billing specialist Career Path | See the Career Paths People Really Take

clerk

senior accountant

accounts payable clerk

accounting assistant

sales analyst

advisor

business owner

crossing guard

human resources associate

sheet metal worker

pricing analyst

Accounting assistants support an accounting department by performing accounting activities, including processing and recording transactions, preparing reports and budgets, generating purchase orders,.  They also manage expense reports, expense reimbursements, and communications with clients, do bookkeeping, input records in the accounting system and ensure that financial records are current. Accounting assistants may also assist senior management with financial reporting, and management of the company's finances and auditing.

Accounting can expose you to unique businesses. Learn about the busy season and what a CPA license can do for you.

<h2><strong>Accounting Jobs</strong></h2><p>I'm an accountant for a family office. I started my career in public accounting. It does offer you a way to learn about different businesses and how they're run, which I thought was great at the start of my career.&nbsp;</p><p><br></p><h2><strong>Interesting Experiences</strong></h2><p>I've had to do an inventory count in a gigantic warehouse freezer and dress for sub-zero temperatures. I had to do an audit for a learning center with river otters.&nbsp;</p><p><br></p><h2><strong>Public Accounting Workload</strong></h2><p>Public accounting does have a busy season or multiple busy seasons. Usually from late January, early February to mid April, you will probably have to work longer hours, I'd say about 50 to 60 hours a week or six days a week. Most firms do offer overtime pay, so it is, they do make it worth your while when you're logging in the extra hours.&nbsp;</p><p><br></p><h2><strong>Accounting Requirements</strong></h2><p>Most public accounting firms want their accountants to pursue a CPA license. The CPA exams are a series of exams that are fairly difficult. They do require studying, so that's another thing to consider. So usually on top of&nbsp; your workload and the hours that you're logging in at work, you'll have to think about when you're going to study for this exam.&nbsp;</p><p><br></p><h2><strong>More Opportunity</strong></h2><p>Once you do get licensed, I do believe it does open a lot of doors. You could go to a private firm or work for a company depending on your interests and your experience.</p><p><br></p>

The Accounts Payable position provides financial, administrative and clerical support to the organization. Their role is to complete payments and control expenses  as well as process, verify and reconcile invoices. Their responsibilities are keeping track of all payments and expenditures, reconciling processed work by verifying entries, maintaining historical records, paying employees by verifying expense reports and preparing paychecks, paying vendors by scheduling paychecks, preparing analyses of accounts and producing monthly reports, and continuing to improve the payment process.

The Advisor helps students to develop realistic educational career plans through schedule planning.  Their role is to examine long range academic program schedules, assist students in planning a program consistent with their abilities and interests, and monitor student progress toward educational and career goals.  Their responsibilities are to meet with the advisee during orientation, discuss and provide the rationale for institutional policies, procedures and requirements, reinforce linkages and relationships between instructional programs and careers, follow up with the advisee on any report of unsatisfactory work, and approve all designated educational transactions.

The Billing Specialist maintains a record of all company invoices, and ensures that clients pay their accounts with the company.  Their role is to issue invoices to clients, update client accounts with new charges, document payments made or missed, and inform clients of their outstanding debt.  Their responsibilities are to receive and sort incoming payments, manage the status of accounts and balances, and issue bills, receipts and invoices.

billing specialist

The Business Owner operates their own companies. Their role is creating a business plan, arranging finances, hiring staff, reviewing sales, and developing marketing strategies.  Their responsibilities are overseeing daily activities, identifying business opportunities, establishing prices of goods and services, maintaining a clean and orderly store, resolving customer complaints, and compiling and maintaining records and bookkeeping.

Do you like working with your hands and pushing yourself? Check out what it's like to be a Painter and Independent Contractor. See what it takes to be your own boss, and if this role suits your lifestyle and skill set.

