[Anonymous]

I graduated with a Master’s in Accountancy in March 2014 and have been studying/taking exams since about April. I worked two three-month long unpaid internships and a paid internship for over a year and a half basically doing operational accounting. I passed FAR, REG and waiting to hear about AUD (don’t feel to confident about it).

I have had trouble receiving interviews from firms and I am not sure why. I had an interview with a mid sized firm and did not receive an offer. I also interviewed with NFA for a compliance examiner position and am waiting to hear back. I really wanted to work in a mid size or a Big 4, but at this point I doubt that will happen. As of right now I am working with staffing firms to look for positions and am not sure what the best way to start my career would be. I am not sure if I should work as Staff Accountant to gain experience or look for something I am more interested in, like an audit role. Does anybody have advice on this topic?

[Anonymous]

If you're not getting interviews, it's your resume.

Have someone take a look at it.

[Anonymous]

I had my resume looked at by my HR Director and she had very little to change about it. Just some different wording for headings and how to organize a few things, nothing major.

Whenever I put my resume on Monster/CareerBuilder I get a call the next day from a recruiter. I am not sure what accounting firms are looking for. It just gets discouraging from time to time.

[Lion_of_the_Rock]

Do you live in a major market?

The internships not leading to a job is a bit worrying. What's the rest of the story?

BEC - 78
AUD - 75
REG - 74, 79
FAR - 75

You have to buy a ticket to win the raffle.

[Anonymous]

Accounting firms are oftentimes looking for employee referrals.

[fuzyfro89]

+1 to billbrasskey.

For non-college hires (i.e. you graduated), the firms generally want someone who is referred by a current employee, or has full time experience.

Since you have neither, you need to get one of them.

Simple answer (note, I did not say “easy”) is to start networking. Campus recruiting is very structured for interns and new hires. Once you're out of school, it's really much more up to you to forge your own path.

A big part of it will depend on timing. You need to get out and about in the next 15 days if you have any hope of starting soon. Few mid/large firms will hire someone during Jan-Mar just because there won't be any way to train you.

[Anonymous]

Hey I've had a few friends that just finished school that are having similar issues getting interviews. I know you said you had someone look at your Resume, but if you are not getting interviews, it is most likely your Resume(this is all they have to go off of). If you want to send over your Resume, I can take a look at it. I have some experience with what the bigger accounting firms are looking for.

[Anonymous]

@Lion_of_the_Rock I live in Chicago and am trying work here

@billbrasskey and @fuzyfro89 yea that's what I thought, but I saw one of my friends that works for McGladrey at Meet The Firms. I saw him again when McGladrey was conducting interviews and he was surprised that I did not get one. We figured it could be because everything is computer based these days and I do not have that much IT experience.

@anothercpa23 yea, it would be great if you could take a look at my resume.

[fuzyfro89]

Ainteasyfornabeezy:

“We figured it could be because everything is computer based these days and I do not have that much IT experience.”

Can you elaborate? I'm not sure I understand your point. What service line are you applying for? Audit or tax, or an IT audit or IT risk type position?

[Anonymous]

@fuzyfro89 It was an an “Assurance associate” position, my friend described it as external auditing. He encouraged me to apply for the “Risk Advisory” position also, which was more internal auditing, something he really enjoyed and sounded like exactly what I wanted to do.

He figured that he worked a lot with computer systems and said they were looking for people who had experience in that area. So that was possibly why I did not receive an interview, otherwise he was not sure I did not receive one.

[Ntw6817]

@AintEasy Are you looking for a job in downtown Chicago or the suburbs? My firm is currently looking to hire people for both tax and audit. I know you said you applied as an assurance associate but are you more interested in tax or audit?

We're about a 100 person firm located in the northern/northwest suburbs.

[Anonymous]

@Ntw6817 Preferably downtown Chicago, but I am slowly considering the suburbs as the job search continues. I am more interested in audit, but ideally I would like to get exposure to both audit and tax starting off if it's at all possible.

[kleon52]

@Ntw6817 I am interested in an entry level tax or audit (prefer audit) and don't mind if it is in the north/northwest suburbs

I'm graduating with my masters in two weeks and looking to start in January

REG: 80
AUD: 82
BEC: 83
FAR: 83
Finished Feb 2015, 5-6months

Ninja MCQ for AUD, BEC, & FAR

[Ntw6817]

@Kleon52, if you want I can forward your resume to our HR department. I know we're looking to hire both audit and tax people but I think the greater need right now maybe tax.

[Anonymous]

@Ntw6817 If you don't mind me asking, what suburb is your firm located?

[Ntw6817]

Palatine

[Author]

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