[Emiya]

Hello fellow CPAs & soon-to-be CPAs,

I desperately need your help with my career and truly appreciate all the input.
A bit of background, I graduated with a master in accounting about 3 years ago. Immediately after college, I started working for an industry company as their analyst for a variety of reports, my work wasn’t exactly what I would consider accounting. All of that came to an end yesterday because I honestly find myself getting unmotivated at work. Over the course of my work, I basically automated all previously manual reports, now you could throw anyone with decent Excel skills in there, and he/she would perform my role just fine. I no longer feel needed. My wonderful colleagues were the primary reason I stayed for that long. For the past 6-7 months, I’ve been thinking of switching to public accounting. My direct supervisor was from EY, he told me all sort of stories, and I was just fascinated. He also said that at my age and where I’m at, I’d be limiting my own career if I stay with the company, so I took his advice to heart and left the company on good note.

That brings me to the present, I know it was foolish of me to simply quit before finding/accepting another offer, but I needed a push to make it happen. While I was working, I managed to pass all 4 parts of the CPA, I’m not licensed yet due to the lack of experience. My ignorant mind thought it would be fairly easy to find an entry level audit job with the Big4 or at least a mid-size accounting firm with my background. Turned out that’s not the case, from my conversation with the career counselor from college, the big4 typically hired their interns or straight out of college. I’m at a loss as to what I should do next. I have enough saving that would last me 3-4 months, but I’d rather get back to work asap. I do see Cbiz and Grant Thornton posted job opening for Audit Associate I, which I definitely will apply within the next few days once I have read all your advice and do everything necessary.

Thank you all for reading, and good luck to those who are still trying to pass the exams.

[Tim]

“I know it was foolish of me to simply quit before finding/accepting another offer, but I needed a push to make it happen.” I hate to harp on this but I'd also hate to see you make the same mistake again in the future. You're still rationalizing your decision as though it was necessary when it was clearly the wrong thing to do. I've made the same mistakes myself so I know how it is. I'm still paying for those mistakes a decade later.
Job search is all about applying yourself. Cold calls, reaching out to people on linkedin, going to job fairs, reaching out to any friends/family connections, and of course applying to lots of places. Unfortunately, when you're unemployed (and not even collecting unemployment) your standards have to be lower. You lose some leverage and the ability to be picky.

FAR - 97 (10/12/17)
BEC - 95 (01/15/18)
AUD - 88 (04/06/18)
REG - 89 (11/16/18)

[MaLoTu]

You should start applying to any and all firms. One huge piece that you overlooked was that public accounting firms are hiring new staff this fall for a start next fall (9/2019). In the current economy this has changed a little as I now see new staff coming in at different times of the year, but the hard and fast rule is that if you apply now your start will be next September. Sometimes there are openings for January.
So please don’t limit yourself to Big 4 or national. There is more likeliness of starting sooner with a smaller firm.
Firms are already well into their hiring for next year. We have already given most our offers and our timeline was expedited by other firms making offers in Early October.

Almost always from my phone... please excuse my typos!

All 4 passed - 2016

CA CPA

[Pork Flavored Bacon]

You can try to apply to one of the Big 4 as an experience hire but if you don't have the relevant job experience, they will likely pass on you. They typically hire all of their incoming first-years straight out of school so unless you have connections, I'm not sure how you would get your resume in front of someone as their career pages do not have those positions listed for you to apply.
Your best bet would be to apply to small and mid-size firms for their upcoming busy season in 2019.
In the future, it's best to look for a job while you have a job. I'm not sure I understand why you thought it was a good idea to just resign without having something lined up especially if you're trying to apply to something which is not completely relevant to what you were doing in the past. However, that's water under the bridge or what not.
Start applying to what you can find on all the typical job sites like Indeed but just be aware a lot of those positions out there might have already been filled as MaLoTu mentioned.
Life lesson, man. Always look for a job while employed. It's so much easier.

FAR - 75 | REG - 87 | AUD - 82 | LAW - 81

[Emiya]

@Bacon & @MaloTu: Thank you for your advice. You are absolute right. I was not aware of the fact that accounting firms hire a year early. I will try my luck with all the firms I can find around me.

[Ryan – Just Another Dollar]

@Emiya In your search, my advice would be to not ignore lesser-known or local firms. These firms generally don't have as much recruiting clout and are often looking for driven and qualified candidates. Get your feet wet and build your resume there, finish your CPA license, and bigger and shinier opportunities will come. Try to pull together a list of firms in your area, and spend the time to go out to the website of each looking for a careers page with openings, rather than trolling the big job boards. There's opportunities out there, you just need to hunt and be in the right place at the right time. You'll do great!

B - 88 (2/16)
A - 84 (4/16)
R - 73 (6/16), 82(7/16)
F - 67 (1/16), 84(4/16)

Ethics - 93

Roger course & Ninja MCQ - HiYa!

[Emiya]

@Ryan: Thank you for your advice, I will not ignore any accounting firm I could find in my area. I've been using Indeed as my main source, if you have any other sites, please let me know.

[Author]

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