Social media is no longer just a place to connect with family and friends ─ it’s also a great place to network with business associates. Popular platforms like LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook are helping accounting professionals across the globe network their way into exciting new careers.

If you’re not already using at least one of your social media accounts for business purposes, now is the time to get started! You might be pleasantly surprised at the positive impact social networking can have on your career.

4 Ways to Use Social Media for Employment Networking

Not quite sure how to use your social media accounts to boost your accounting career? Put the following four techniques into action to use popular platforms for networking:

1. Keep it Professional: If you’re going to use your social media accounts for employment networking, you’ll need to make sure to keep all of your posts professional. Never post anything on sensitive topics like religion or politics, avoid the use of profanity and maintain a positive persona. While you can offer occasional glimpses of your personal life, make sure everything you share is appropriate for potential employers to see.
2. Share Industry Updates: Demonstrate your interest in accounting outside the office by using your social media accounts to share the latest happenings in the industry. Not only will this show your enthusiasm for the field, consistently posting on these topics will likely help you build a following of other industry professionals, which is sure to impress employers.
3. Follow Industry Leaders: Benefit from the wisdom shared by the CFOs of major companies, professional accounting associations and other leaders in the field by following them on social media. These people obviously know what they’re talking about, so there’s a good chance you’ll learn something from them. Some of them may even follow you back, helping to expand your network.
4. Connect with Like-Minded Professionals: When you meet another accounting professional at a networking event, conference, business meeting or any other function, be sure to seek them out and connect with them on LinkedIn. Also, if you find an accounting professional with an interesting background or someone working at a company you’re interested in, it’s perfectly acceptable to send them an InMail message and ask to connect. These connections might help boost your career.

Ready to take on a new challenge in your career? Contact Accountingpros Recruiting + Staffing today. Gain access to more professional accounting job opportunities than any other Northwest employment service ─ guaranteed!

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Competition for accounting positions can be intense. Companies want to know they’re hiring the best and brightest people to oversee their financials. If you’re searching for a new challenge in the accounting field, it’s important to know how exactly how to make a great impression.

5 Accounting Interview Skills and Tips

Preparing for an upcoming accounting interview? Use the following five tips to secure your spot as the best person for the job:

1. Brush Up on Industry Trends: If the hiring manager asks for your thoughts on the biggest challenges faced by accountants today or another industry relevant query, you need to have a dynamite response. Therefore it’s important to catch up on the latest happenings in the accounting industry ─ if you’re not already familiar ─ to ensure you’re in the know.
2. Evaluate Different Accounting Packages: Show the interviewer you’re a seasoned professional by taking the time to write down the pros and cons of all the accounting software packages you’ve worked with. This ensures you’ll have an impressive response if questioned on different packages you have experience with and what you liked and disliked about each one.
3. Review Current Accounting Laws and Policies: If you don’t already have a solid understanding of current accounting laws and policies, take the time to study them. If asked, you don’t want to have to admit to an interviewer that you’re not up-to-date with the latest regulations.
4. Display Integrity: Accountants are essential to the lasting success of a company, so the hiring manager needs to be sure you can be trusted. When asked how you would handle a situation where you made a mistake on an invoice, were asked to cover up discrepancies on quarterly filings or given the opportunity to engage in any other potentially dishonest actions, always emphasize the fact that you would never compromise your integrity.
5. Sell Yourself: The job interview is your chance to make the hiring manger see that you’re the best person for the job. Make yourself the obvious choice for the position by noting cost-cutting strategies you’ve incorporated at other companies, highlighting your ability to work well under pressure and showcasing your exceptional client service skills.

If you want to take your accounting career to the next level, contact Accountingpros Recruiting + Staffing. We are the leaders at matching specialized accounting talent with top local companies, offering temporary/contract, temp-to-hire, and direct-hire opportunities.

Education is a very important feature employers look for on your resume. While each job requires varying levels of education, most every employer expects to see a section dedicated to your schooling. However, there are a number of different ways to present this information.

The education level you’ve attained and your years of experience working in the field play a large role in determining where to position this section and how much detail to include. It’s important to organize it properly to meet the expectations of the hiring manager.

How to Include Education on Your Resume

Need a little help with the education section of your resume? Use the following information to determine exactly what level of detail to include and where to position it on your resume to portray you in the best possible manner:

1. Recent Grads: If you graduated college during the past three years, chances are you don’t have an extensive career history to showcase. Therefore you’ll want to make your education the focus of your resume by placing it first, before your work experience. Include your GPA only if it was 3.0 or higher. If you earned academic honors or were involved in any on-campus extracurricular activities, be sure to mention those as well.
2. Experienced Professionals: Even if you have an Ivy League education, it’s important to showcase your professional experience first and your education history second, as this is what employers expect from candidates at your level. List your highest level of education first, to make it stand out. It’s up to you whether you want to include graduation dates or leave them off.
3. Candidates with an Incomplete Degree: Completing some college is better than none at all, so be sure to mention it on your resume even if you didn’t graduate. List the dates you attended, the number of credits you earned, and the major you were pursing. Add your high school graduation dates after this information to show that you do have a high school degree.

Ready to take on an exciting new challenge? Contact Accountingpros Recruiting + Staffing. Gain access to more professional accounting job opportunities than any other Northwest employment service – guaranteed!

There’s a very good chance you have an active presence on LinkedIn, but are you using it to your full advantage? As of June 2013, the business networking platform reports that more than 259 professionals in over 200 countries and territories have profiles on the site. This means there are infinite possibilities to generate leads, if you know where to look.

5 Ways to Use LinkedIn to Generate Leads

Need a few ideas to generate leads on LinkedIn? Get started with the following five techniques:

1. Keep Up with Your Contacts: LinkedIn makes it easy to stay in touch with your contacts. The site has a feature that alerts you when your connections are celebrating an event such as a work anniversary, new job, or birthday, so you can reach out and send your congratulations. This is a great way to foster the relationship, so you stay on their minds.
2. Ask for Introductions: It’s easy to see who your connections are linked to on the site. Browse their list of contacts and ask for an introduction if you see someone you’d like to connect with yourself. This is a great way to expand your network with professionals your own associates trust.
3. Participate in Discussions: Get your name out there by joining relevant groups and participating in their conversations. Take the time to write insightful, thought-provoking comments that add-value to the discussion, to position yourself as an industry expert.
4. Search for New Contacts: Seek out new contacts by using key terms to search for them. Choose a few words or phrases that directly relate to your objective, browse the search results, and send InMail messages to those that seem like the best match. While you may not hear back from everyone, you’re bound to at least make a few new connections.
5. Contact Those Who View Your Profile: LinkedIn has a setting allowing you to see exactly who has viewed your profile over the past 30 days ─ and even more if you subscribe to their premium service. When someone you aren’t familiar with appears in your results, send them an invitation to connect. It probably wasn’t a random chance that they decided to view your profile, so your invitation may be the nudge they needed to get in touch.

Looking for top-quality talent to join your team? Contact Accountingpros Recruiting + Staffing today. We are the leaders at matching specialized accounting talent with top local companies, offering temporary/contract, temp-to-hire, and direct-hire opportunities.