Where to Find Accounting Jobs in 2026 (hidden strategies)

0:00The accounting job market is pretty ruthless and standing out nowadays is harder than ever. With a lot of firms cutting back on entry-level hiring, how do you actually find a role nowadays? Well, about 5 years ago, I was in this exact same boat. I was working a job in sales at the time and knew I wanted to transition into accounting. I was applying for dozens of different jobs and to be honest, receiving a lot of rejection. And this was back when the job market was actually pretty good. It wasn't until I started looking for roles in more of the hidden and less saturated places where I started to see a bit more

0:36success and had some offers come in. Fast forward to today and I'm a fully qualified chartered accountant working here in central London. So, in this video, I'm going to show you where you can actually find accounting roles. Some of the places that are less well-known or less used or even completely overlooked. I won't spend too long on each area, just give you some ideas,

0:57give you some hints of what to be doing. And perhaps in a future video, if this gets enough interest, I'll do a deep dive into each particular method. Before we dive into the video, be sure to subscribe and join the Future Proof Accountant newsletter linked in the description below where I discuss all things accounting. So, how do most people look for accounting roles? Well, if I look back to when I was just getting started, it was literally just a search on Google, accounting roles in London, and I'd look at the first few links, most likely to Indeed or Reed or one of those sort of job board websites,

1:33and I'd just start applying, hammering out my CV. Now, the problem here is a lot of people are doing this exact same thing, and you're competing with literally hundreds or even thousands of people for each job that comes up. It's not to say it's a bad strategy because it definitely works, but there are definitely more targeted and better ways you can approach your job search. The first one is recruitment agencies. Now, a lot of people may think, well, Callum, I don't really want to go down the recruitment path. I don't want to work with a recruiter. But in truth, a lot of firms use recruiters to filter out their

2:09candidates and even find candidates before they actually put the job out for general advertising. I've secured two different roles through recruiters and they do a lot of the heavy lifting for you without you having to pay anything. It's actually how I found my first role in accounting using a accounting specialist recruiter in London. Recruiters often know about the roles before the firms publicly advertise them. So, it's a huge advantage. If you're serious about finding a role, it's worth networking and speaking with a few different recruiters, in particular, ones that specialize in accounting roles. Even if they don't have a lot going on at the moment, building up that relationship and

2:49saying, "Reach out to me if anything does come up," can pay some dividends later down the line. Next up, we'll look at LinkedIn because this is a very powerful tool when it comes to finding a role. And it's not just about the job roles that you see advertised directly on LinkedIn, but it's about connecting with hiring managers and seeing what they post. A lot of the large firms have their own hiring managers who post roles on LinkedIn. Again, often before they go up on the job boards or even the company website. It's done to spark a bit of interest. And usually these hiring managers have a network of people that

3:26they've connected with or tried to headhunt that they obviously want to promote these roles to. So if you can get in there, connect with some hiring managers, you're going to start seeing these roles pop up in your feed. Now, this is where having a strong profile plays a huge part. If your LinkedIn is pretty bare with no profile picture or any information about you, this strategy may not work very well. But if you can just briefly populate it with a profile picture, add in your background and experience, put in some skills, and start connecting with some people so you look like a real person, that brand is

4:01going to start paying dividends. You can then connect directly with these hiring managers. Send them a polite message to say you're interested in roles at their firm. Say a bit about your experience and what you can offer. and just ask if they can even get on a call or say if there's any roles then you'd be interested in finding out a bit about them. It gets your face and your name out there and shows you're actually

4:24pretty eager and keen to join the firm. So definitely get yourself on LinkedIn. Third, we've got company career pages. Now, strangely, a lot of people overlook this as well, but a lot of the large firms have a area for careers in particular, and they'll advertise everything that they're hiring for, but they'll even say if you are keen to join the firm, but you can't see a role, send your CV in, and we'll get in touch with any roles that are going to be up in the future. So, this is your chance to get in and your chance to get yourself out there. When I was getting started, I

4:59made a list of 50 or so accounting firms that I was interested in working for. And then I checked the company website in a little spreadsheet just marked when I'd applied, if there's any rolls up or if I'd sent in a CV. And I check this regularly and just make sure I was on

5:16top of any roles that may come up. Applying directly through the website will mean a bit less competition and should hopefully let you stand out just a little bit. The next area you can find accounting roles is using your direct network. Now, you may think, well, I don't have a network. I don't know anyone, so how is this going to work for me? Well, this isn't about having powerful connections and you know your dad or mom that works in accounting

5:39already that can give you a foot in. It's about thinking about maybe people you've studied with at university who perhaps they know a family friend that is an accountant and they can make an introduction to you or maybe managers from previous roles that might know someone involved in a firm that you want to get interested in. There's no harm in saying to friends and family that you're interested in roles and if you know anyone that might be able to lend you an

6:04introductory hand to get in touch. Again, I appreciate not everyone can do this. Not everyone has that access, but if you do, it's definitely a good thing to tap into. And again, this may give you access to roles before they are publicly announced. Sometimes firms even ask internally if anyone knows a suitable candidate for a position. So, friends of friends, people you've met at school or university that you know are in accounting. These are all good people to have in your network. The next place I'd go is accounting professional bodies. The ICAW in the UK here have a job list for traininee roles on their website that are firms who offer the ACA

6:45qualification and training contracts. I know the ACCA has one as well and I imagine some of the other institutes do too. So, I'd make sure to scan these websites, these accounting professional bodies, and see what roles are advertised directly on them because again, this is something not a lot of people use if they want to break into accounting. And a key advantage here is, you know, these places will be offering a professional qualification, which if you've been watching the channel for a while now, you know, I push heavily and strongly recommend anyone in accounting pursues one. So, the key takeaway here is if you're looking for an accounting

7:24role, don't just rely on one method, but make sure you sprinkle in a bit of all of these that I've spoke about today. The more channels you use, the more opportunities you are going to come across. If you're interested in building a career and breaking into accounting, be sure to subscribe to the channel and I'll see you in the next