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I recently went back to school and will graduate on Friday with a Masters in Accounting (3.9 GPA).
I am looking for a job with a small or medium-sized CPA firm in NYC. I am not just graduating from school with no experience, I have significant work experience that is applicable to a career as a CPA.
Where is your degree from? I've seen people who have 4.0 Master's degrees which is impressive if from a top school like Harvard, but more of a joke if from a school like Devry, Phoenix, etc.
Start applying for jobs at CPA firms IF your degree is from a reputable state university. You'll get feedback on what is working and what is not. If it is from Devry, Phoenix, WGU and whatever new diploma mills there are by lesser known names, I honestly would not even bother...
Turnover is pretty high in public accounting and entry level jobs are relatively easy to find. I would first check with your school to see if they have a relationship with any firms (a lot of firms have a few favorite schools that they recruit from, which just makes getting in the door a little easier). You can also ask your professors if they can make an introduction to any firms (this will help you more with the smaller firms). Small firms may not be hiring right now since it's after busy season, but large, mid-size, and mega-regional firms hire mainly year-round.
Also, don't think you can only apply via job ads. Feel free to send your resume to HR (or, better yet, if you have a contact within the firm have them pass your resume through the chain) with a nice cover letter explaining what you're looking for. With the exception of my first internship, every one of my public accounting jobs were from me identifying which firms I was willing to work for and sending them my resume directly.
Where is your degree from? I've seen people who have 4.0 Master's degrees which is impressive if from a top school like Harvard, but more of a joke if from a school like Devry, Phoenix, etc.
Start applying for jobs at CPA firms IF your degree is from a reputable state university. You'll get feedback on what is working and what is not. If it is from Devry, Phoenix, WGU and whatever new diploma mills there are by lesser known names, I honestly would not even bother...
its not from a diploma mill. Its from a good program and I have a 3.9 GPA. The school is trying to help me but i have a lot of experience already. The BIG 4 wants kids with no experience to work there and I have had trouble getting traction with smaller firms.
Your college should have some kind of recruiting center. I'm an accountant/CPA and i'm in NY too (Long Island)... I got my first job out of school by using my college's recruitment website (or something along those lines, i kind of forget if it was just a website/portal or they had an actual center). The big CPA firms came to do campus recruiting (like E&Y and Deloitte), but there were a few small firms that came as well. i went to one of the smaller firms. they should have SOME kind of resource for you to look at campus recruiting/entry level positions.
I recently went back to school and will graduate on Friday with a Masters in Accounting (3.9 GPA).
I am looking for a job with a small or medium-sized CPA firm in NYC. I am not just graduating from school with no experience, I have significant work experience that is applicable to a career as a CPA.
Is there anyone who can offer me any advice?
Pound the alumni database for others who graduated in Accounting, see what firms they are related to and reach out to them. The Big 4 are probably out if you did not got thru the normal recruiting cycle but you aren't interested anyways.
Pound the alumni database for others who graduated in Accounting, see what firms they are related to and reach out to them. The Big 4 are probably out if you did not got thru the normal recruiting cycle but you aren't interested anyways.
Most mid size and up public accounting firms only hire first year associates from recruiting new grads from their preferred schools. As a matter of fact, I believe there is a lawsuit about this in California.
If I was the OP, I would concentrate solely on SMALL firms.
It is very hard to break into public accounting if you don't get hired before graduation.
Accounting is very much a two tiered system and once you miss your window to get the better jobs in public accounting, it is an almost impossible road to get back on. Of course it isn't impossible, just much more difficult. I would concentrate on small firms and start networking like crazy.
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