Accounting as a Career

Off Topic
41

[quote]Surly Duff wrote:
countingbeans wrote:
james28 wrote:
Quick question, for those who know people in the profession or are accoutants, do employers hire people with online accounting degrees? I know a few people who are doing this but, believe it might not work out. I have known people hired with online psych/english degrees but those are liberal arts degrees.

Ah, we wouldn’t without a referral from an existing employee or unless you are at the career fair/involved in career services.

We recruit at schools. If you interview well enough, and physically can be part of the career day/fair/career services, it shouldn’t matter if you took classes online or not. We honestly wouldn’t know, if you didn’t tell us.

Since you’re on the recruiting end (or have been), what advice would you give to graduates who didn’t get a position during fall recruiting? Should they simply apply to the firm in the summer, or wait again until the next recruiting events?

[/quote]

Why didn’t you get a position? Big firms are still hiring (I’m not even big 4 and my office alone has 14 first year associates starting next fall). If you didn’t get hired because you didn’t interview, go through the process next year. If you didn’t get hired because you have shitty grades/no experience/no extracurriculars/don’t interview well, nothing will change that going into the next interview season. Try getting a job with a smaller firm with lower standards or possibly a private tax practice. In the meantime, depending on the requirements of your state, you can start taking (and passing) exams which will boost your resume and make you more marketable.

42

R you guys taking about the Big 4 accounting firms or internal company accounting?

43

[quote]Gettnitdone wrote:
R you guys taking about the Big 4 accounting firms or internal company accounting?[/quote]

I’m not exactly sure what you’re asking, but I’d recommend going into public accounting (either big 4 or smaller firm, I work for the unofficial 5th biggest - best of both worlds, baby!) for at least a couple years before going into the private sector (internal company accounting, as you put it). Having those years (preferrably 3-5 years) shines on your resume and makes you more marketable.

44

[quote]LankyMofo wrote:
Gettnitdone wrote:
R you guys taking about the Big 4 accounting firms or internal company accounting?

I’m not exactly sure what you’re asking, but I’d recommend going into public accounting (either big 4 or smaller firm, I work for the unofficial 5th biggest - best of both worlds, baby!) for at least a couple years before going into the private sector (internal company accounting, as you put it). Having those years (preferrably 3-5 years) shines on your resume and makes you more marketable.[/quote]

Agreed. People pop boners when they see someone that went through a couple seasons and survived.

45

[quote]LankyMofo wrote:
Surly Duff wrote:
countingbeans wrote:
james28 wrote:
Quick question, for those who know people in the profession or are accoutants, do employers hire people with online accounting degrees? I know a few people who are doing this but, believe it might not work out. I have known people hired with online psych/english degrees but those are liberal arts degrees.

Ah, we wouldn’t without a referral from an existing employee or unless you are at the career fair/involved in career services.

We recruit at schools. If you interview well enough, and physically can be part of the career day/fair/career services, it shouldn’t matter if you took classes online or not. We honestly wouldn’t know, if you didn’t tell us.

Since you’re on the recruiting end (or have been), what advice would you give to graduates who didn’t get a position during fall recruiting? Should they simply apply to the firm in the summer, or wait again until the next recruiting events?

Why didn’t you get a position? Big firms are still hiring (I’m not even big 4 and my office alone has 14 first year associates starting next fall). If you didn’t get hired because you didn’t interview, go through the process next year. If you didn’t get hired because you have shitty grades/no experience/no extracurriculars/don’t interview well, nothing will change that going into the next interview season. Try getting a job with a smaller firm with lower standards or possibly a private tax practice. In the meantime, depending on the requirements of your state, you can start taking (and passing) exams which will boost your resume and make you more marketable.
[/quote]

I really don’t know why I didn’t even get called for at least 1 interview. Over the summer, I just finished my second coop term with a CA firm (I’m Canadian), and decided to go through recruiting in the fall. I’ve been told that I come across fairly professional, mature, and have held other jobs with considerable responsibility. GPA is 3.2, some extra curricular activities (bringing those up now, and next semester).

