u/octopusgas14

I've been job hunting for about 6 weeks after leaving Big 4 audit and honestly, I'm finding the move into industry a lot harder than I expected.

For a bit of context, I qualified with my ACA at PwC and then left soon after to go travelling for 6 months. I've now been back for a couple of months and am keen to get back into work. I'm lucky that I've got savings and am living at home at the moment, so I'm not in a position where I need to take the first job I can get, but I also don't want to be out of work indefinitely.

Everyone always says doing the ACA and qualifying in audit opens loads of doors, but so many jobs seem to want someone who already has industry experience doing month end, management accounts, reconciliations, budgeting etc.

I've applied for a mix of Accountant, Financial Accountant, Management Accountant, Finance Analyst and Financial Reporting Analyst roles. I also have previous Finance Assistant experience, so it's not like I've never worked in a finance team, but I'm still finding that I don't quite tick the box for the hands-on experience employers want.

I'm mainly targeting smaller to mid-sized businesses rather than huge corporates, ideally somewhere I can get broader exposure and be more involved across the finance function. Interestingly, I've found that Big 4 experience can sometimes almost work against me here. I've spoken to companies that have been wary that my experience is mainly with large, complex clients and have preferred people from smaller practices who may have worked with businesses more similar to theirs. Which I completely understand.

Over the last 6 weeks I've applied for 41 jobs:

* 11 rejected with no interview
* 1 made it to final stage and was rejected
* 2 first-round interviews, waiting to hear back
* 26 with no response yet, including 8 I applied for over 4 weeks ago

I haven't been mass applying to random roles, I've only being applying to ones I'm genuinely interested in and where I do match a decent amount of the requirements.

And I want to be clear, I don't think I'm entitled to these jobs or that working at PwC gives me some automatic right to walk into an industry role. I knew there would be a learning curve and that there are things I simply haven't done before. I've obviously been trying to frame my experience in audit to match with the job requirements.

I'm just starting to wonder what the actual route out of audit is meant to look like. For people who have made the move, what roles did you actually go into after audit? Did you go straight into financial/management accounting, reporting, FP&A etc., or did you have to take a step back first to get that hands-on experience?

Also, is the job market just particularly slow over the summer? I'm wondering whether things typically start picking up again in September, or whether this is just what the market is like at the moment.

Would be really interested to hear other people's experiences.

I've been job hunting for about 6 weeks after leaving Big 4 audit and honestly, I'm finding the move into industry a lot harder than I expected.

For a bit of context, I qualified with my ACA at PwC and then left soon after to go travelling for 6 months. I've now been back for a couple of months and am keen to get back into work. I'm lucky that I've got savings and am living at home at the moment, so I'm not in a position where I need to take the first job I can get, but I also don't want to be out of work indefinitely.

Everyone always says doing the ACA and qualifying in audit opens loads of doors, but so many jobs seem to want someone who already has industry experience doing month end, management accounts, reconciliations, budgeting etc.

I've applied for a mix of Accountant, Financial Accountant, Management Accountant, Finance Analyst and Financial Reporting Analyst roles. I also have previous Finance Assistant experience, so it's not like I've never worked in a finance team, but I'm still finding that I don't quite tick the box for the hands-on experience employers want.

I'm mainly targeting smaller to mid-sized businesses rather than huge corporates, ideally somewhere I can get broader exposure and be more involved across the finance function. Interestingly, I've found that Big 4 experience can sometimes almost work against me here. I've spoken to companies that have been wary that my experience is mainly with large, complex clients and have preferred people from smaller practices who may have worked with businesses more similar to theirs. Which I completely understand.

Over the last 6 weeks I've applied for 41 jobs:

• 11 rejected with no interview
• 1 made it to final stage and was rejected
• 2 first-round interviews, waiting to hear back
• 26 with no response yet, including 8 I applied for over 4 weeks ago

I haven't been mass applying to random roles, I've only being applying to ones I'm genuinely interested in and where I do match a decent amount of the requirements.

And I want to be clear, I don't think I'm entitled to these jobs or that working at PwC gives me some automatic right to walk into an industry role. I knew there would be a learning curve and that there are things I simply haven't done before. I've obviously been trying to frame my experience in audit to match with the job requirements.

I'm just starting to wonder what the actual route out of audit is meant to look like. For people who have made the move, what roles did you actually go into after audit? Did you go straight into financial/management accounting, reporting, FP&A etc., or did you have to take a step back first to get that hands-on experience?

Also, is the job market just particularly slow over the summer? I'm wondering whether things typically start picking up again in September, or whether this is just what the market is like at the moment.

Would be really interested to hear other people's experiences.

Hi all, just for some outside opinions on whether I’m being unreasonable here with an Airbnb situation.

Our check-in time was supposed to be 3pm. About 15 minutes before check-in, the host messaged saying the previous guests had checked out late and the cleaners were still cleaning, so they’d let us know when the apartment was ready.

At 3pm they then said it would be another 20 minutes, and we eventually got into the apartment around 3:35pm.

Only in that final message did they mention there may still be an odor left behind by the previous guests, and that they had placed air fresheners in the unit.

When we got inside, the smell was pretty noticeable, so we asked what had caused it. The host replied through Airbnb messages saying the previous guests had apparently left rubbish in the apartment without taking it out to the bins. Bearing in mind the temp outside is 35 degrees and the air con was off when we entered so clearly these bins had been stinking in the heat for a while.

The issue is that the smell is still there more than 24 hours later. It’s not completely unlivable or anything, but definitely unpleasant and not what we expected when booking. We’re here to rest for a few days after a mountain climb so planning on just chilling in the apartment for a few days.

I asked whether they’d consider a partial refund because between the delayed check-in and the lingering smell, the stay hasn’t really been as great so far. They declined and said the only compensation they could offer was a complimentary late checkout.

The thing is, I had already asked for late checkout before check-in and they had already agreed to it before any of these issues happened, so it doesn’t really feel like compensation.

The host has been polite and responsive throughout, so I’m not trying to attack them or get a massive refund. I’m genuinely trying to figure out whether asking for a partial refund here is reasonable, or whether this is just one of those unfortunate situations you’re expected to accept with Airbnb. The host seems to be a management company not an individual.

Would you push this with Airbnb support or just leave it?