Need Help

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  • #189851
    luyiqing
    Member

    Here’s the situation.

    So I found out I passed my last section and I am done with the exams. I have been working in a tiny online tax preparation company since Jan this year and I am customer service representative/tax processor for individual tax returns. My boss told me before he would give me a raise and reimburse me the materials after I pass the exams but now he only said congulations. Also, my boss told me that he would let me work with him which will be tax programming/anslysis after my exams but now he didn’t mention anything. Colleagues said I should celebrate so I decided to treat everyone dinner next week.

    My manager is only an associate graduate and still pursuing his bachelor degree. He became not happy and jealous after knowing that I passed all the exams. The job is too easy and I cannot utilize my skills fully and grow. I have been thinking about getting a new job for a long time, but for some reason it’s difficult for me because I need work visa/sponsorship and I am only a recent graduate which means I don’t have 3-5 solid work experiences.

    I am a master of science in taxation graduate and I really want to join a company where I can establish my long-term carrer goal and make contributions. I am really very confused at this time because I think I already did what I should do including passing the exams in a short period of time and working hard.

    I really need suggestions regarding what I should do now. Any comments will be highly appreciated.

Viewing 15 replies - 1 through 15 (of 36 total)
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  • #625359
    iwana_PASS
    Participant

    i think you have potential to just apply the big 4 or any midsize firms since you have master degree, passed all the exams and experiences. you are totally qualified for those entry lvl tax assoicate position with any of those firms. i have no experience, i mean 0. i worked at supermarket and i finished my master. i only passed 2 exams and i am struggling but i work at those top 10 acctg firms as entry lvl tax associate since i just graduate.

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    #625360
    luyiqing
    Member

    Thank you. I really appreicate your comments. I feel like I am in a dilemma now since those entry level positions are recruited directly from campus and I already graudated and I am not qualifed for senior positions. Another issue is that I need sponsorship in the future to continue my work because of which I found some companies/recruiters are not able to help me land a job.

    Should I just look for jobs through job serarch engines or go to accounting firms' website to look for suitable positions? I found a lot of positions require 3-5 years solid work experiences which I don't have…It looks like difficult to find entry-level positions online…please advise…thanks a lot!

    #625361
    Missbots
    Member

    Now that you have passed your exams..finding a company that's willing to sponsor you shouldn't be a problem,you might have to start from the entry level position though. A friend of mine was recently hired by KPMG and they are sponsoring her visa, and you also don't have to leave your current job until you find someone willing to sponsor you,so you really have nothing to lose by just putting your resume out there.

    #625362
    luyiqing
    Member

    Thank you. Do accounting firms hire entry level positions outside campus? I mean I already graduated so I cannot attend campus recruiting anymore. How can I find entry level positions ? Thanks!

    #625363
    stoleway
    Participant

    @Missbots

    I doubt that KPMG will sponsor someone who only has a CPA, there are lots of unemployed American CPAs in the country currently . I believe your friend has some unique IT skills aside from being a CPA, is that right?

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    #625364
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    lots of unemployed CPAs?

    What are you talking about?

    I've never heard of an unemployed CPA

    #625365
    stoleway
    Participant

    @BillfromAccounting

    Really? You've never heard of an unemployed CPA ? Maybe I goofed by saying “lots of unemployed CPAs” but I'm pretty sure there are some unemployed CPAs actively searching for jobs.

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    #625366
    luyiqing
    Member

    Thank you for the comments. It is difficult to get a decent job. I am learning IT including SAS, SQL and C# programming. Will it be an advantage with tax and IT skills? Please explain a little bit more. Thanks!

    #625367
    iwana_PASS
    Participant

    do you have friends and know any recruiters that can help you pass your resume to them? i have a friend. she is international as well and she cant get a job b/c of her visa problem. she actually get interviews from like weisermazzars like some midsize firms but actually the company finds out she needs visa sponsorship, she didnt get the job 🙁 but she finally finds a small firm that are willing to do sponsorship for her and i think after she gets her green card. she can apply for any firm. i think you can only apply for big 4 since they will do sponsorship for you b/c all the midsize wont sponsor entry lvl except senior associates maybe. i think i am just lucky to get the job through the campus recruiting. i think you really needs an opportunity to at least get an interview and then its really up to you whether the recruiter likes you or not. Good luck!! are you chinese b.c majority of my international friends works at EY or PwC and i asked them to help my best friend to pass the resumes to recruiters. she cant get the job b.c she really dont have any work experiences and her grade is so so but she speaks fluent english. now she works at small firm.

