Please Help me find an Accounting Position (license, consulting, apply)

[fsualumizzy]

First I just want to say long time reader first time poster. I just made a username today.

The last two years I have had so much trouble getting a job as an Accountant. I have been looking for anything in accounting even though I prefer to be an Auditor. And this is why I am having trouble...

1. My undergrad degree is in Criminal Justice
2. My only real world experience is with a firm that went under in less then 3 months aka I don't have enough real world experience.
3. I have not finished my Masters in Accounting yet (4 classes from being done.)
4. I don't have my CPA license yet but I am starting to study for one of the sections of the exam. I just now qualified to sit.
5. I live in Charlotte and my school is located in South Florida so that doesn't help me as far as jobs and internships go.

I have

1. Done all the websites
2. Applied to firms
3. Emailed firms that I can't apply to.
4. Called firms that I can't email.
5. I have worked with headhunters and all have the same excuse no experience no degree no job.
6. I have posted on forums before, but not city-data until now.

I have just ran out of ideas and time is running out before I finish my degree and need to pay back loans. So city-data what should I do? Is there any help out there? I do have my resume if anyone wants to look at it just message me. I would like to stay in Charlotte but I willing to move to the Northeast.

[manderly6]

I think your best bet is to finish your masters first. I'm not surprised you aren't finding anything. I don't know of too many true accounting positions that don't require a degree in accounting. Which at this point you do not have.

[e_cuyler]

In the past, firms would hire students who were finishing up their degrees, but there just isn't a lot of hiring among smaller firms in a lot of places. Have you tried temping as an accounting clerk or some similar job?

Is there is some kind of recruiting going on at your school? That's usually the best way to get into a firm as an entry level person. Larger firms generally don't pay much attention to the resumes posted on their websites. I was an older student who went back for a master's in accounting and was able to get into one of the firms' recruiting pipelines.

I would also see what activities are going on through your state's CPA society, a lot of them have good networking opportunities and many have quite a bit available for students.

[fsualumizzy]

I have tried temping firms but they haven't helped much or at all. There is recruiting going on at my school but only for South Florida Jobs I now live in Charlotte, NC so they only recruit for local areas. I fear I may have to move back to Florida to get a job. I will look into my state's CPA society thanks.

[Hemlock140]

Probably just not much in your area, I see such openings all the time here in the Northwest. We have an opening currently where I work that start at $65-90,000 but both require a lot of experience, such as at least two years of public accounting/auditing, internal auditing or performance auditing, and knowledge of GAAP, GAAS, and GAGAS; Working knowledge of federal/state/local rules and regulations, Experience working with and auditing of an ERP system.


Some of the local major financial consulting firms do hire recent graduates
but seem to be big on hiring graduates from the local University of Washington.

[ambient]

You really need to finish your degree first. Accounting is not like a blue collar job...a full degree is presumed before you even ask for the job interview.