Your suggestions for a more effective job search... (Boston: credit, home)

[Colonel Aureliano Buendía]

Hi everybody!

I am having a hard time finding a job here in Boston.

I am a fresh-out-of-grad-school student.
I have a BS in Finance and a Master in Accounting.

Unfortunately, the degrees don't mean much in this economy.

Additionally, I have no professional work experience.

I tried doing internships while in school but most were non paying and I had to work full time to support myself. There was no way around it.

Now, I left my home state about 2 weeks ago because the job market there is much worse than MA.
However, I am finding out that here is not going to be much better for me. The real problem is my lack of experience. And those few no experience,entry level jobs that are available do not prefer graduate students because of overqualification reasons.

I think I have contacted every staffing agency in town. No luck in getting any interviews. I have signed up for the career fair but in the meantime what do I do?

I am hard working and intelligent (at least I think so, lol). I graduated *** Laude with distinguished marks. I think I did everything the proper way.

Does anyone have any suggestions? I would truly appreciate it. And if your advice turns out to be really good...well....dinner,beer or wine will be on me.

[brent s]

are you looking to work in public accounting?

You are going to have to take some lumps and take a relatively low paying job to get your foot in the door no matter what you do.

As for CPA firms, just do a search on the internet for all the firms in the area and send them your resume regardless of whether they have active job postings or not.

A CPA firms isn't going to view you as "overqualified" for an entry level position with a masters degree, since you have to have a masters degree (well, in equivalent credits anyway) to sit for the CPA exam anyway.

[Colonel Aureliano Buendía]

Thanks Brent.

The problem I am encountering is that most places tell me that I do not have experience which is true. Some other places have actually told me that I am overqualified and that they are seeking BS degree holders only.

My long term goal is getting into public accounting and obtaining the CPA license. And hopefully specializing in TAX rather than AUDIT.

At this point I have no idea what to do.

Thanks Again!