    AUD - 77
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    FAR - 79
    REG - 82

    #625368
    luyiqing
    Member

    I contacted some recruiters but they said their clients don't sponsor work visa. 🙁

    Yes I am Chinese I will try the big four but it looks like their system passed my resume and I didn't find many entry level positions on company website because they recruit directly from campus. I don't know how I can get hiring information from smaller firms besides looking online job search engines like Monster and Indeed.

    Can you take a look at my resume? Thanks!

    #625369
    stoleway
    Participant

    @luyiqing

    Which state are you currently located? It will also be advisable to join the CPA society of that state. Go to their regular meetings and network with those partners and small CPA firm owners. They even have a portal where jobs are posted and that could help you a lot.

    REG -63│ 84!!
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    AUD- 75!
    FAR- 87!

    Mass-CPA

    #625370
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    I dont think a tax professional should have the superior konwledge in IT. The IT mentioned here must be hired for the position other than a tax specialist. OP, guessing from ur username and the fact of needing visa, I probably can tell where you come from-i come from that nation too. I dont need visa but many of my friends do. So i understand ur situation. I will say:

    -First, you can start job search now. Dont be upset if u have no respond. I remember that PWC provides the highest amount of visa among all those companies. So clearly u have a chance.

    -Second, you should participate in professional organization to seek more opportunities. For example, Ascend seems to be a good one.

    I wish u the best.

    #625371
    luyiqing
    Member

    Thank you for all the comments. I am from China and I am currently in NYC. What professional society in NYC do you recommend? For a tax pro, what skills do you think are the most essential and competitive? My current company does online tax software so there is a team developing the tax software. I am in customer service department communicating with clients and processing tax returns. Would that be a good area for me to maybe become tax software analyst or I should be focused on tax accounting?

    #625372
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    Great, I am in NYC too. But NYC maintains a high competitive environment. I will recommend you the following societies:

    -Ascend. You can join either your school chapter or the entire NYC metro chapter. Once you are in, you should participate at least one event. During the event, you can talk to the head or the event organizer and present the wish that you want to participate more. In most of the cases, they will use you and you will have a network. Head or the organizers in the even are definitely real-life professional, and they may refer you to certain positions. But, it depends how good you are.

    -NYSSCPA. It is the state association of CPA. It launches a few career fairs during a year.

    -ALPFA (maybe). I don't know much about this one because it's for Latin American. But I see a few Asians in this group. You can give it a shot.

    General software that I suggest:

    -Quick Books (always).

    -ProSeries (good ones, especially the tax preparing tools).

    -GoSystem (I am not sure if you can learn this from outside sources. Take a shot).

    -Microsoft (especially Word and Excel. I am not sure about PPT and Access).

    You can also try H & R Block. Also you may need to make sure your tax research skills. Putting that on the resume helps your future employer assess you ability in performing the real job. Research tools I suggest include Western Law, LexisNexis, and CCH. They have online databases too so all you need is to take a look and practice a little bit.

    Good luck.

    #625373
    luyiqing
    Member

    @cycgundam Thank you so much. I have experiences in a lot of tax and accounting softwares including quickbooks, SAP, Oracle, Taxwise, Proseries, ATX, Drake, Microsoft, SAS, SPSS. As to research skills, I did a lot tax research and tax memo while in MST program which I used CCH, BNA, Tax Analyst, and Lexisnexus to search related tax codes and regulations.

    The professional societies you recommended are really good and I would definitely join them if possible.

    In my current company, my boss and a few other people do the tax software programming and development. So we only need to process tax returns instead of doing them manually. He said I could join his team once I finish my CPA exams. I don't know whether tax software analyst/programming would be a good direction for me but I think usually CPAs do calculation manually and tax softwares are just tools to help CPAs prepare tax returns.

    I know a lot of IT professionals get their sponsorship easily so I don't know whether tax software engineering/development/analyst would be a good area for me to explore. I don't know much about programming now but I can learn. Would developing tax softwares be an advantage comparing to traditional CPAs only doing tax returns by using tax software? It looks like two different areas though.

    Thanks. Here is my LinkedIn page. https://www.linkedin.com/profile/view?id=97142995&trk=nav_responsive_tab_profile

    Feel free to connect to me.

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