Category: Employment

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CIA Provides Secrets about Linkedin

LinkedIn: The Living CV

I’VE WRITTEN A NUMBER of posts about the power of LinkedIn to replace the traditional resume, but after speaking with an expert from CIA (Sydney-based company, Computer Information Agency or CIAOPs) I learnt some new secrets about Linkedin. Robert Crane, CIA’s Director, shared some tips as to how and why LinkedIn is a fantastic tool to help you get a job AND find more customers.

Robert-Crane-Digitar-web-linkedin-secrets
Robert Crane is the Director of Computer Information Agency

Here’s what Robert had to say…

One of the greatest advantages that Internet based technologies can provide is leverage. Nothing could be more the case than with social media. Unfortunately, too many businesses and professionals fail to see the potential that it can provide themselves and their businesses. Probably the most effective social network for business is LinkedIn.

You may be surprised to know that LinkedIn in has been around for over a decade. It was around long before Facebook and Twitter as a source of connecting business people together. LinkedIn allows you to create a personal or business profile to which you can add all kinds of information.

[quote]Many professionals use LinkedIn as a “living CV” where they can post their career and achievement records for others to view.[/quote]

Sharing that information with others help them grow their potential network and makes it easier for others to locate people with the right skills.

The True Power of LinkedIn

This is where the key technology of search begins to reveal the true power of LinkedIn, for not only can you share your information with others, independent parties can search LinkedIn and locate individuals with the skills they need. This is reason why so many HR people use LinkedIn to locate and target individuals with the skills they require.

[quote]Posting resumes and trawling employment website is now ‘old school’. Indeed, the highest quality applicants are signed up via Linkedin even before a job is offered.[/quote]

Is It Too Late for You?

This means that if you are not using Linkedin your competition probably already is. So what can you do to catch up?

  1. Firstly, you’ll need to create a LinkedIn account and then fill in the information about yourself. The more professional information you provide the better. It is also important to include a professional headshot as part of the profile so if you don’t have one of these go out and get one.
  2. Once you have all your information entered start looking for people and associates you know who are already on LinkedIn. When you find them send them an invite to ‘connect’ with you on LinkedIn.
  3. Once you network starts to grow make sure that Linkedin becomes an ongoing part of your business strategy. Don’t let the information you have entered get stale. Revisit your account regularly and ensure it is always as current as possible. As you meet new contacts look them up on LinkedIn and ask them to ‘connect’ with you. Always be looking to grow your network and don’t be afraid to ask people in your network for introductions to others on Linkedin.
  4. When you start to feel comfortable with Linkedin use the testimonial feature to ask business contacts and clients for referrals. These referrals can be directly posted on your profile for all to see.
  5. Nothing lends credibility like endorsement so always continue to seek them out and grow the number that you have. Once the endorsements start to flow make sure you direct other information about your business to your LinkedIn information. Use it on your website, business cards, etc.

Other Powerful LinkedIn Uses

The more you work with LinkedIn, the more powerful you will find it. When you need something you can ask your network of contacts, you can search their skills for what you need, and you can join any number of special interest Linkedin groups on the very topic that you are seeking assistance on. Because Linkedin has become such a worldwide tool for business, chances are you’ll find the person or business you’re looking for, if you know how to use it.

Jump On the Social Media Bandwagon

I went to a seminar recently and heard Nick Bowditch from Facebook speak. He said that the businesses engaging with, and using, social media will be the ones still around in 5 years. Perhaps it’s arrogant to think that social media is so mighty, but given the speed with which technology is moving these days, and the ferocity of competition, it’s better to build a profile, reputation and brand that people know, like and trust — and social media is the opportune way to do this.

Social Media and Digital Marketing online training course_comp

Are you in business as a bookkeeper, tradesperson, retailer, trainer or real estate agent and want to stand out from the crowd? We can teach you the online marketing techniques to help you do just this! Check out what’s included in our comprehensive Social Media and Digital Marketing online training courses.

 

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Should I switch to Xero or remain with MYOB?

Xero and MYOB

cloud-accounting Xero and MYOBI’ve written many articles about the building competition between cloud-based accounting services like Xero, SAASU and Reach Accounting and MYOB’s AccountRight Live, but I sought an opinion of someone with much more experience with the various bookkeeping programs. Margaret from BusinessEEz is an accounting software specialist and she will share her opinions about whether you should switch to Xero or remain with MYOB.

