[Anonymous]

Hello All. I need some career advice. Within my company I’m pretty much tapped out. I’ve gone as far as I can without having public experience. I feel there is no sense in delaying the inevitable, so I’ve started getting my resume together to start applying for jobs. I think a b4 firm would be best for me, as I will eventually have to move to a bigger city (husband is a pilot) and the national firm name recognition would follow me or I could possibly transfer to the local office. If anyone has a strategy on how to best approach this, I would appreciate the advice. I’ve leveraged my contacts and sent me resume to a former classmate to send up the chain, But I don’t have a contact at the other 3 firms. I’ve been searching LinkedIn for recruiters within the firms in my area and I plan on reaching out to them directly.

[IcecreamF]

Do you have your cpa? dont bother if you dont.

[MaLoTu]

I don't necessarily believe that not having a CPA is going to make your efforts to transition futile.

However, without having public experience, it is very unlikely you will be brought on as an experienced hire. As an experienced staff you are expected to know how to perform many different types of testing without any guidance, which is just not possible coming from industry accounting.

With that being said, you could still start as a first year staff. To be honest, the pay isn't not going to be that different from year one staff to year two. The firms all hire in late summer to fall, so you are approaching a good time frame to make the switch.

Did you go to a school that is recruited from by B4 or other forms? I feel so, I would start with your school. Figure out if as an alumni you can leverage their resources to get in contact with the campus recruiters. From my experience B4 recruiter said do not respond to emails, so don't anticipate that being an only avenue, although you should definitely try it.

[MaLoTu]

^sorry for the typos, auto correct from my phone.

[Valleygrl68]

IM me, I have contacts at all of them.

[Anonymous]

I have my CPA. I've worked in Internal Audit for the last 3 years, so I have some experience testing controls. I'm not really hung up on title and I'm not above starting as a Staff 1. My school was not located near a large metro area, so we weren't big 4 hotbed. I also don't live near my university, so i wasnt sure their contacts would be sufficient. i will definitely start there though. it cant really hurt.

@valleygirl i dont believe this board has an im function?

[MaLoTu]

I think that IA experience makes you an asset to Firms that audit public companies. I have no idea how the experience will affect your starting position, but I think your experience and CPA will give you a good shot.
Try to get in contact with Seniors and or managers at the firms you are interested in that are in the office you want to work at through LI. These individuals will get a bonus if you get hired so they will be motivated to help you. see about attending meet the firms event near to where you live if your alma mater is not an option. Good luck.

[PubMaster]

Sounds like you have the right mindset about applying and you know what to do. With three years of IA experience and your CPA, I could see you coming on as a Staff II or possibly a senior. It just depends on the office and what their teams think, ya know?

My advice is similar to what you already stated: Get your resume in & start networking as much as possible. Having to move to a bigger city may prove to have more opportunities for you since the B4 are present in most major cities.

Keep us updated on how the process turns out! Best of luck to you.

[zchen42]

How do you interact with people on Linkedin? And what if there are not available positions at this moment?

[Tscape16]

As a joiner of the big four in the last few years, I can tell you there are a lot of moving parts to consider. Will they put you into your current internal audit industry or something new? The biggest shock was how quick they expect you to be up to speed. Needless to say three other experienced hires from various backgrounds started when I did and I'm the only one left of that group.

I had a tough time initially transferring from Healthcare auditing at a regional firm to Financial Services at Big Four. Learning a new industry and the big four audit approach was quite the undertaking. You have to know up front the first year will be the toughest. The second year isn't as bad once you're used to the expectations/workload.

Based on my experience from a few of our industry hires, internal audit will probably get you to an associate or staff one position. Coming from industry or any other area besides a big four audit firm, they will most likely want to evaluate you one year before promotion to senior or lead associate.

FAR - 90 ✔
BEC - 86 ✔
REG - 82 ✔
AUD - 92 ✔
ETHICS - Passed

*Licensed CPA

[abig]

Network with internal audit big4 people on linked in. you can filter people who work in any city,company, and college. Start there with people from your college, even if they arent internal audit.

[Author]

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