The poor economy is affecting hiring here too, but I didn’t think it would be this bad.

I’m asking you guys to get some unbiased advice, and because I’m assuming that hiring methods and standards would be fairly similar across firms.

46

[quote]Surly Duff wrote:
LankyMofo wrote:
Surly Duff wrote:
countingbeans wrote:
james28 wrote:
Quick question, for those who know people in the profession or are accoutants, do employers hire people with online accounting degrees? I know a few people who are doing this but, believe it might not work out. I have known people hired with online psych/english degrees but those are liberal arts degrees.

Ah, we wouldn’t without a referral from an existing employee or unless you are at the career fair/involved in career services.

We recruit at schools. If you interview well enough, and physically can be part of the career day/fair/career services, it shouldn’t matter if you took classes online or not. We honestly wouldn’t know, if you didn’t tell us.

Since you’re on the recruiting end (or have been), what advice would you give to graduates who didn’t get a position during fall recruiting? Should they simply apply to the firm in the summer, or wait again until the next recruiting events?

Why didn’t you get a position? Big firms are still hiring (I’m not even big 4 and my office alone has 14 first year associates starting next fall). If you didn’t get hired because you didn’t interview, go through the process next year. If you didn’t get hired because you have shitty grades/no experience/no extracurriculars/don’t interview well, nothing will change that going into the next interview season. Try getting a job with a smaller firm with lower standards or possibly a private tax practice. In the meantime, depending on the requirements of your state, you can start taking (and passing) exams which will boost your resume and make you more marketable.

I really don’t know why I didn’t even get called for at least 1 interview. Over the summer, I just finished my second coop term with a CA firm (I’m Canadian), and decided to go through recruiting in the fall. I’ve been told that I come across fairly professional, mature, and have held other jobs with considerable responsibility. GPA is 3.2, some extra curricular activities (bringing those up now, and next semester).

The poor economy is affecting hiring here too, but I didn’t think it would be this bad.

I’m asking you guys to get some unbiased advice, and because I’m assuming that hiring methods and standards would be fairly similar across firms.[/quote]

2 questions come to mind:

Why didn’t you get an offer from either place you intern’ed?

and

Does you resume look like a clusterfuck of shit? (Get it under one page, and don’t blow yourself, be honest. Typos and misspellings get passed around and openly laughed at.)

47

[quote]Surly Duff wrote:
LankyMofo wrote:
Surly Duff wrote:
countingbeans wrote:
james28 wrote:
Quick question, for those who know people in the profession or are accoutants, do employers hire people with online accounting degrees? I know a few people who are doing this but, believe it might not work out. I have known people hired with online psych/english degrees but those are liberal arts degrees.

Ah, we wouldn’t without a referral from an existing employee or unless you are at the career fair/involved in career services.

We recruit at schools. If you interview well enough, and physically can be part of the career day/fair/career services, it shouldn’t matter if you took classes online or not. We honestly wouldn’t know, if you didn’t tell us.

Since you’re on the recruiting end (or have been), what advice would you give to graduates who didn’t get a position during fall recruiting? Should they simply apply to the firm in the summer, or wait again until the next recruiting events?

Why didn’t you get a position? Big firms are still hiring (I’m not even big 4 and my office alone has 14 first year associates starting next fall). If you didn’t get hired because you didn’t interview, go through the process next year. If you didn’t get hired because you have shitty grades/no experience/no extracurriculars/don’t interview well, nothing will change that going into the next interview season. Try getting a job with a smaller firm with lower standards or possibly a private tax practice. In the meantime, depending on the requirements of your state, you can start taking (and passing) exams which will boost your resume and make you more marketable.

I really don’t know why I didn’t even get called for at least 1 interview. Over the summer, I just finished my second coop term with a CA firm (I’m Canadian), and decided to go through recruiting in the fall. I’ve been told that I come across fairly professional, mature, and have held other jobs with considerable responsibility. GPA is 3.2, some extra curricular activities (bringing those up now, and next semester).