We’ve noticed some big changes in the most recent version of MYOB AccountRight version 2012 and these changes not only affect small business owners, but also bookkeepers who perform most of the day to day and month end tasks for these small businesses.

Here’s what Margaret had to say about Xero and MYOB.

Should I switch to Xero or remain with MYOB?

Cloud accounting specialist xero and MYOBBy Margaret Carey

MYOB is about to launch AccountRightLive, the cloud-based version of AccountRight 2012 which is exciting news for business owners, bookkeepers and accountants as it means that you will have the ability to remain on MYOB and enjoy the flexibility that the cloud can offer. Xero has of course been in the cloud for some six years and has wooed many Australian small businesses with its ease of use, functionality and flexibility. However now AccountRight Live is becoming a reality, business owners and bookkeepers can more readily compare apples with apples when deciding whether to switch or remain with the familiar product.

There are a number of key points of difference.

Firstly with MYOB you can choose to switch between the cloud and the desktop at any time but Xero however is a cloud-only product, accessed via a web browser and an internet connection. Some people may like the flexibility of being able to switch between the two, taking offline backups etc. and others are happy with the restriction of internet–only access, no offline backups.

[quote]MYOB is also allowing for up to 5 concurrent users, a welcome addition for users on Plus and compares well with the unlimited users for Xero.[/quote]

However, I believe that functionality is a major driver in product decision and there is a lot to consider here.

Functionality of MYOB

MYOB has been around for many years and over time has built up some industrial strength functionality. Xero has only been around for 6 years (less in Australia) and whilst new releases with new features come out every couple of months, it still has a way to go to catch up with the in-depth functionality of MYOB. So if your business has some more sophisticated processes – eg Job Costing, Purchase Order tracking

If you hold inventory for buying and selling, then you need to remain on MYOB, Xero does not have an integrated inventory solution, there are plenty of add-ons available but why go for an add-on if you can have an integrated solution?

Xero does now have a reasonable integrated payroll solution but again, if you have some more sophisticated requirements such as TOIL, RESC etc, you should carefully review how well Xero will handle these.

The number one efficiency feature with Xero is its bank feeds. You can directly download transactions from your bank accounts into Xero and through some sophisticated but easy to set up rules, Xero will suggest the correct postings for the transactions – this is a powerful feature that can save several hours of data entry but is probably more suited to the micro business than the small business.

In summary,

  1. If you have a fairly simple business model, no inventory, straightforward payroll and are comfortable with a cloud-only solution then test drive Xero – you could well find that factors such as the bank feeds clinch the decision for you.
  2. But, if your business model is more sophisticated, you are still attached to a terra firma option or you need inventory then you are better sticking with the software you know.
  3. For all shades of grey in between – further analysis may be required to make the best decision for your business.

Learn more than just MYOB

When you enrol into our MYOB courses you receive free membership to the Bookkeeping Academy where we’ll show you how to use other accounting software programs like Xero, SAASU, Reach Accounting and more..

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Will you do it when you feel more confident?

Confidence to get that job and start a business

Confidence

Is low self-confidence contributing to you not achieving your work or life goals? When we held MYOB Courses in our Sydney Training Centres I remember speaking to a lot of mums who were returning to the workforce after a long absence while they were looking after their kids. Lack of confidence was one of the major topics that came up. It was like a whole lifetime had passed since they left the workforce and their lack of confidence was stopping them from finding work.

The same is true for business owners. I was recently speaking to a business coach who has helped many small business owners start and grow their businesses, including bookkeeping businesses. We are very happy to have Di Brown as a contributing specialist so read on to discover some insights about confidence and reaching your goals.

Is lack of confidence holding you back?

Business coach for starting a new business or getting the dream jobBy Di Brown

Are you one of the many people whose lack of confidence is holding them back, keeping them stuck or stopping them from making a career change they desperately want?

How many times have you heard someone say, ‘I will do it when I feel more confident?’ The truth is, the only way you are going to become more confident is by doing it. In her book Feel the Fear and do it Anyway, Susan Jeffers states that you are never going to get rid of fear. Even the most successful and confident people feel fear. The only difference is that they ‘feel the fear and do it anyway’. Eventually through repetition and experience it does get easier and you do become more competent and confident.