<h2 dir="ltr">What I do:</h2>
<p dir="ltr">I'm an independent contractor and I work in construction. I do both residential and commercial painting and that leads into both interior and exterior repaints and new construction. I don't have any employees, it's just me sometimes I sub out work.&nbsp;</p>
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<h2 dir="ltr">Career Skills:</h2>
<p dir="ltr">You have to be healthy, you know, there's a lot of times when you're up on a ladder, you push yourself to your limits a lot, you can work out that there's a lot of roof work sometimes. That having a willingness to learn new things is huge if you're not learning something new every day, you're doing it wrong.&nbsp;</p>
<h2 dir="ltr">Job Challenges:&nbsp;</h2>
<p dir="ltr">You really do push yourself to the limits a lot but I really like that challenge personally. That's one aspect that I really enjoy about my job is that I'm working with my hands and I'm physically pushing myself every day.&nbsp;</p>
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<h2 dir="ltr">Work Life Balance:</h2>
<p dir="ltr">Sometimes my work to life balance is pretty sporadic. Most of the time there's not much life balance if you would. When you are working alone and you're on a kind of a larger project it comes time to get that done and you're going to work the weekends, you're going to work late, when you're outside, you're in the sun all day, you're going to come home tired and you're not going to want to do anything, at least for me that's that's the case.&nbsp;</p>
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<h2 dir="ltr">Tips for Starting Your Own Business:</h2>
<p dir="ltr">Be determined, have goals and plans and work towards them every single day. Find good construction companies to get in with and they're gonna help you throughout your entire career.</p>

The Clerk performs clerical and administrative duties for a company.  Their role is answering the telephone, typing documents, liaising with clients, maintaining filing, database systems and inventories, and welcoming clients.  Their responsibilities are to transcribe, record, fax and file documents, communicate with clients and employees, operate office equipment like  photocopiers and fax machines, respond to queries or complaints, sort and forward incoming mail and emails, prepare and send outgoing mail, prepare meeting rooms, and disseminate information to office staff.

If you are just starting out or looking to switch careers, working in an office environment may be your ticket. Can you communicate effectively and enjoy people? Advancement opportunities may be in your future.

<h2>Office / Administrative Support Education</h2><p>Technically you don't need a degree to get into this field. This is a great career for anybody just getting started or anybody who has been in another career and wants a good career change. A degree can definitely help you in this career especially if the position is asking for management and this will help you especially if you want to supervise or if the position allows you to supervise others.</p><p><br></p><h2>Skills</h2><p>It takes just somebody who is <strong>willing to learn</strong> who's a good <strong>people person </strong>and somebody who just really likes to <strong>help others</strong>. Being able to <strong>adapt</strong> is a very important skill in this position. Your company that you'd be maybe working with may change their needs. <strong>Technology </strong>is always changing to be able to adapt and to <strong>grow</strong> with that is very important depending on your company. Strong <strong>excel skills</strong>. Being able to have strong <strong>communication skills</strong> is going to be key to be able to work with and communicate with your managers, your customers, internal and external.&nbsp;</p><p><br></p><h2>Role Pro</h2><p>One big pro of this is you can work in an in-person setting, hybrid or remote.&nbsp;</p><p><br></p><h2>Role Advancement</h2><p>In my current company that I work for I started as an admin assistant and I developed this position to be more of a management position. I've taken that to managing people and now actually taking over onboarding and doing more HR role, payroll.</p><p><br></p><h2>Role Challenges</h2><p>A Con can be that you can be working under a lot of pressure with a lot of competing demands especially if the company has a lot of internal and external customers. This career is definitely customer service related so if you don't like working with people I do not recommend it.</p><p><br></p>

A crossing guard is a person employed to help pedestrians safely cross streets, usually at intersections and school crossings. They are responsible for stopping traffic as needed, making sure all pedestrians have crossed the street before allowing vehicles to continue moving, and providing directions or other assistance if necessary. Crossing guards must be alert and attentive to their surroundings at all times in order to keep everyone safe.

A human resources associate's duties require a wide range of support activities inside HR administration, from coordinating meetings to managing employee database and posting job ads. Their responsibilities are to assist with everyday HR functions and services, give clerical and administrative support to human resource executives, compile and update employee records, process documentation and prepare reports related to personal activities, coordinate human resource projects, and take meetings, training, survey, and conduct an initial orientation to newly hired employees.

Do you want to work in Business? Human Resources is a window into how businesses operate. Learn the reality of what HR is really about. 

<h2>Why I Choose Human Resources (HR)</h2><p>I really wanted to work with people but also wanted to be in business because I thought I could still help while making a lot of money.</p><p><br></p><h2>My Educational Path</h2><p>I had a business major and did a concentration within that major in human resources and then also ended up doing a minor in psychology which also really helped and translated well into the HR work.&nbsp;</p><p><br></p><h2>How Businesses Operate</h2><p>If you're interested in business in general it's a really great place to be because you really get to see how staffing works, how people make decisions around staffing for a new product or whatever and it can really give you exposure to various different aspects of the company.&nbsp;</p><p><br></p><h2>Human Resource Responsibilities</h2><p>So if you're an HR manager you're handling everything from managing people's time off to benefits to staffing, possibly recruiting and maybe you're an HR business partner where you're part of the business and helping make business decisions.&nbsp;</p><p><br></p><h2>Reality of Human Resources</h2><p>Human Resources is about helping employees but with the bottom line it really is about helping the business succeed and stay profitable and so sometimes you know you're having to put the business needs ahead of what might be nice to do for others as employees and that can be a struggle sometimes for some.&nbsp;</p><p><br></p><h2>Tips for Getting into Human Resources</h2><p>If you find that you're interested early enough even getting an internship while you're in high school or an undergraduate can really give you a lot of exposure to all the different facets of HR and then also kind of get you in at a company early.</p>

