Interview skills and CV writing for Chartered Accountant trainees

We recently hosted a webinar, Interview Skills and CV Writing, aimed at second and third year SAICA trainees on the cusp of entering the job market. The webinar was hosted by Blue Recruiting founder, Graeme Marais, together with Kristin Graaff, one of Blue Recruiting’s experienced recruitment consultants. The webinar covered the current job market for CAs, how to write a great CV and interview skills that will put you leagues ahead of your competition. If you missed it, you can watch the full recording below.

There have been growing concerns of a recession in the United Kingdom (UK) and United States (US) in the past few months. This has resulted in a drop-off in the number of international candidates that have been employed into the UK, Netherlands, and the US this year. We estimate this decline to be as much as 20–30% in comparison to last years numbers. As a consequence, the local job market is likely to become extremely competitive.

With this in mind, Blue Recruiting has developed an online CA platform to help newly qualified and soon-to-be qualified CAs find jobs in South Africa. This platform, called CAs Online, will be a marketplace where CAs can create a profile, and upload a video of themselves to showcase their skills and personality. Employers will then be able to search for, filter, and watch these summary videos and immediately get a sense of each candidate. CAs Online will be available from the end of September 2024. Look out for further communication about this in the next few weeks!

Blue Recruiting is not your typical recruitment firm. There are three things that make us different:

1. We’re a relationship-focused recruitment business. This means we value our relationships with candidates and employers above all else.

2. We have a narrow focus with deep expertise in sourcing the best candidates in finance and data services.

3. We’re a technology-centred business, which means we aim to be the most innovative recruitment firm and use technology to improve the efficiency and overall experience of our services.

Graeme Marais is a Chartered Accountant that has been through the process of completing articles and entering the local job market. It was his experience coming out of articles that ultimately lead him to establishing a recruitment firm initially dedicated entirely to sourcing and placing Chartered Accountants. Over the last 10 years, Blue Recruiting has broadened its scope to also include data services and has also branched out into the international market.

The saying, “You don’t find recruitment, recruitment finds you” couldn’t be more true than in Kristin’s case. But she is glad it did. Kristin has been with Blue Recruiting since 2021 and has been building relationships with both clients and candidates ever since. Kristin deals first hand with hundreds of candidate CVs and engages with clients on a daily basis. She enjoys imparting the knowledge and experience she has gained over the years with newly qualified CAs to prepare them for the next step in their  journey.

Looking for opportunities in finance or data services in South Africa or abroad?

View our job search page for available opportunities or contact us to chat to one of our experienced recruitment consultants.