We all started out with confidence, it is inside every human being. For example when babies attempt to walk for the first time, there is no hesitation about what they want to do. There is no worry about falling because they know exactly what to do when it happens. Stand up and do it again! We were all babies once with the confidence to learn to walk and go for what we wanted.

The action of doing

It’s in the action of ‘doing’ that confidence grows! Do you remember when you first learnt to drive a car? I do! It was a new experience and a bit scary; there were so many different things to remember. There was the brake, accelerator, clutch and gears, speedometer and blinkers. I don’t know about you but when it was time to change lanes, I even had to remember to keep the steering wheel straight when I looked over my shoulder. There were quite a few occasions when I turned my head to make sure it was safe that the steering wheel would come with me. I wasn’t very confident at all.

Well eventually I did get the hang of it. I don’t have to consciously think about how to drive any more. I feel completely competent and confident. Sometimes the car somehow gets home by itself! The way I became confident at driving was by doing it. If I waited until I felt more confident learn, I would probably still be catching the bus.

[quote]In our MYOB training courses our training workbooks contain case studies with exercises you can perform to increase your confidence.[/quote]

Confidence is within each and every one of us. Although in some of us it is just allowed to lay dormant. When our confidence lays dormant it can stop us from going after and getting what we want in life and business. It allows self-doubt to creep in which then allows fear to rule our desires and decisions. Imagine if we allowed self-doubt to win, we would probably still be crawling and catching the bus.

Confidence is positive

Low confidence can often manifest itself as negativity – seeing the glass as half empty, doubting ourselves and often making excuses. Whereas confident people are usually positive – seeing the glass as half full, they believe in themselves and their abilities, and they believe in living life to the full.

Is your confidence awake and thriving or asleep and inactive? If you don’t feel very confident, it’s time to wake up what is rightfully yours and choose to use it.

One way to awaken your confidence is by ‘acting as if’ you are already confident. It may feel a little strange at first but with time it will come naturally. There are many ways you can show confidence. You can change your behaviour, your body language, how you speak, what you say, and how you think.

When you think about someone who is confident ask yourself: –

  • Do they make excuses or do they do whatever it takes?
  • Are their postures straight and upright or are they slumped over?
  • Is their language direct and full with certainty or are they wishy washy?
  • Are they doubting themselves or thinking about completing the task at hand?

Whatever it is you would like to do, ‘just do it!’ Before you know it, your competence and confidence will show up just in time for you to take on your next adventure.

 

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We’ve just created 103 new MYOB training videos and 2 new workbooks

workbooks and videos for MYOB training coursesExisting students for our MYOB training courses will be thrilled to know that they can now have access to our latest new course for MYOB Setup using AccountRight version 2012!

We create new content regularly and because of the huge amount of change that MYOB software is currently going through we are updating most of our material and creating a lot of new training content. This recent batch of training material has been created by our registered BAS agent, Jacci.

If you are familiar with our LIFETIME student access offer you’ll be thrilled to know that existing students can access this new MYOB training course for free! This is a fantastic time for us to demonstrate the benefits of our LIFETIME student access because we manage to give our existing customers something new that they don’t need to pay any extra money for.

[quote]This is our chance to deliver the benefits to students who have been using our courses for years.[/quote]

What’s even better is our most popular MYOB training course for Day-to-Day transactions is 75% through it’s remake for version 2012 so expect an announcement via this blog site shortly.

We’ll also reveal some of the videos to demonstrate the differences between the earlier version and the current version of MYOB software via this blog.

If you are not a subscriber, then subscribe to receive these blog posts in your email.

If you are considering enrolling into an MYOB training course you don’t need to be in Sydney, Melbourne, Perth or Brisbane. You can be anywhere in Australia or even across the world, as some of our students are, and get the benefits of our online MYOB training. Find out more about our MYOB Training Courses.

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Will MYOB in the cloud take Bookkeepers jobs offshore?

accountants and MYOB bookkeeper jobs going offshoreI’ve written a lot about MYOB in the cloud recently as training companies like us, accountants and MYOB software users grapple with their changing software and upgrading issues and a recent article I read brought up an interesting topic. Whether Cloud based accounting software will takes jobs offshore?

