CIMA and Experience

Beau

Hi,

I'm at the operational level of CIMA. I curently working in operations of an investment bank. The job is not adding to my experience required for CIMA. Is this something I should be worried about now? I see part qualified jobs available, is this for when you pass your exams and are looking for experience? Is that the time to start thinking about experience? What type of roles should I be looking for?

Thanks

mr_edge_to_you

Beau wrote: »

Hi,

I'm at the operational level of CIMA. I curently working in operations of an investment bank. The job is not adding to my experience required for CIMA. Is this something I should be worried about now? I see part qualified jobs available, is this for when you pass your exams and are looking for experience? Is that the time to start thinking about experience? What type of roles should I be looking for?

Thanks

If the job is not adding to your experience then it is something you should be mindful of.

If you are still at operational level you still have time to look for other opportunities. The last thing you want is to finish your exams and then be told that your work experience doesn't qualify. I'm not sure what tasks you do and what responsibilities you currently have so can't offer too much advice.

You should take a look at the CIMA website and look at the TOPCIMA section. There is good guidance there.

By the time I finished my exams I had 9 years of work behind me in FMCG, Manufacturing and Aviation. My experience was approved on first attempt (last year), spent many hours going through it over and over again fine tuning it. Was advised that you want to make sure you get it right first time because if you need to reapply you'll be under more scrutiny.

Is there any qualified people in your company who might be able to advise you?

On the positive side there is a lot of roles for part-qualified CIMAs. Perhaps you should chat to one or two recruiters who can advise what your options are. If you're concerned about your experience you should address it ASAP.

johnb25

Beau wrote: »

Hi,

I'm at the operational level of CIMA. I currently working in operations of an investment bank. The job is not adding to my experience required for CIMA. Is this something I should be worried about now? I see part qualified jobs available, is this for when you pass your exams and are looking for experience? Is that the time to start thinking about experience? What type of roles should I be looking for?

Thanks

I got through T4A a couple of weeks ago at the face to face application session in Dublin. I have many years experience in Accounting roles.
One comment that my assessor made was she looks at the work experience and if she sees reputable company names, that will weigh more heavily than anything you write. If you have a couple of years experience an an MNC or such like, the assessor is effectively relying on their management and review process to assess your competence.
This may have just been this one assessor, but I think any assessor would be hard pushed to reject experience at a big, reputable company.
This may be more relevant to the face to face assessment, as it is Irish assessors who will generally be familiar with the big names here; it is a fairly small place.
I think it never too soon to start working on getting your experience built up, even apart from the CIMA assessment.
And when you do get better experience, start keeping records of what you are working on; don't rely on memory at the application stage!!!

Have you spoken to your manager in your current job to see if it would be possible to move internally or take on extra responsibility to gain the experience?

If you do leave see if you can document your experience before you go - it might be easier than coming back in a couple of years.