The poor economy is affecting hiring here too, but I didn’t think it would be this bad.

I’m asking you guys to get some unbiased advice, and because I’m assuming that hiring methods and standards would be fairly similar across firms.[/quote]

Are other accounting majors that you know getting interviews? If they are, it’s probably a problem with your resume (your school probably has a department that can help you with this). If they’re not getting interviews, it’s probably just the economy and you’re shit out of luck.

As an aside, when my firm hires someone as an intern or co-op, at the end of the term they usually offer them a full time position for when they graduate if they thought the person performed well enough to warrant the offer. If you didn’t receive such an offer, check to see if this is customary in Canada or not.

48

[quote]countingbeans wrote:
Surly Duff wrote:
LankyMofo wrote:
Surly Duff wrote:
countingbeans wrote:
james28 wrote:
Quick question, for those who know people in the profession or are accoutants, do employers hire people with online accounting degrees? I know a few people who are doing this but, believe it might not work out. I have known people hired with online psych/english degrees but those are liberal arts degrees.

Ah, we wouldn’t without a referral from an existing employee or unless you are at the career fair/involved in career services.

We recruit at schools. If you interview well enough, and physically can be part of the career day/fair/career services, it shouldn’t matter if you took classes online or not. We honestly wouldn’t know, if you didn’t tell us.

Since you’re on the recruiting end (or have been), what advice would you give to graduates who didn’t get a position during fall recruiting? Should they simply apply to the firm in the summer, or wait again until the next recruiting events?

Why didn’t you get a position? Big firms are still hiring (I’m not even big 4 and my office alone has 14 first year associates starting next fall). If you didn’t get hired because you didn’t interview, go through the process next year. If you didn’t get hired because you have shitty grades/no experience/no extracurriculars/don’t interview well, nothing will change that going into the next interview season. Try getting a job with a smaller firm with lower standards or possibly a private tax practice. In the meantime, depending on the requirements of your state, you can start taking (and passing) exams which will boost your resume and make you more marketable.

I really don’t know why I didn’t even get called for at least 1 interview. Over the summer, I just finished my second coop term with a CA firm (I’m Canadian), and decided to go through recruiting in the fall. I’ve been told that I come across fairly professional, mature, and have held other jobs with considerable responsibility. GPA is 3.2, some extra curricular activities (bringing those up now, and next semester).

The poor economy is affecting hiring here too, but I didn’t think it would be this bad.

I’m asking you guys to get some unbiased advice, and because I’m assuming that hiring methods and standards would be fairly similar across firms.

2 questions come to mind:

Why didn’t you get an offer from either place you intern’ed?

and

Does you resume look like a clusterfuck of shit? (Get it under one page, and don’t blow yourself, be honest. Typos and misspellings get passed around and openly laughed at.)
[/quote]

Shit, man! Stealing my thunder!

49

[quote]LankyMofo wrote:

Shit, man! Stealing my thunder![/quote]

LOL, you answer is slightly more informative though. But the same

50

[quote]LankyMofo wrote:
Surly Duff wrote:
LankyMofo wrote:
Surly Duff wrote:
countingbeans wrote:
james28 wrote:
Quick question, for those who know people in the profession or are accoutants, do employers hire people with online accounting degrees? I know a few people who are doing this but, believe it might not work out. I have known people hired with online psych/english degrees but those are liberal arts degrees.

Ah, we wouldn’t without a referral from an existing employee or unless you are at the career fair/involved in career services.

We recruit at schools. If you interview well enough, and physically can be part of the career day/fair/career services, it shouldn’t matter if you took classes online or not. We honestly wouldn’t know, if you didn’t tell us.

Since you’re on the recruiting end (or have been), what advice would you give to graduates who didn’t get a position during fall recruiting? Should they simply apply to the firm in the summer, or wait again until the next recruiting events?