MYOB in the Cloud and IT support

The article I read was more about IT jobs and IT departments and whether cloud computing was making It Departments redundant. When you think about the various jobs within the accounts department the same question can be asked. I wrote a blog post about the looming threat to Australian jobs by overseas workers earlier in 2012 and scarily, it was reinforced by an article in yesterdays Sydney Morning Herald about 1 million jobs going offshore in the next 30 years.

If you check out the article you’ll notice that not only bookkeeping jobs, but accounting in general is one of the largest sectors under threat from offshoring! The picture above shows some other sectors under threat.

MYOB in the cloud vs data files on your PC

MYOB in the Cloud will enable the bookkeeper, data entry operator and accountant to access accounting records at the same time and from different locations and this is one of the best selling features of MYOB in the cloud compared to a data file on your computer. The issue for Australian workers is that anyone in the world can now perform this work if they have the skills to use the software and knowledge of basic Australian accounting.

Keep upskilling

One of the best ways to ensure your worth and value as a MYOB user is to keep yourself up-to-date. Continuing Education is important if you want to be a BAS agent, but it is also a very good way to become the MYOB and Bookkeeping resource for your own customers.

When you enrol into our MYOB training courses, you’ll automatically receive 12 months membership to the Bookkeeping Academy as well as free student membership of the Institute of Certified Bookkeepers.

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Need to reinvent your career? This weekend?

Your Career

Reinvent your career become a bookkeeper or start a bookkeeping business

Our MYOB Training Courses are available through our partner network of accountants, business development and career services companies across Australia and one of our partners is exhibiting at the Reinvent your career expo this weekend.

I recently wrote about their project to help students find bookkeeping work or start a bookkeeping business and you’ll get a chance to learn more about what they have planned this weekend!

MYOB and your career

Many of our students learn to use MYOB accounting software so that they can

  1. Find work in the accounts department of a company,
  2. Become more valuable to their current employer, or
  3. Start their own bookkeeping business.

When you look at this list you realise that learning = change and change usually provides new opportunities and advancement. Workface are a team of career experts and MYOB Bookkeeper Training at Reinvent your career expoI will be at the stand to demonstrate how the company can help you and your friends become more valuable in your career by becoming a bookkeeper.

Workface have a professional business development consultant who provides training tools and support for those students who want to start a bookkeeping business so make sure you pop into the expo this weekend and come and say hi.

It’s in Sydney so I don’t expect out-of-towners to make a trip to Sydney for it, but if you are Sydney-based and want to participate in our open meetings to build a community of bookkeepers please come and talk to me.

***

Want to start a business from home?

I’ve had the pleasure of working with many interesting and intelligent people and since operating my first physical training centre in Dee Why in 1999 I’ve found it very rewarding to help people learn new skills so that they can find a job. We now do a lot of online training and I’m even more excited when we can help people start, promote and manage their own business – particularly if students are doing it for the first time. If you are interested in exploring ways of starting a business from home and working as an independent contractor see the business opportunities available.

 

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Finding a job using Linkedin as your resume

How to use linkedin to find a job or new customers
How to use linkedin to find a job or new customers

LinkedIn + your resume

I recently wrote about the death of the resume and how Linkedin is replacing the written resume, now I have located a great ebook to help you master the art of using Linked in as a tool to help you find a job or get new customers.

The most interesting change in the employment market that I have noticed is the slow evolution from job seekers looking at job ads to employers searching for the best employees. Social media tools like Linkedin make this all possible.

Attracting the right people

If you are a business owner you have a website to attract customers. You combine great writing and interesting pictures to attract potential customers to your website and then contact details and an offer to ensure they make contact with you. LinkedIn is the same concept for individuals, you combine the right keywords and headings to attract people to your LinkedIn profile. Once people are attracted to your profile you can let them know that you are interested in a job, contracting work or other opportunities.

Find Bookkeeping work or customers

If you are completing our MYOB Training Courses you might want to consider joining LinkedIn if you are not already a member. If you are a member and want to get better results this concise ebook about LinkedIn has some excellent information that will help you get more results from your current LinkedIn profile.

