[Giant$]

Looking for a little advice here….

Quick recap, have 5 years experience as entry-level accountant/bookkeeper in private, then went into public as a Staff 1 for 1.5 years but went back into private for 5 months to complete the CPA exams. Now that I have been licensed it’s time to find the job that will really launch my career. I’m of the opinion finding a job at a Big4 firm will be most beneficial for my future and resume BUT I am on the wrong side of 25 and feel like I may have priced myself out of a Staff position with my current salary but at the same time have no actual senior experience in public. Sorry for the run on sentences.

The question is….what would you do in my shoes? Am i overvaluing having a Big4 firm on my resume? If I was set on getting into a Big4 firm, any advice on how to do it? (Throwing in a random application feels like a long shot) At a point in my life where im ready to work my a$$ of for a couple years and private feels like a “back 9” gig

[MaLoTu]

Big 4 will help get into super big name companies but it is not essential. You can easily get a great job at most companies with having senior level auditing under your belt as long as it is in the right service line (don’t get pigeon holed in a niche area do straight financial with exposure to SEC).
If you are up to the demand try for big 4 but don’t rule other firms out. Make sure that if you start at staff (likely case) make sure you are eligible to be promoted to senior in the next traunch of promotions.
However, with 5 years industry and 1.5 years public I am not sure you need to go back to public. I think you need to ponder what your career goal is and what is the best way to get there. You should be able to get a senior role in industry now. If you go to public, to see any benefit you will have to stay until manager, time wise, since like I mentioned you should already be senior level.

[Giant$]

Great advice thank you

[Author]

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