[TNDCPA]

I currently work at a sole proprietor CPA office doing small business tax returns, bookkeeping, and payroll taxes since the semester before I graduated undergrad. I got my BS in accounting summer of 2012 and will be graduating with my MS in accounting this May. I graduated magna cum laude and currently hold a 3.87 GPA. My resume has been critiqued and is professional IMO. I’ve been looking for jobs periodically in my spare time since Fall 2013 but have only had an interview with two regional/mid-size firms; both with no offers. I’ve been applying to mainly audit positions, and both my interviews were for audit. I have a second office interview Monday, but this position is for tax and at a smaller CPA firm, approx 80 people total. My dilemma is…I can’t seem to catch a break. I haven’t really had luck with my career center b/c we have a five year program at our school and most students in that program tend to get picked by the big four/bigger regional firms. I’ve mainly applied directly through the firm’s website, and was still able to land an interview. I really would like to explore audit, but feel firms either don’t want to give me the chance or my interviewing skills suck. The only reason I applied to the tax position was b/c I started getting desperate, and felt it would help with my interviewing skills. Also, I’m curious to see what I’m worth.

I don’t exactly hate tax but I feel I would enjoy audit more. I enjoyed learning consolidated financial reporting and hedge-fund accounting while taking them for class. I know the real world is different, but I find financial reporting comes more natural to me then tax. My boss also indicated if I wanted to give audit a try, now would be the time, because if I continue down the tax path it would be hard to switch to audit. Is this true? Can anyone give some insight on this?

I don’t know exactly what I’m doing wrong. If it’s my background in tax, at a small office or if it’s my interviewing skills. I am an introvert for the most part, and I know I can be awkward during an interview. However, I’ve started to use my resources and went to a mock interview at our school’s career center to get critiqued. The reviewer said I wasn’t bad at all, I just needed to let my personality show more. In my most recent interview, I thought I handled myself quite well. I was able to get a direct interview, due to my teacher, with the partners and ending up being at the firm for 2.5 hrs! I felt like I connected with all three partners and the interview flowed more like a conversation. I was pretty confident till I got my rejection e-mail two days later. Only thing I can think of that went wrong was that I stated I see myself in 5 to 10 years being a controller when I was asked. I had explained I enjoyed a work/life balance and felt being in public accounting/auditing would lend me a great deal of experience with various industries. She was also curious as to why I wanted to give audit a try and I simply explained I wanted to venture out for a change and seek something I felt I would ultimately enjoy and that I wanted to love what I did for a living, not just be content.

At this point I feel like I should stop wasting my time applying for audit and just apply for a tax position, But even then, I’m still worried I won’t land a position at a firm!

Sorry for all the rambling, but any thoughts or comments would be appreciated!

FAR - 89 02/27/14
REG - 88 04/30/14
AUD - 90 7/3/14
BEC - 87 8/30/14 DONE!

[teeteenounouche]

It seems like you are doing everything right except for telling the truth on what you want, specifically, “I had explained I enjoyed a work/life balance”. No employer, especially public accounting wants to hear that. They want to know that you will be a slave to them and do what it takes to get the job done. In my opinion, when companies hear work life balance, it scares them off thinking you have outside responsibilities or a leave at 5 type of person which could lead to them picking another candidate all things being equal.

Florida:
AUD: 73, 81! Thank you Lord!
BEC: 73, 77! Thank you Lord! and WTB
REG: 71, 82! Thank you Lord! and A71
FAR: 72, 78! Thank you God and my Mommy in Heaven!

CPA Excel, Ninja Notes & Audio, Wiley Test Bank, CPAreviewforfree

[teeteenounouche]

It seems like you are doing everything right except for telling the truth on what you want, specifically, “I had explained I enjoyed a work/life balance”. No employer, especially public accounting wants to hear that. They want to know that you will be a slave to them and do what it takes to get the job done. In my opinion, when companies hear work life balance, it scares them off thinking you have outside responsibilities or a leave at 5 type of person which could lead to them picking another candidate all things being equal.

Florida:
AUD: 73, 81! Thank you Lord!
BEC: 73, 77! Thank you Lord! and WTB
REG: 71, 82! Thank you Lord! and A71
FAR: 72, 78! Thank you God and my Mommy in Heaven!

CPA Excel, Ninja Notes & Audio, Wiley Test Bank, CPAreviewforfree

[fuzyfro89]

You may be a little too honest. Most firms, public anyway, look to see if they can find a workhorse for 1-3 years. Beyond that, I've spoken with managers and they said it's impossible to accurately identify people in school who will stick around longer. Things change. People change. Interests change. All they need to know is you will work hard, learn, and grow for 1-3 years. If you perform well and stay longer, then it's just icing on the cake for them.