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Business plan for your startup bookkeeping business

Free Business Plan Templates

Start a bookkeeping business plan

I recently wrote about the importance of writing a business plan if you want to start a bookkeeping business. I included a great business plan template that is made available by the Australian Department of Innovation, Industry, Science and Research. You can find free Microsoft Word templates from within Microsoft Word or by doing a simple Google search. Today I’ve included a link to some free templates from Microsoft.

This website provides a template for a “business plan for a startup business” but you might notice there is also a business plan template for existing businesses.

Who Starts a Home Based Bookkeeping Business?

Many of our students are mums who are returning to work after many years of looking after young children. They may have had a professional careers, but their circumstances change and they now want to operate a business that allows them to drop children off and collect them from day care and school. If you are one of those people you’ll be thrilled to hear that there are several work-at-home-mums (or virtual assistants) as part of our EzyLearn Online Training Team 🙂

Small Business Management Course

You may also be interested to know that our Small Business Management course includes training on topics that enable you to work from home via the Internet. Cloud based services like Google, WordPress, Dropbox and even the new MYOB software now make it possible and we show you how to do it.

Best of all, the Australian Government provide a website full of resources for those people who want to start a home-based business and a bookkeeping business is one of the best (according to us) because:

  1. It allows you to work your own hours
  2. If you are smart you can earn good money
  3. Every business needs to do bookkeeping
  4. Very few business owners WANT to do bookkeeping
When you enrol in an EzyLearn online MYOB Training Course you receive access to the courses for LIFE so they are always available to you as a resource, with case studies of various different business scenarios used in our training workbooks.

Bookkeeping Business Plan Built By a Registered BAS Agent

National Bookkeeping Business Plan Template

Do you want to start a bookkeeping business? Want to work to a plan that was built by an experienced bookkeeper? Does it all seem a bit daunting?

[quote]Jacci, our Registered BAS Agent has worked through the Small Business Management Course to create a Bookkeeping Business Plan for those who want to start their own bookkeeping business.[/quote]

This course not only gives you a well rounded education of the requirements to start and build a small business, but you will receive a business plan that you can tweak to suit your own circumstances as part of the course! Read more..

NEW! Start a Bookkeeping Business Without Buying Into a Franchise

Maggie Richardson’s Small Business Management Course is now online at EzyLearn BUT better than that we’ve combined it with a bookkeeping business plan (written by Jacci) as well as some legal templates, agreements and other training to help you get started with a bookkeeping business you can operate from your own home quickly.

When most people think of startups they think of technical wiz kids who create mobile phone apps, but our startup academy helps ordinary people start their own business as independent virtual assistants working from home in industries that are growing and with companies that can provide the support to help them get up to speed quickly and get great clients.

Want to learn more about starting a bookkeeping business?

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Congratulations to our new MYOB Bookkeeper graduates

MYOB Training Courses in Sydney, Melbourne, Perth, Adelaide, BrisbaneOur most recent MYOB Bookkeeper Training and Microsoft Excel Course graduates have just received their certificates and going through the records it was fantastic to see how many people we are able to help from all over Australia.

When we operated our Sydney training centres in Dee Why (near Brookvale), Gordon (near Chatswood), Parramatta and Burwood we noticed that students would travel a long way to come to our training centres. I won’t even get started about how they would have to try to find somewhere to park, with parking time limits etc etc.

In looking at our recent graduates it gives me a great feeling to know that we are teaching people all over Australia and New Zealand to use MYOB to help them find bookkeeping/accounting jobs or starting their own bookkeeping businesses. Here’s where some of our recent students live and what they said about the course:

Samantha from Agaston, South Australia

Agaston is near Nurioopta, Williamstown and Gawler

The fact that I could start and continue the course when I had the time. It was easy to understand and use.

Wendy from Surry Hills (Sydney), New South Wales

Surry Hills is near Paddington, Alexandria and Haymarket

I can study at my own time

Beverly from Butler, Western Australia

Butler is very North Perth, near Joondalup

Being able to learn at my own pace online.

Geoff from Epping, Victoria

Epping is surrounded by Bundoora, Campbellfield and Craigieburn

Learning more about short cuts and the really powerful nature and depth available in Excel, particularly in Course 303, was most enlightening and beneficial.
Really appreciate the learning at your own pace aspect and the lifetime course and excellent material content. Thank you so much for such an excellent course presented at an affordable price.

