Can you help me choose between working in accounting or HR?

[Thisismynewname23]

i will try and keep this brief basically I’ve been in my current role for a long time I’m 48, I’m looking at retraining using skills from my job which is really broad I basically work in the office for a manufacturing company and I do all the daily accounts, vat returns, payroll and anything HR. I qualified as a legal exec along the way but I may have to leave my current role as we are possibly relocating in a year or 2, I’ve got really broad experience but I worry this won’t translate when looking for work. I’ve been looking at doing a course to gain a qualification and more formal experience in either the accounting side so AAT or HR so CIPD level 5.

Does anyone who works in either know if either course would make me more employable? Or have better prospects at all?

I know at nearly 50 I will possibly struggle to find work in some companies, mine hires mainly people my age and older but I know not all will do.

Especially if we relocate I would want to work to help myself meet people and settle in.

Any advice would be really appreciated, thank you so much!

I don't work in either but I hear lots of speculation about what roles will be hit by the rise of AI and accountancy always comes up. HR will probably continue to require some human input - particularly managing the letting go of all the people replaced by AI.

Your experience lends well to AAT. I think it's harder than it was to find work. But you have some good experience there so probably not a problem. I'm AAT and work in the public sector. We aren't being replaced by AI. It's all too complicated and needs human input. Do you like people or are you more of an introvert? I would think HR has more human interaction. My job does have a few meetings a week and I chat to colleagues, but largely I'm number crunching on my own. I like that but not everyone would.

Thank you so much for the reply, I do like people but I really enjoy things being ordered and organised to keep on top of all of the financial side of things I really enjoy costing new projects and products, I thought AAT might expand my knowledge that I’ve picked up along the way of the job and also give me more confidence that o actually know what I’m doing, it’s good to hear that there will likely still be jobs. I would love to find a new role I’ve been here for so long that I don’t feel o can progress and it almost knocks my confidence as it’s so comfortable. The HR side I enjoy things like doing risk assessments, I help with contracted recruit snd particularly when we get seasonal staff they tend to be short term but younger o have to manage them quite a lot increasingly so since covid they really struggle to work with each other, the rest of the year there are 31 of us and we all just get in with our jobs with little input so I don’t have to do as much of that side of things. I do get sent to do courses or webinars to make sure the owners stay up to date with any new rules and I find that very interesting but the accounts side I do more day to day.

Thank you that’s something I need to consider x

I would stick with accounting. Businesses of all sizes need accounts work doing, but HR is needed only in larger firms or it gets bought in for a few hours.

Coming from HR perspective here. If you work for a small organisation you do have to be a bit of a one man band (even if there is a HR team). You may have to bring in consultants for difficult issues, there is always employment law stuff to keep on top of. If you work for a large organisation you can end up specialising in a particular area and there are many different aspects to HR.

If you like a bit of cut and thrust, unpredictability and variety then an HR role in a small organisation might be more suitable. If you want a role that's a little more predictable and feels more stable then a HR role in a large organisation may suit. If looking at a specialist role then I'd think about what sort of HR role you'd enjoy.

The roles typically advertised are ones that deal with with employee relations stuff (redundancies, grievances, disciplinary cases and performance). You may prefer recruitment, or something like workforce analytics, if you're more comfortable with spreadsheets. Then there's also learning and development, and specialist areas like job evaluation if you like risk assessments this might suit, as might specialising in workforce health, safety and wellbeing.

How about moving into something like audit? More varied than just accounting

Thank you so much

Thank you so much, I would like to move to a larger company next time if I can x

I hadn’t thought of this I will look into it, thank you!

Thank you everyone for your help I have an appointment at the local college to
go and speak to them about AAT and on another afternoon the tutor for the CIPD. I’m leaning towards the AAT at the moment which would be far more affordable fee wise, thank you for your help x