From what you have said, I think your resume/networking/people skills need work, because you are not getting many interviews. If you can't even get an interview, how will you get a job offer? Something is getting missed between your first impression (maybe when you talk to a recruiter at a hiring event or something in your applications). If you were getting several interviews but no offers, I would say your interview needs work. Could it also be the market you are in? Maybe you need to look at other cities?

As far as audit vs tax, yes, in an ideal world you should do audit first if you don't plan to stay in tax for your career. The longer you stay in tax the more specialized you get and the less transferable your skills are to audit/accounting/GL/financial reporting. However, if you get an offer for a tax position, I would take it given your lack of opportunities (assuming it's a decent firm). Once you have 1-2 years you can switch and will probably have a better idea of what you want to do.Also, understanding taxes is the hardest part of auditing. No one has a clue what's going on in the tax provision. 🙂

[fuzyfro89]

You may be a little too honest. Most firms, public anyway, look to see if they can find a workhorse for 1-3 years. Beyond that, I've spoken with managers and they said it's impossible to accurately identify people in school who will stick around longer. Things change. People change. Interests change. All they need to know is you will work hard, learn, and grow for 1-3 years. If you perform well and stay longer, then it's just icing on the cake for them.

From what you have said, I think your resume/networking/people skills need work, because you are not getting many interviews. If you can't even get an interview, how will you get a job offer? Something is getting missed between your first impression (maybe when you talk to a recruiter at a hiring event or something in your applications). If you were getting several interviews but no offers, I would say your interview needs work. Could it also be the market you are in? Maybe you need to look at other cities?

As far as audit vs tax, yes, in an ideal world you should do audit first if you don't plan to stay in tax for your career. The longer you stay in tax the more specialized you get and the less transferable your skills are to audit/accounting/GL/financial reporting. However, if you get an offer for a tax position, I would take it given your lack of opportunities (assuming it's a decent firm). Once you have 1-2 years you can switch and will probably have a better idea of what you want to do.Also, understanding taxes is the hardest part of auditing. No one has a clue what's going on in the tax provision. 🙂

[TNDCPA]

@teeteenounouche Yes, I guess that is the reality of it. Every firm will sell us on the work/life balance, but this is just the nature of public accounting. I was more relaxed in that interview and was too ‘myself.' I'll keep that in mind in future interviews. Thanks!

@fuzyfro89 Seems like you agree with teeteenounouche with regards to my honestly. As for the networking/people skills, I've known this to be a problem. I originally started in the medical field, due to that very reason. I felt I wanted to help people/interact, but in a natural setting and knew I would be hired based on my skills and the demand. I was accepted into the top dental school in Texas, but had to change my path due to personal issues at home. I then chose accounting b/c it was stable, I'm good with numbers, but didn't anticipate the massive networking that was required to get a top notch position. I know it seem's like I'm making all these excuses for my personality so I'll leave it at that. However, you're right, I've decided to finally join the world with LinkedIn and see if that will help market myself. I just feel that it's another pretentious online social thing, AKA facebook but in a more professional setting, where people add others for popularity and it's not genuine. But it seems to be the trend our world is taking, so I guess I will give in for the sake of my career. Oh and that good ol' tax provision was my worse nightmare when I had to produce it for our client's review with Deloitte X__X!

As for applying, I really would like to move to Seattle and have applied. I received a reply from Larson Allen's recruiter, however she said she would like to meet with me if I plan on visiting. I indicated I would, but not anytime soon and requested for a phone interview. I've yet to hear from her and it's been two weeks, so I guess that's done with. At this point, would it be silly to apply for an audit intern position? Everyone keeps telling me with my education I need to apply for a straight audit staff position, but I'm wondering if my odds are better as an intern.

Thanks again for both of your inputs! I really do appreciate it. The majority of my friends are in the medical field, so it's hard to discuss these things when they've never had to deal with these situations.

FAR - 89 02/27/14
REG - 88 04/30/14
AUD - 90 7/3/14
BEC - 87 8/30/14 DONE!

[TNDCPA]

@teeteenounouche Yes, I guess that is the reality of it. Every firm will sell us on the work/life balance, but this is just the nature of public accounting. I was more relaxed in that interview and was too ‘myself.' I'll keep that in mind in future interviews. Thanks!