Why didn’t you get a position? Big firms are still hiring (I’m not even big 4 and my office alone has 14 first year associates starting next fall). If you didn’t get hired because you didn’t interview, go through the process next year. If you didn’t get hired because you have shitty grades/no experience/no extracurriculars/don’t interview well, nothing will change that going into the next interview season. Try getting a job with a smaller firm with lower standards or possibly a private tax practice. In the meantime, depending on the requirements of your state, you can start taking (and passing) exams which will boost your resume and make you more marketable.

I really don’t know why I didn’t even get called for at least 1 interview. Over the summer, I just finished my second coop term with a CA firm (I’m Canadian), and decided to go through recruiting in the fall. I’ve been told that I come across fairly professional, mature, and have held other jobs with considerable responsibility. GPA is 3.2, some extra curricular activities (bringing those up now, and next semester).

The poor economy is affecting hiring here too, but I didn’t think it would be this bad.

I’m asking you guys to get some unbiased advice, and because I’m assuming that hiring methods and standards would be fairly similar across firms.

Are other accounting majors that you know getting interviews? If they are, it’s probably a problem with your resume (your school probably has a department that can help you with this). If they’re not getting interviews, it’s probably just the economy and you’re shit out of luck.

From what I’ve heard from other students, it’s all over the place with the interviews. The president of the accounting club at school only got 1 interview after the recruit this year, and another girl at school got a coop position last year with only a 3.1 GPA. A guy in my audit class didn’t go to any networking events, just emailed his generic application to all of the firms, and got an interview with a big 4 firm.

As an aside, when my firm hires someone as an intern or co-op, at the end of the term they usually offer them a full time position for when they graduate if they thought the person performed well enough to warrant the offer. If you didn’t receive such an offer, check to see if this is customary in Canada or not.[/quote]

I’ll be emailing them back soon to see if they have a full-time position available. I know that most students stay with the same firm that they did internships with usually, but this firm doesn’t seem to extend offers very much (they didn’t after my 1st term, and they didn’t do it for the other interns on my 2nd term).

51

[quote]Surly Duff wrote:

I’ll be emailing them back soon to see if they have a full-time position available. I know that most students stay with the same firm that they did internships with usually, but this firm doesn’t seem to extend offers very much (they didn’t after my 1st term, and they didn’t do it for the other interns on my 2nd term).
[/quote]

How big are they?

What kind of shit were you doing?

52

[quote]countingbeans wrote:
Surly Duff wrote:

I’ll be emailing them back soon to see if they have a full-time position available. I know that most students stay with the same firm that they did internships with usually, but this firm doesn’t seem to extend offers very much (they didn’t after my 1st term, and they didn’t do it for the other interns on my 2nd term).

How big are they?

What kind of shit were you doing?[/quote]

A small firm, ~20 people including admin staff.

I was doing the same things other interns do at the larger firms; NTR for smaller businesses, corporate tax returns, assisting on audits, drafting correspondence to clients, etc. Virtually no personal tax returns, because I ended up working around busy season (fall 2008, summer 2009).

Wondering about the GPA thing; could that be holding me back?
Not exactly stellar, I know.

53

[quote]Surly Duff wrote:
countingbeans wrote:
Surly Duff wrote:

I’ll be emailing them back soon to see if they have a full-time position available. I know that most students stay with the same firm that they did internships with usually, but this firm doesn’t seem to extend offers very much (they didn’t after my 1st term, and they didn’t do it for the other interns on my 2nd term).

How big are they?

What kind of shit were you doing?

A small firm, ~20 people including admin staff.

I was doing the same things other interns do at the larger firms; NTR for smaller businesses, corporate tax returns, assisting on audits, drafting correspondence to clients, etc. Virtually no personal tax returns, because I ended up working around busy season (fall 2008, summer 2009).

Wondering about the GPA thing; could that be holding me back?
Not exactly stellar, I know.
[/quote]

maybe the GPA, maybe not. I know the old school guys get woodies for GPA’s, I personally would take a good interview with a 3.1-3.4 over a shit interview with a 3.9.

