How is the current hiring environment? Why does it seem particularly difficult to transition out of audit, with many recruiters prioritising candidates who already have commercial experience?

The job market is awful right now. In general, roles are hard to land and career transitions are especially difficult. It’s a really tough time to be trying to make any kind of career change.

My firm is hiring and many of the staff are former auditors. Send me and email and I can put you in the recruiters’ system and send you a link to apply. Liz.forrest@yptc.com.

FYI- internal referrals take precedence over cold applications. We get over 20,000 resumes a year. And if a referral gets hired, we get a significant bonus. 🙂

I have personal data from both beginning of 2025 and end 2025/beg 2026. I started looking in Dec ‘24 and finally secured a role in April 2025. Audit manager at big4 with a year of manager experience at that point. Found that i was constantly being told they wanted someone with both big4 AND industry. But i was atleast getting interviews and usually making it to a final interview. When i started in big4, i was told you could go anywhere once you had a year as big4 manager under your belt. Recruiter i was working with agreed that that mentality was changing within industry at least during that point in time. I decided to take an IA manager role instead of continuing to try for SEC reporting manager or technical accounting manager roles which was what i originally wanted when starting my search. Move forward to fall ‘25, and i was laid off so back on the job market. I am seeing little to no IA or financial reporting manager roles so after a couple months, started looking at senior accountant roles since I know companies want some industry experience before becoming an accounting manager. Getting no initial interview/hiring screening and straight to rejection for most senior applications, and the one that i got interviews for, was told my background was too audit focused. Theres that and then im seeing more companies relying on a consulting arrangement instead of full time. Like they are on a hiring freeze and arent able to take on anything more than a contract basis worker.

Definitely tough out there but I just got a new job for the first time in 10 years! Just luck timing and networking.

It’s tougher to transition out of audit right now because many companies are focused on hitting targets quickly and want candidates who can contribute immediately, which often means looking for commercial experience. Does anyone think this focus on prior commercial experience is changing at all as the year progresses?

Recruiters looking for what hiring managers want. How do you think this works? You want a job and so does the 50 other people with more relevant experience. How's your soft skills? Can you win a congeniality contest? Gotta be the whole package. Good luck.

As someone who is trying to find another job now - I hear you... thinking my PA experience is a disadvantage with competition even if it opens doors for interviews. Good luck to both of us!