Anne-Maree from Sippy Downs, Queensland

Sippy Downs is near Buderim, Mooloolaba, Maroochydore and Caloundra, north of Brisbane

Nice short videos so you could take breaks and it wasn’t hard to find a certain video if you had to look back over something

Rebecca from Wodonga, Victoria

Wodonga is near Albury on the NSW and Victoria border

Easy to navigate around the site. I liked the short video presentations. If I was interuppted for whatever reason, you never missed too much and it was easy enough to replay.

Carmen from Ruse, New South Wales

Ruse is south west of Sydney, past Prestons and near Campbelltown and Narellan

The sort videos, easy to process and understand the information when presented this way.

 

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Want to take a peek at XERO, part owned by MYOB founder?

xero online accounting for remote bookkeepers dashboardI recently wrote about my discoveries of the preferred accounting software for local startup businesses in Sydney and wanted to share something that our resident BAS agent, certified bookkeeper and MYOB trainer has created for you. A training video about how to enter a payment for an invoice you create using Xero online accounting software.

If you are looking at starting your own bookkeeping business it is useful to learn more than just MYOB accounting software to widen your potential client base. It is also good to learn about an online accounting program that is growing very fast in user adoption, such as Xero. Why is Xero growing so fast? There are several reasons, but one simple reason is that you can access your accounting file from anywhere.

As you can see in the free Xero training video at the bottom of this blog, using online accounting software is just like using many other online services, you login and click, type, tab etc. One of the other great features that we have discovered from speaking with accountants and some IT professionals is that your accountant or your bookkeeper can use your accounting system at the same time as you do, without having to worry about sending a data file and wondering who has the most recent version of that data file.

One of the new great features of doing your MYOB training courses with EzyLearn is that you have 12 months free access to the Bookkeeping Academy, through which we will be releasing hundreds of bookkeeping training videos to help budding bookkeepers learn a wider range of software as well as develop new skills to help them find work or build their own business.

Feel free to let us know if you are a XERO user and share your experiences at our facebook page.

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Video: Reconcile your bank account to your MYOB datafile

We use this blog to provide some free samples of our training materials as well as inform readers about the features of our online MYOB and Microsoft Excel Training Courses. Today I am going to demonstrate the key features about performing a bank reconciliation using MYOB and how our EzyLearn ANSWER student support service helps bookkeeping students.

A bank reconciliation in MYOB is what brings your MYOB datafile back to reality. Your bank statement shows the truth about what money has gone into and out of your bank account and provides you with the blueprint you need to reconcile your MYOB accounting system. The video below demonstrates that once you have performed all your Day-to-Day Transactions a bank reconciliation makes sure that you have entered all the information you need to. At the end of a bank reconciliation your MYOB data is correct and you can start to run reports and get some great up-to-date information about your business.

MYOB releases new versions of their software most years and usually at the beginning of each new tax year to coincide with new PAYG tax tables and they are currently going through a race to the cloud to compete with many new startups like Xero, SAASU, Reach Accounting and FreshBooks. Some times these upgrades haven’t gone smoothly and students ask us how to perform actions in our training workbooks using MYOB. To help students in these scenarios we launch EzyLearn ANSWERS in May 2011 and this is one of the results we release via our blog. There are many other support blogs we’ve written so feel free to search our blog for answers.

If you have subscribed to our blog and are reading this via email, click on the heading to get to our website to see the free training video.

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Launch: Are you looking for bookkeeping work? We’ll help.

I recently wrote about how we are gearing up to help our MYOB Training Course students find bookkeeping work and today we are happy to announce the next stage in our project.

The career support professionals at Workface have created a form to collect all the data that a potential employer would need to know about you. Existing students can submit their details for free and begin the process of finding their next bookkeeping job.

If you are an EzyLearn student who has completed the MYOB training courses please submit your details to get started.

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Launch: Career Support Services for MYOB Certificate Students

Today we announce the official launch of our Student Career Support services. We have a new team member on board and her role is to help us provide extra support to help students find, apply for and get their next bookkeeping job.

When you enrol into our MYOB Bookkeeping Training Courses with the lifetime membership and certificate option you will now receive access to our Career Support Services for free. We’ll help you find bookkeeping jobs, prepare your resume and cover letters as well as follow-up letters and letters of recommendation for students who join our Bookkeeping Academy CPD program.

