Obviously I’m not assuming I’ll be offered both and get to choose, but it’s useful to have an idea of what direction I want to go (and in case I get neither so I’ll know what to target in my next applications!) Becoming an accountant hasn’t been on my radar for like 8 years, I’ve been content enough as a bookkeeper, but this is what’s landed for interviews.

Help me sort out priorities. My husband and I moved from London 9 years ago for an opportunity his parents presented. Without giving too much detail to make us recognisable, they bought a small farm and we came along to help work it. They’ve invested a lot and collectively we’ve transformed the place and diversified to add new income streams. However, we’ve had to face reality and accept that it will never be profitable enough to support paying reasonable wages for us. We’re trying to sell up but the market is tough right now. So for the past 9 years we’ve been on minimum wage and minimum pension contributions, and now I’m starting to worry. I’ve started looking for other jobs but that’s not easy right now either - last time I was applying for jobs in 2021 I got the first one I applied to, this time I’ve sent about 7 applications and heard nothing for any of them. I’m a bookkeeper so in theory I could be earning £30-35k pa but I’d have to be hired first. I had a second job until 2022 when I had a baby, and after maternity leave decided not to go back. My husband is more limited because he is central to running the farm and we have a better chance of selling it if it stays active.

We own our house outright with no mortgage, it was a gift from his parents. It’s currently valued at £550k but not easy to sell because it’s connected to the farm. We don’t own any shares in the business, but have an agreement that when the place sells, after my in-laws have had their investment back any profit above that is divided between us and them. Of course there’s no guarantee there will even be a profit, so it’s a gamble. But even if there’s no profit, we would get the money for our house and aim to find something cheaper so we can bump up our savings.

Our outgoings are reasonable. The main strain on our cash flow is the food bill for two adults, one child and one dog, and credit card payments. We get UC for childcare costs as our kid is in nursery, and after UC we pay around £100pcm. He’s going to school in September, which will introduce other costs I’m sure, but gets rid of the monthly nursery bill. We don’t pay for our own water or electricity as the whole property is sort of connected to just one account - our house, my in-laws’ house and the farm buildings.

Income:
£2100 and £890 gross. I’ve transferred the marriage allowance to my husband because I work part time.
Child benefit

Debts:
NatWest c/c with 0% interest until Sep 2026: £4390. Monthly payment around £45.
NatWest c/c with 0% interest until Feb 2027: £7288. Monthly payment £75.
Monzo Flex (allows for purchases over £100 to be paid in 3 interest free instalments): Upcoming payments are Jun £481, Jul £409, Aug £362

Savings:
Help to Save with £50pcm regular payments into both accounts. First bonus being paid this December. We aim to get the max so don’t want to touch this money.
NatWest regular saver with £80pcm deposits and round-ups, current balance £2170 with 5.25% interest.
Marcus savings account with 3.75% interest, balance £1050
And 100€ in Wise stocks account. I’m from Europe and my mum sends me the odd 20-30€ for my son on his birthday and Christmas.

I’m thinking we need a balance transfer for the c/c that starts accruing interest in September as a first priority, and second avoid any larger purchases on the Monzo and clear the balance which would free up £400 per month. Then use some of that to open a S&S ISA? Assuming I won’t get a job (because always plan for worst case) to be able to pay off the other NatWest c/c we would use the Help to Save bonus towards that balance and then maybe do a balance transfer for the remainder? Does this sound sensible?

We were hoping to have a nice holiday this year for our 10th anniversary but that’s on hold now at least until one of us is earning more.