I have seen way too many people that were 3.8-4.0 that couldn’t apply their book knowledge to the real world, and that shit drives me fucking crazy. I send dipshits home early all the time. If someone is dumb, they are not allowed to work past 8pm. I need to be productive, and can’t be spoon feeding someone. I digress…

Thing is, that is a small ass firm man. I’m in the same size. We aren’t hiring shit. If they aren’t hiring, see if you can intern again just for the experience, while you apply and interview other places. Lanky’s firm is a bit better hedged against the economic meltdown, our size firms are not. I’m going to work like a dog this year, because we can’t raise expenses when billings are going to stay stagnant if not reduce.

So Smaller firms may like you, but just not going to hire due to the economy. We let two interns get away, that we SHOULD have hired, because of the economy. Sucks dude because the one chick was fucking slamming hot (except when you look at her straight in the face), and the dude was good at his job.

54

[quote]countingbeans wrote:
Surly Duff wrote:
countingbeans wrote:
Surly Duff wrote:

I’ll be emailing them back soon to see if they have a full-time position available. I know that most students stay with the same firm that they did internships with usually, but this firm doesn’t seem to extend offers very much (they didn’t after my 1st term, and they didn’t do it for the other interns on my 2nd term).

How big are they?

What kind of shit were you doing?

A small firm, ~20 people including admin staff.

I was doing the same things other interns do at the larger firms; NTR for smaller businesses, corporate tax returns, assisting on audits, drafting correspondence to clients, etc. Virtually no personal tax returns, because I ended up working around busy season (fall 2008, summer 2009).

Wondering about the GPA thing; could that be holding me back?
Not exactly stellar, I know.

maybe the GPA, maybe not. I know the old school guys get woodies for GPA’s, I personally would take a good interview with a 3.1-3.4 over a shit interview with a 3.9.

I have seen way too many people that were 3.8-4.0 that couldn’t apply their book knowledge to the real world, and that shit drives me fucking crazy. I send dipshits home early all the time. If someone is dumb, they are not allowed to work past 8pm. I need to be productive, and can’t be spoon feeding someone. I digress…

Thing is, that is a small ass firm man. I’m in the same size. We aren’t hiring shit. If they aren’t hiring, see if you can intern again just for the experience, while you apply and interview other places. Lanky’s firm is a bit better hedged against the economic meltdown, our size firms are not. I’m going to work like a dog this year, because we can’t raise expenses when billings are going to stay stagnant if not reduce.

So Smaller firms may like you, but just not going to hire due to the economy. We let two interns get away, that we SHOULD have hired, because of the economy. Sucks dude because the one chick was fucking slamming hot (except when you look at her straight in the face), and the dude was good at his job.[/quote]

Yeah, that’s what I figured. It’ll take a while before everything recovers and hiring comes back to normal. Until then, I’m just going to do what I can to boost my resume and apply everywhere.

Thanks for the advice. You too Lanky.

55

FWIW, I only had a 3.3 GPA, so I don’t think that’s the problem.

56

Any of you guys have tips on interviewing? I recently had an office meet at a regional firm, 3 interviews in a row, and I thought all of them but 1 went very well. I didn’t get called back, but I got a nice email telling me that they are keeping me on file… So I got that going for me. :frowning:

Everyone was so nice during that office meet too. The interview that I know I blew was because I had my legs crossed the whole time. The guy just made me feel so comfortable and at ease, it was like being interviewed by your really nice uncle or something.

57

[quote]skaz05 wrote:
Any of you guys have tips on interviewing? I recently had an office meet at a regional firm, 3 interviews in a row, and I thought all of them but 1 went very well. I didn’t get called back, but I got a nice email telling me that they are keeping me on file… So I got that going for me. :frowning:

Everyone was so nice during that office meet too. The interview that I know I blew was because I had my legs crossed the whole time. The guy just made me feel so comfortable and at ease, it was like being interviewed by your really nice uncle or something.[/quote]

I interview really well for 2 reasons. First, it comes naturally. Second, I prepare like a motherfucker. You shouldn’t be caught off guard (I’m not saying you were) by any question an interviewer throws at you. A quick google search will yield just about every possible interview question and you should have a pretty good idea of what how you’d like to answer each one. Practice answering the questions (yes, out loud!) in your house before you go. This will help you answer more naturally when the question is asked.