Not only will you learn new skills using Australia’s leading accounting software program, lifetime access to use the training material as your own personal resource and a Certificate, but we’ll help you refine your job seeking skills and tools to help you get your next bookkeeping job.

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Don’t oversell your MYOB bookkeeping skills

writing a resume for an MYOB bookkeeping jobI recently wrote about resumes and social media that is being used by people to help them find employment and I touched on the topic of Linkedin. Of all the social media tools available to you, LinkedIn might be the best to focus on because it has all the tools available in social media (like recommendations, professional profile and education and more) and it is focussed on people and their professional connections and careers.

Michelle Hammond wrote an interesting article for SmartStartup way back in 2010 about “over-used” phrases in resumes and here’s the key phrases from that article:

According to LinkedIn, the three most overused terms are “extensive experience”, “innovative” and “motivated”, followed by “results oriented”, “dynamic” and “proven track record”. Rounding out the list are “team player”, “fast paced”, “problem solver” and “entrepreneurial”.

This view is backed up by our own resident resume writing expert Nicholas, former CEO of a UK based head-hunter who confirmed that “overselling stands out a mile when you are the person having to go through hundreds of resumes for each position. What really makes a difference is when you go into a little detail about what changes you contributed in your last position or some other specific information that the resume reader can delve into and explore a little more. It’s got to be real because a conversation can often evolve from what you write”

If you are compiling a resume for your own job seeking efforts make sure you demonstrate some sound information about the evolving legislation around BAS agents and information about Continuing Professional Development (CPD) for bookkeeping professionals.

Make sure you subscribe to our blog to receive other job seeking tips and tricks in your email inbox. If you are interested in our online MYOB training courses, remember that you receive LIFETIME student access.

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The death of the resume

Social-Media and online MYOB Training coursesI was reading an article in SmartStartup by Brad Lindenburg just the other day where he writes about the “death of the resume” and thought that this would be an excellent place to begin a topic for EzyLearn online training students. 

We’ve written before about formatting resumes and how they are sometimes read by a machine, but the concept of them dying is a little silly. If you are a high-tech hirer you will be searching for potential employees blogs or Twitter conversations, but if you want to find someone to perform bookkeeping tasks for example you will most likely welcome a comprehensive resume demonstrating your training, skills and experience. Most students of our MYOB training courses have a written resume that they use to apply for positions.

What we have found is becoming more relevant to jobseekers is Linkedin. Although the major social media tools such as Facebook and Twitter are good tools to connect to people with, we’ve found that Linkedin is the place where professionals are often head-hunted because it shows you professional connections and gives high-level hirers a better idea of the circles you “connect with”.

Ultimately, which-ever medium you use the key skill you need is using the right keywords and this will remain the key ingredient until we all focus on the use of videos as resumes. The term resume is here to stay!

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Don’t be afraid, connect with the ATO via Business Portal

ATO Business Portal to lodge your BAS online using MYOBAre you still receiving your Business Activity Statements via mail? We receive our notification that the BAS is ready at the ATO’s Business Portal but the Business Portal is much more useful than just a way to deliver your BAS.

There are some great features of online tax lodgement:

  1. You can lodge your BAS immediately online
  2. You can see historical lodgements
  3. You can change your contact details

The most complicated part of dealing direct with the ATO is the setting up of a digital certificate, but once that is sorted out you have all the convenience that you have come to expect from your internet banking and any other online service. All the information is there, you don’t have to rely on the mail to send or receive your BAS and you know exactly where you stand. If you have missed a lodgement you’ll also find that information at the portal.

The website address for the portal is https://bp.ato.gov.au/ so check it out and get through your compliance issues faster.

MYOB GST, reporting and BAS training coursesOur MYOB Reporting, GST and BAS course (which includes bank reconciliation) shows you how to get to the BASlink to produce a BAS using the data that you have already entered into MYOB. If you have entered everything correctly you will just need to complete your contact name and number and how long it took to complete. Then you can print that form out and keep it in your records. The information you see in the totals can then simply be entered in the Business Portal and submitted to lodge your BAS and get your compliance tasks out of the way so you can focus on running your business.