[the LAST Coffee]

I graduated from a small college in Colorado which none of the Big 4 recruit at, and l live in Alaska, which only KPMG currently is the only Big 4 up here.

So I graduated May 2015 and already attempted to get into Alaska KPMG via campus recruitment when I was on National Exchange Program in 2014, which didn’t go well because I never received an offer for interview after a meet-greet event.

I applied at all Big 4 online last year and this year as well for locations in Northwest (Portland mainly). I’d think 3.64 GPA, involvement with accounting clubs, volunteer experience, and VITA would at least get me to a phone screening but I never get that far.

Heck, I applied for Moss Adams and got a phone interview and got shut down a week later for whatever reason. Seems impossible to even get into a midsize firm, much less Big 4 to me. It would be great to get into Big 4 though, with all my former supervisors telling me how life is so much easier having that experience on resume, which reminds me, I have two accounting intership too! Summer 2013 and Summer 2014! And I’ve taken my FAR and BEC exams.

Anyways, I may be working for a very small firm (10-15 people) in Salem, OR as a staff audit/tax person.

Maybe I should have done harder to get into better, bigger universities, huh? Although I heard bad things about working at Big 4, the experience, CE credits, and perks more than makes up for it.

FAR 84 (AUG '15)
BEC 83 (AUG '15)
AUD 79 (OCT '15)
REG 71, 78! (NOV '15, FEB '16)

[Anonymous]

I came from a small college in Maine. None of the B4 recruit there, and there are no B4 offices in Maine period. I applied to B4 in Boston (two of them actually) and happened to network and make connections with a partner at B4. I interned there in 2014, and am starting full-time next month. I think you should try to use your connections, and try to reach out to recruiting staff on linked in. If you express your interest, they might take a look at you. Regardless, you can have a great life w/o B4 experience, but nobody will ever look down upon for having it!

[kmaahs]

At the entry level, you are unlikely to get noticed with just an online app to a Big 4. This is because, fair or not, they do the vast majority of their hiring on campuses they recruit at. They recruiters tend to like getting to know you as a candidate first before they formally interview you and this is easy on campus. If you don't have any connections to a big 4 office, it will be tricky at the entry level.

I also wouldn't write off regional firms after one rejection either. I was formally rejected as a candidate at a few firms before offers started rolling in. Try not to take it personally, though I know it's hard, especially when you know you will succeed given the chance.

Living in Alaska might further complicate your attempts to get into firms that have no presence there. Even if you are willing to move, you would need to rely entirely on phone/remote interviews to obtain the job and some companies might not want to put forth the effort. I don't have much experience to this end… Do you have any peers that have landed jobs in continental US remotely? Might want to pick their brains on the strategy.

C.P.A.

[fuzyfro89]

You may just be searching in the wrong places.

Portland, while a very nice place, is not a huge job market by itself. If you'd be moving and want to stay in the West, I'd also look in Seattle, Salt Lake, Denver, Phoenix, Vegas, and the California offices.

Even a qualified candidate will come up empty if they are just looking in places that don't have much to offer. Also, please do work a lot harder than just apply online. Getting a job is more about selling yourself and showing you can work hard for something rather than just an objective review of your credentials on a piece of paper.

[Author]

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