I’m surprised you think you blew the interview because you were too comfortable. The reason I signed on with the firm I did (I got a few offers) was because of how comfortable I felt during the interview process. Shit, by the time the interview was done the partner and I were cracking a couple jokes about each other.

If you think an offer with that firm is a possibility, I’d email them to ask why they decided not to hire you. A lot of times partners at my firm will respond kindly to such emails and let the students know what they can work on. Sometimes they don’t respond at all but it certainly doesn’t hurt to ask.

58

[quote]skaz05 wrote:
Any of you guys have tips on interviewing? I recently had an office meet at a regional firm, 3 interviews in a row, and I thought all of them but 1 went very well. I didn’t get called back, but I got a nice email telling me that they are keeping me on file… So I got that going for me. :frowning:

Everyone was so nice during that office meet too. The interview that I know I blew was because I had my legs crossed the whole time. The guy just made me feel so comfortable and at ease, it was like being interviewed by your really nice uncle or something.[/quote]

1 more thing. Aren’t you a little older than most college students? Most of the older (30+) college students my firm has hired didn’t work out too well. A lot of times they have trouble listening to what people younger (but more senior) than them. Sometimes they just don’t fit in well with what is normally a pretty young profession. Because of this, some of the partners I work with won’t hire people who are substantially older than the rest of the college crowd.

59

[quote]LankyMofo wrote:
skaz05 wrote:
Any of you guys have tips on interviewing? I recently had an office meet at a regional firm, 3 interviews in a row, and I thought all of them but 1 went very well. I didn’t get called back, but I got a nice email telling me that they are keeping me on file… So I got that going for me. :frowning:

Everyone was so nice during that office meet too. The interview that I know I blew was because I had my legs crossed the whole time. The guy just made me feel so comfortable and at ease, it was like being interviewed by your really nice uncle or something.

I interview really well for 2 reasons. First, it comes naturally. Second, I prepare like a motherfucker. You shouldn’t be caught off guard (I’m not saying you were) by any question an interviewer throws at you. A quick google search will yield just about every possible interview question and you should have a pretty good idea of what how you’d like to answer each one. Practice answering the questions (yes, out loud!) in your house before you go. This will help you answer more naturally when the question is asked.

I’m surprised you think you blew the interview because you were too comfortable. The reason I signed on with the firm I did (I got a few offers) was because of how comfortable I felt during the interview process. Shit, by the time the interview was done the partner and I were cracking a couple jokes about each other.

If you think an offer with that firm is a possibility, I’d email them to ask why they decided not to hire you. A lot of times partners at my firm will respond kindly to such emails and let the students know what they can work on. Sometimes they don’t respond at all but it certainly doesn’t hurt to ask.[/quote]

Only thing I would add, is make sure you are approaching this, and using language to portray this is a career for you, not just a job.

60

[quote]PeacePipeline wrote:
It’s very boring, but also very lucrative if you play it right. Get some hobbies (or a family), cash some checks, and don’t worry about it.

It’s also bullet-proof during a recession. People always need to count their money and pay taxes, no matter how bad things seem.

One of the higher suicide rates amongst professionals; re-read the first paragraph if you feel like killing yourself.

If you really want to make some skin, study economics instead, take the CPA test, and then go into finance/banking.[/quote]

You sound like you don’t know what you’re talking about. That said, the only thing I really want to respond to is bolded.

Accounting is NOT recession proof. I had to go through a metric fuck-ton of shit to get a book-keeping job. Whoever told you this was probably reading from a funny chain-email or trying to sell you something. An Accounting degree in a recession, perhaps.