£13,000 starting salary at small accounting firm in London - take it or leave it?

I finished university almost 4 months ago with a first class degree in Accounting and Finance.

I have applied to pretty much every accounting firm out there and have got rejected at some point in the recruitment process whether that was at the interview stage or the assessment centre. [Probably have applied to over 100 companies]. I'm a pretty positive person but I have been feeling down thinking about it.

I have got some experience having done some voluntary work at a solicitors office (about 6/7 months) and did do a couple of weeks work experience at an accounting firm but I have never had a paid job.

Now though, I have been offered an ACCA training contract at a small accounting firm in London. But the issue is they are only offering £13,000 which is pretty low having looked around even though my employer did say that it will increase once I get a grasp of the work (he didn't mention by how much but I assume not significantly since it is a small firm).

I have until Monday to decide and wanted to know what others thought.

Would you be living + renting in London? If so it'd be very difficult to live on that salary

I would never work for a salary so far below the standard for my profession. Aside from the personal lack of self-respect that I would derive from it, it only encourages people to continue trying to get away with paying qualified professionals insulting wages. You end up contributing to a lowering of the wage floor for everybody in your field.

Too low for London, unless you're prepared to live like a postgrad student in a shared house.

I agree that I would be pretty embarrassed to tell others my salary especially as I've worked so hard to get to where I am today. Saying that, they'll be many people out there who would take up the job if I am to reject it cause it is such a competitive field.

Personally i'd take it. Yes the salary might be a bit low and you might struggle towards the end of the month but think of it this way. Stick it out for 6 months to a year (and each month put some money aside into a savings account.) That way at the end of the year you have some savings to look for a new place and a years worth of experience under your belt. Whilst your working there you can be looking for new places to work and gaining experience at the same time.

Everyone has to start somewhere.

Well, that's probably true, but I'm still a believer in taking the high-ground rather than doing something you shouldn't simply because of the fact that if you don't, somebody else will.

I've got to be honest, I'm amazed that you could have a first class degree and still fail in over 100 applications. I don't mean this in an offensive way but maybe your focus should be on what you're doing wrong in your interviews/application processes? I'm not saying it's not a competitive field, I'm sure it is, but on paper (as a graduate with a 1st) you should already be ahead of a lot of other accounting/finance/economics graduates, so there must be something else.

Personally i'd take it. Yes the salary might be a bit low and you might struggle towards the end of the month but think of it this way. Stick it out for 6 months to a year (and each month put some money aside into a savings account.) That way at the end of the year you have some savings to look for a new place and a years worth of experience under your belt. Whilst your working there you can be looking for new places to work and gaining experience at the same time.

Everyone has to start somewhere.

I have been offered a room with another person at around £400 (all bills included). That'll leave me roughly £600 per a month to live on, not sure whether that'll be enough.