@fuzyfro89 Seems like you agree with teeteenounouche with regards to my honestly. As for the networking/people skills, I've known this to be a problem. I originally started in the medical field, due to that very reason. I felt I wanted to help people/interact, but in a natural setting and knew I would be hired based on my skills and the demand. I was accepted into the top dental school in Texas, but had to change my path due to personal issues at home. I then chose accounting b/c it was stable, I'm good with numbers, but didn't anticipate the massive networking that was required to get a top notch position. I know it seem's like I'm making all these excuses for my personality so I'll leave it at that. However, you're right, I've decided to finally join the world with LinkedIn and see if that will help market myself. I just feel that it's another pretentious online social thing, AKA facebook but in a more professional setting, where people add others for popularity and it's not genuine. But it seems to be the trend our world is taking, so I guess I will give in for the sake of my career. Oh and that good ol' tax provision was my worse nightmare when I had to produce it for our client's review with Deloitte X__X!

As for applying, I really would like to move to Seattle and have applied. I received a reply from Larson Allen's recruiter, however she said she would like to meet with me if I plan on visiting. I indicated I would, but not anytime soon and requested for a phone interview. I've yet to hear from her and it's been two weeks, so I guess that's done with. At this point, would it be silly to apply for an audit intern position? Everyone keeps telling me with my education I need to apply for a straight audit staff position, but I'm wondering if my odds are better as an intern.

Thanks again for both of your inputs! I really do appreciate it. The majority of my friends are in the medical field, so it's hard to discuss these things when they've never had to deal with these situations.

FAR - 89 02/27/14
REG - 88 04/30/14
AUD - 90 7/3/14
BEC - 87 8/30/14 DONE!

[Kimboroni]

Saying you wanted work/life balance might be okay depending on the firm, but saying you want to be controller is not what they want to hear. Of course that happens regularly, that people put their time in at public and then get out to be in private, but that's not what they want to hear your plan is at an interview. They want people who, at least for now, plan to stick around.

AUD 84 (1/9/14-Wiley books/TB + free materials)
FAR 83 (5/21/14-the above + NINJA 10 Pt Combo Lite)
REG 84 (7/9/14-Wiley books/TB + NINJA Audio/FC/Notes)
BEC 76 (10/5/14-Wiley books/TB + NINJA Audio/FC)

Disclaimer: My ninja avatar is not meant to imply that I have any affiliation with this site other than being a forum member. That's a pic of a T-shirt that my daughter gave me for my birthday. 🙂

[Kimboroni]

Saying you wanted work/life balance might be okay depending on the firm, but saying you want to be controller is not what they want to hear. Of course that happens regularly, that people put their time in at public and then get out to be in private, but that's not what they want to hear your plan is at an interview. They want people who, at least for now, plan to stick around.

AUD 84 (1/9/14-Wiley books/TB + free materials)
FAR 83 (5/21/14-the above + NINJA 10 Pt Combo Lite)
REG 84 (7/9/14-Wiley books/TB + NINJA Audio/FC/Notes)
BEC 76 (10/5/14-Wiley books/TB + NINJA Audio/FC)

Disclaimer: My ninja avatar is not meant to imply that I have any affiliation with this site other than being a forum member. That's a pic of a T-shirt that my daughter gave me for my birthday. 🙂

[fuzyfro89]

Congrats on your dental school acceptance! Too bad you weren't able to attend. I hope all turns out well.

LinkedIn is different. It's not meant for socializing. You add “connections” when you want to socialize with them aka professional networking and job hunting. It's not really social as in “hey what's up, omg I'm so hammered…”

That headhunter bailed on you. Probably figured they couldn't place you and just sketched out. I hate when they don't respond. It's annoying. But then I don't feel bad ignoring them either. I'm not sure about this, and someone correct me if I'm wrong, but head hunters are usually useful for experienced hiring and not for entry level.

I would apply for intern position, but it's not much different. You can't really apply for internships unless you're still in school, and will be for another semester/year.

I empathize with your personality difficulties. I also had that issue. I got plenty of interviews my sophomore, junior, senior year but had a below average 2nd interview and offer rate than others that I knew. I was plenty qualified and looked great on paper, but obviously something about me in an interview was off putting. Honestly, it hurt, but I also realize today that I am who I am. You've got to find where you fit and it will work out for you.

Given your admitted difficulties, it may be challenging, but you'll find something eventually and if you continue to work hard and develop your skills you'll progress.

I eventually landed an offer at a big 4 for an internship and started full time. Left after 2 years for internal audit and am enjoying things so far. Life has a funny way of slapping you in the face and then giving you a hug. I'm just waiting for the next slap…

[fuzyfro89]

Congrats on your dental school acceptance! Too bad you weren't able to attend. I hope all turns out well.

