I'm trying to make a major career change. I'm 41 years old and have suffered long enough. I dropped out of college many years ago and have been working either in food service jobs, or temp agency jobs. I don't want to go back to school at the moment for various reasons, although I might in the future. I want to start off as an entry level bookkeeper, doing menial tasks, and then gradually get more certifications or take more classes over time.
What I'm trying to do right now is get some kind of certification that proves I know how to do double-entry bookkeeping, which would be convincing enough that someone would hire me with no previous job experience in bookkeeping. I have plenty of data entry experience from my temp jobs, just not bookkeeping in particular. I am only seeking to do the lowest of the low bookkeeping and data entry tasks, nothing high paying, just entry level, the yucky repetitive tasks that will waste an accountant's time as they need to be doing more important things that only an accountant can do.
I learned it from the Schaum's Outline of Bookkeeping and Accounting. I can actually do it and understand it, although I need to refresh my skills. I cannot do a long-term class or go to school in any way at the moment; however, I am able to do something much smaller and cheaper, something less than a few hundred dollars - for instance, I would be able to get a QuickBooks certification. Whatever it is, it has to be something relatively cheap that can be done in only a few months.
So my question is, which certifications or tests would you want a zero-experience bookkeeper to do in order to prove that they really are able to do the job? Imagine you're feeling really generous and helpful and you're not going to just slam the door in this person's face because they have no job experience... Whatever tests these are, their results are convincing enough that you will believe this person can really do it. Any suggestions?
What I'm trying to do right now is get some kind of certification that proves I know how to do double-entry bookkeeping, which would be convincing enough that someone would hire me with no previous job experience in bookkeeping. I have plenty of data entry experience from my temp jobs, just not bookkeeping in particular. I am only seeking to do the lowest of the low bookkeeping and data entry tasks, nothing high paying, just entry level, the yucky repetitive tasks that will waste an accountant's time as they need to be doing more important things that only an accountant can do.
I learned it from the Schaum's Outline of Bookkeeping and Accounting. I can actually do it and understand it, although I need to refresh my skills. I cannot do a long-term class or go to school in any way at the moment; however, I am able to do something much smaller and cheaper, something less than a few hundred dollars - for instance, I would be able to get a QuickBooks certification. Whatever it is, it has to be something relatively cheap that can be done in only a few months.
So my question is, which certifications or tests would you want a zero-experience bookkeeper to do in order to prove that they really are able to do the job? Imagine you're feeling really generous and helpful and you're not going to just slam the door in this person's face because they have no job experience... Whatever tests these are, their results are convincing enough that you will believe this person can really do it. Any suggestions?