A Pricing Analyst assists businesses to determine competitive pricing strategies in order to achieve revenue goals.  Their role is to analyze data from multiple sources, develop complex pricing models, and collaborate with sales and marketing teams to develop sales strategies.  Their responsibilities are analyzing competitor pricing and market trends, tracking customer engagement to develop effective pricing strategies for products and offerings, apply statistical modeling methods to determine the potential impact of pricing strategies on profitability, forecasting revenue and market share based on market trends, production costs, profit margins, and sales volumes, developing dynamic pricing tools to effectively respond to changing market needs and trends, preparing and presenting pricing analysis findings to executives, marketing teams, and sales staff, and keeping informed on pricing analysis methods and industry trends.

Sales analysts study and identify sales trends by analyzing data both from internal sources as well as industry data. This involves creating sales models they use to input their collected data to produce informative reporting to the sales and management team.  They are also looked to for creating reports and providing recommendations from their analyses.

Senior accountants oversee the management and reporting of financial data of an organization focusing on the accuracy of the financial statements in accordance with accepted accounting principles. Senior accountants are tasked with preparing, examining and analyzing a company's financial records to ensure all financial obligations are properly reported.

A Sheet Metal Worker is a skilled tradesperson who specializes in fabricating, assembling and installing products made from sheet metal. Sheet Metal Workers use specialized tools to cut, bend and form the metal into different shapes for various projects and applications. They must have an understanding of mathematics, be able to read blueprints, diagrams and other technical drawings as well as possess strong problem-solving skills. In addition to these skills, they may also need welding experience in order to join pieces together or create stronger connections between parts. The primary responsibilities of a Sheet Metal Worker include measuring material accurately for cutting purposes; performing calculations related to bending processes; forming components by hand or through machine operations; soldering seams; setting up equipment for fabrication jobs; inspecting finished products for accuracy; following safety guidelines when operating machinery and tools; and keeping work areas clean at all times.

Discover what it's really like to work in a challenging yet rewarding trade! Hear firsthand from a professional about the benefits, the hard work, and the sense of pride that comes with the job.

<h2>Pos and Cons of Being a Sheet Metal Worker</h2><p>The benefits are great. The pay is great. And the retirement is also good. Great place to excel. If you want to advance in a company, get out there and be a foreman. Be a site foreman or a general foreman on the job site. The cons are, well, it's very strenuous work. You’ve got to make sure you're fit at all times. Don't come in sick or injured from the previous day. You can let them know, but you’ve got to get a lot of rest.</p><h2><br></h2><h2>Requirements</h2><p>You’ve got to have a high school diploma. You’ve got to be able to do math. So to get in, you’ve got to pass the test. There's a test, and you’ve got to get at least 75% correct on the math test.&nbsp;</p><h2><br></h2><h2>Average Day</h2><p>On an average day, you start at six, and it's offloading trucks with material that's coming in. Or they’ve got you installing ductwork. Mostly what I was doing was commercial work, like hospitals, big buildings, and elevator shafts, stuff like that. Everything we make is fabricated in the shop, but if we can fabricate things in the field, that's even better for us. It makes you look good as an individual. We can get the job done. For me, there's a lot of pride. In San Francisco, there were buildings right next to the Bay Bridge that we worked on, and people were paying millions for them. I’d sit there eating lunch, thinking I’d better enjoy the view because people are paying millions for it, and I’m getting paid to enjoy it for free.</p><h2><br></h2><h2>Tips for Getting Into a Trade</h2><p>If you don’t have any other skills and you’re trying to gain one, go to trade school. There’s plumbing, electrical work, sheet metal, and a lot of trades. Anybody can get in. If you’re willing to work hard and bust your behind, then it’s there for you.&nbsp;</p><h2><br></h2><h2>Career Advice</h2><p>Take the challenges. If they give you a challenge that you can't do, say, "I’m not great at it, but I’ll give it a good shot." As long as you try, they’re willing to work with you. Don’t say no. Just say, "I’ll give it a shot."</p><p><br></p><p><br></p>

Billing Specialist Career Path