[Anonymous]

Hi everyone.

I’ve been applying for public accounting jobs and can’t seem to get an interview. I feel like I have a pretty solid resume. My undergrad GPA was 3.9 and I have my MBA. I’m also halfway finished with the CPA exam.

I don’t really understand what I’m doing wrong. I figured I would at least get an interview.

[Anonymous]

Are you only applying the Big 4? That may be the problem. You have to network and get to know people to get an interview for the big 4—- and often small firms as well. I would try mid-tier and bigger local firms, as well.

[Anonymous]

^What Myra said. I hope you're applying all over the place, as the smaller and mid-size firms offer some great opportunities as well.

If you don't mind me asking, what region do you live in? That could also be part of it.

[stoleway]

This question comes up a lot, one of the following reasons could be the reason why you're finding it hard to get into big 4.

I could be wrong but these are what I have realised after reading a lot of similar threads.

3.9 GPA, MBA and halfway through CPA – still no job or big 4?

It could be one of the following

1. You're an ESL or require working visa

2. Your resume or interview skills not up to standard

3. You probably didn't take advantage of internships whilst at school.

4. Big 4 doesn't recruit from your school

Just know that there's always light at the end of the tunnel even if you fall under any of these categories

My advice is not to put all your energy on B4 or public accounting.

REG -63│ 84!!
BEC- 59│70│ 71 │78!
AUD- 75!
FAR- 87!

Mass-CPA

[Anonymous]

I just wanted to chime in because I see this a lot on this forum – the whole esl/need a visa thing. We hire PLENTY of students who are f1 or need visa sponsorship in general. That doesn't affect your prospects of getting the interview or job whatsoever. We hire Chinese students, Swedish, Russian.. my office just hired someone from Gambia. Maybe.. MAYBE if you're applying to a Big4 in a smaller market that doesn't need an international presence this might be the case. Still, my firm and all the others push diversity so hard that it's hard to believe being an international student would disqualify you from some of the office locations. But hey, I can't speak for every office.

Another thing, our recruiting pool is highly competitive. We get hundreds of applications and only invite 20-30 students for first round interviews. You really have to stand out if you didn't network with us at previous events or didn't intern here. I'm not saying people who we have never seen before don't get interviews/jobs, just that their chances are getting in are automatically lower because we give some preference to the people we do know. We look at your gpa, we appreciate you taking the tests, great you have an MBA, but we need more that tells us about you and why you will bring something unique to the office.

[Author]

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