LinkedIn is different. It's not meant for socializing. You add “connections” when you want to socialize with them aka professional networking and job hunting. It's not really social as in “hey what's up, omg I'm so hammered…”

That headhunter bailed on you. Probably figured they couldn't place you and just sketched out. I hate when they don't respond. It's annoying. But then I don't feel bad ignoring them either. I'm not sure about this, and someone correct me if I'm wrong, but head hunters are usually useful for experienced hiring and not for entry level.

I would apply for intern position, but it's not much different. You can't really apply for internships unless you're still in school, and will be for another semester/year.

I empathize with your personality difficulties. I also had that issue. I got plenty of interviews my sophomore, junior, senior year but had a below average 2nd interview and offer rate than others that I knew. I was plenty qualified and looked great on paper, but obviously something about me in an interview was off putting. Honestly, it hurt, but I also realize today that I am who I am. You've got to find where you fit and it will work out for you.

Given your admitted difficulties, it may be challenging, but you'll find something eventually and if you continue to work hard and develop your skills you'll progress.

I eventually landed an offer at a big 4 for an internship and started full time. Left after 2 years for internal audit and am enjoying things so far. Life has a funny way of slapping you in the face and then giving you a hug. I'm just waiting for the next slap…

[Study Monk]

I can't speak for every interview you had, but every time you tell a public accounting firm you want to be a controller you won't end up getting the job. Just tell them you would like to be a partner one day and you are looking to find a firm you can grow with and work for in the long run.

I spoke to an ancient wise man who sent me on a mushroom induced journey through an ancient forest to find the key to passing the CPA exam. A talking spider monkey told me to throw the last of my drinking water in the dirt to find what I was looking for. So I followed his instructions and the following message appeared in the soil:

"Do 5000 multiple choice questions for each section"

[Study Monk]

I can't speak for every interview you had, but every time you tell a public accounting firm you want to be a controller you won't end up getting the job. Just tell them you would like to be a partner one day and you are looking to find a firm you can grow with and work for in the long run.

I spoke to an ancient wise man who sent me on a mushroom induced journey through an ancient forest to find the key to passing the CPA exam. A talking spider monkey told me to throw the last of my drinking water in the dirt to find what I was looking for. So I followed his instructions and the following message appeared in the soil:

"Do 5000 multiple choice questions for each section"

[TNDCPA]

@Kimboroni & Study Monk Lesson learned; I should have never stated wanting to be a controller. Oyy wish I could take those words back!

@fuzyfro89 Thanks for the words of encouragement. Wow landed with the big 4 and ending up doing internal audit? That's quite the change. Hey as long as you like what your doing, then you've made the right decision!

FAR - 89 02/27/14
REG - 88 04/30/14
AUD - 90 7/3/14
BEC - 87 8/30/14 DONE!

[TNDCPA]

@Kimboroni & Study Monk Lesson learned; I should have never stated wanting to be a controller. Oyy wish I could take those words back!

@fuzyfro89 Thanks for the words of encouragement. Wow landed with the big 4 and ending up doing internal audit? That's quite the change. Hey as long as you like what your doing, then you've made the right decision!

FAR - 89 02/27/14
REG - 88 04/30/14
AUD - 90 7/3/14
BEC - 87 8/30/14 DONE!

[QuesoDip]

fuzyfro89 – Your last sentence about the tax provision hit me hard, my company just finished undergoing an audit and I sat down with my CFO and controller to look at what our auditors did for the tax provision. Even with their notes, we were still unsure of wtf they were doing. We just booked their recommended entries and said F it, that's what we pay them for. lol

With that being said, TNDCPA – I think being exposed to tax is certainly a valuable experience, but audit is the way to go if you want to be a controller 10 years down the line. Moving to a bigger firm might make the transition to audit easier. Usually the bigger firms are more relaxed about letting their employees try other things. I would also try audit at your current firm if your boss is okay with letting you do it, unless they don't provide audit services…. :/

Keep applying and interviewing. Chill out with the honesty a little though 🙂 Tell them you'd love to continue in auditing firms for the rest of your life and you will work 7am-2am Monday through Sunday if that's the way to achieve your dream. This is of course a lie, but that's what they want to hear. Good luck!

REG - 88 - 8 Weeks (Becker, Ninja Audio/Flashcards, Wiley TB)
FAR - 87 - 10 Weeks (Becker, Ninja Audio)
AUD - 98 - 6 Weeks (Becker, Ninja Audio, Ninja MCQ)
BEC - 87 - 2 Weeks (Becker & Ninja Audio)

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