Young Accountant looking to move to San Francisco (job market, college)

[YoungAccountant]

I am a young female who is in my mid 20s. I am relocating to San Francisco in June and is wondering what is the accounting/finance job market is like there.

I have two years of private accounting experience, and is pursuing my CPA at the moment.

Any feedback or advice is greatly appreciated. Thank you!!

[mayorhaggar]

There's been a few people here who made this same exact topic within the last few weeks, search through the recent archives and see what you find.

And Accountemps has had a billboard up lately by the Bay Bridge, I guess they have open positions.

[tiemyshoe]

I think it's pretty good, lots of tech companies wanting to go IPO or getting their books clean.

if you got your CPA, you won't have to look far for a job.

[YoungAccountant]

I am just scared right now. I am moving to San Francisco for a change, and as a single lady, I don't know what to expected. I will be staying at a friend's place for couple weeks, and I want to be as prepared as possible. I don't want to be a free loader you know lol.

I heard from so many people that unemployment rate is pretty high in San Francisco, but is that for overall job market? Or is job marketing is improving?

I started applied for jobs since last week, and received several call backs from the companies I applied (Ya!!), but unfortunately, since I was not physically there, they had to move on with other candidates. It was heartbreaking and made me pretty sad.

[thecooler]

As a fellow accountant also looking for work, I can tell you the job market is still tough but improving (and its better then it was during the dot bomb). As a recent grad, I would recommend that when you get here, sign up with a few accounting/finance recruiting firms, and I would guess you'd at least get a temp gig pretty quickly. I originally moved to SF when I graduated college with no savings and no job, during a recession, and I got a temp job assignment in 3 weeks, that temp assignment turned into a perm job offer about 5 months later.

Are you coming with a car? Because you're going to find that the majority of job opportunities are going to be in Silicon Valley as opposed to in SF itself.

[YoungAccountant]

Originally Posted by thecooler

As a fellow accountant also looking for work, I can tell you the job market is still tough but improving (and its better then it was during the dot bomb). As a recent grad, I would recommend that when you get here, sign up with a few accounting/finance recruiting firms, and I would guess you'd at least get a temp gig pretty quickly. I originally moved to SF when I graduated college with no savings and no job, during a recession, and I got a temp job assignment in 3 weeks, that temp assignment turned into a perm job offer about 5 months later.

Are you coming with a car? Because you're going to find that the majority of job opportunities are going to be in Silicon Valley as opposed to in SF itself.

Unfortunately, I do not have a car. But I am really glad that the economy is picking up. I just received two phone calls from the job I applied two days ago, one was for an financial analyst position and the other one was for a staff accountant position. But what hurts is they want to interview me right the way, and I am still in Boston right now. So they had to move on to the next candidate...... Sigh...

I don't know if it is a good sign that I received call backs or a bad sign that I am unable to be in San Francisco to do the interview. I was being told that living in San Francisco you don't need a car.

[mayorhaggar]

If you are getting callbacks then that's more than what a lot of people ever get. Schedule as many interviews as you can when you first come and see what happens.

And you don't really need a car in SF but you would want one if you lived in Silicon Valley or worked there, the South Bay is car city.

[YoungAccountant]

Originally Posted by mayorhaggar

If you are getting callbacks then that's more than what a lot of people ever get. Schedule as many interviews as you can when you first come and see what happens.

And you don't really need a car in SF but you would want one if you lived in Silicon Valley or worked there, the South Bay is car city.

Thank you for the encouragement. I won't be in San Francisco until June 22nd, so most of the recruiters or HR just moved on with other candidates. (Sigh..) I think I am going to hold off my applying process a week and half prior my arrival to see how that goes. Is that a good idea or just keep applying?

Do most people really never receive call back? Just curious. Because the next company I will work for will be my 2nd full-time job, so I really don't know what to expect. During my last employment, the company loved me, but because I want to stay close with family, they had to let me go. I still keep close contact with my boss though.

[mayorhaggar]

Depends on the field and how marketable your skills are. The economy has really sucked in the last few years in SF and it's pretty typical to apply to jobs and never hear back from employers, not even an email. If you're getting callbacks to schedule interviews then you're further along than a lot of people.

[YoungAccountant]

Aw... I should be happy then. So Mayor, if you don't mind me ask. How does temp work? And what temp agency did you use? and What was it like? I am thinking using temp agency if nothing work out.