Best way to land an interview in Public Accounting

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  • #190104
    klmc
    Participant

    Happy Sunday!

    I want to land a job in public accounting so I can get some good experience on my resume and I was wondering what the best way to apply for these said jobs are. Currently I work in government doing Accounting work (its kinda like Budget Accounting) and we use an internal government system to do all the accounting. I know that public firms probably don’t care too much for government experience because it is a system all of its own.

    I have been at government for about 2 years now and previously to be there I helped my friend who is a CPA with taxes for his clients for 1 tax season, so I have that on my resume as well. I guess the only other note worthy think on my resume is the fact that I have top secret gov’t clearance. I am pretty good with software including all microsoft products, SAP, quickbooks and some tax software as well. Also I have to mention my GPA was pretty low in undegrad- 2.8/4.

    Would I be able to add something to my resume that could help me with the job search and also what’s the best way to apply to these jobs, I hear they hire people around this time for the following year. I know I wouldn’t be able to go in Big4, but any public firm would do really.

    Any advice would greatly be appreciated, thanks a bunch!

    |FAR| - 72, 83
    |AUD| - 73, 76
    |REG| - 76
    |BEC| - 73, 82

    ALL DONE!!

Viewing 4 replies - 1 through 4 (of 4 total)
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  • #618739
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    Your GPA could be a problem. You have to believe that excluding the network influence, there are a lot of candidates like you. And once concerning the network, your chance of getting may even gets lower. So my advice is that you should start a master of accounting program (I don't know if you've already started or not), and do well in the program. You could start to apply public accounting firm when you complete half of the program and I am sure by that time, you may have passed a few CPA exams.

    In the mean time, you should try to participate in networking events and get to know more and more people. Sometimes opportunities are there.

    Honestly, 2.8 GPA may get you nowhere because the firms usually set a line when they first screen your application. I am sure that line is some point between 3.0-3.4 (may be different).

    #618740
    klmc
    Participant

    Thanks for the reply, I actually took 2 grad classes for my MBA in finance, and got A's in both of them but I didn't pursue it further because it was so damn expensive. I didn't see the investment in it to be worth it honestly. Do you think that if I get my CPA I would have a much better chance to get in even with a low GPA?

    |FAR| - 72, 83
    |AUD| - 73, 76
    |REG| - 76
    |BEC| - 73, 82

    ALL DONE!!

    #618741
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    They're most likely going to place a little less weight on your GPA because you have a couple years of work experience.

    The GPA is much more important for weeding out people that are fresh out of school.

    #618742
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    Having your CPA should make it easier to get interviews.

    Qualifications get interviews and interviews get jobs.

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