[sam85]

I just got a rejection email from a Big 4 firm and it’s destroying my confidence. This position was a “dream scenario,” so I was thrilled to pass the initial phone interviews and get invited for an office visit. I felt the interviews went well with the Partner and the rest of the staff, and I felt like I was qualified (relevant internships, CPA passed, 150 credits, internal referral, etc). Unfortunately, no offer.

In the past, I probably would’ve shaken this off, especially given the competitiveness of getting a job with a Big 4 firm, but this is becoming a trend. Over the past year, I’ve had roughly 10 interviews. I pass the phone/Skype interviews, but once I have an office interview, I’m rejected. I’m the last person to even remotely claim discrimination, but it’s starting to make me wonder whether my physical disability is derailing my job search. I suspect this over my interview skills because I’m 3/3 in phone only interviews (all of my internships) and have never been offered a position where I had to interview in person.

Should I disclose my disability prior to the interview? During the interview, is there anything I can do to make people take me seriously as a candidate?

[Missy]

Yeah there are definitely perks in some cases to hiring disabled (and BIGGER perks for being a minority owned or disabled owned business) thanks to government set asides that can trickle down to even the smallest employers (if you make a widget that a govt contractor needs for a project you stand a better chance of getting the contract.

I'm in the greater Boston area but I had a lot of things going against me, (probably being over 45 years old didn't help but I'm certainly not close to retirement, although I was crystal clear I had to work for a family friendly company my kids trump jobs at least for now) looking for a management level position in a manufacturing company that required a cpa but was willing to forgive my lack of public (and more importantly Big 4) experience, and all of my experience was for small companies under 20m in revenue. In some cases I've stalked LinkedIn to see who got the jobs I was turned down for and it makes sense to me, many had public experience, many had more compatible experience (came from a direct competitor of the hiring company), many were MUCH more qualified than I was. Sometimes it came down to me and one other person and the difference was nothing more than their particular software experience (like they knew SAP) and one time I was actually told they went with a candidate who applied directly so they wouldn't have to pay the placement fee to the company that happened to send me on that interview. There were probably twice as many that perceived me as nervous, too rehearsed, or not a good personality for their company. Ended up with 3 offers total within a few days of each other, one was an insult in salary, one would have been a great learning experience but the commute would have already killed me, and one is where I've been happily at for a year and a half.

Licensed Massachusetts Non Reporting CPA since 2012
Finance/Admin/HR Manager

[sam85]

Thanks for the responses and input everyone. I'm going to reach out to an acquaintance, who is a recruiter, for some feedback. I've asked employers for feedback in the past, but received a typical generic response. The feedback from doing mock interviews at my school's academic and career planning has been equally unhelpful because I've always been told that I perform well. I'm also going to continue to expand the locations I'm apply to as well.

mla, It's funny you bring up stalking candidates on LinkedIn to see who beat you out because I've done that – haha. Before my last internship ended, I applied to multiple full-time finance positions that were open. I didn't get interviews for any of the positions and my manager suggested that they were not actually available and the department was just hiring on their interns. I looked it up on LinkedIn a couple weeks later and confirmed that it was the case. It's frustrating when this is not the case, though.

[PublicGuy]

Did you state whether you are gunning for audit or tax positions? I'd think being wheelchair bound as an auditor could be trouble, especially with all the travel and need to do things like inventoryou counts in warehouses which may not be wheelchair accessible. In tax that shouldn't be an issue.

In this day and age, especially for a big company, I would be very surprised to see much blatant discrimination towardso the disabled. That attitude just isn't really acceptable anymore (or legal for that matter).

Interviews for entry level roles are less about hiring the most qualified person and more about hiring people you like. Just keep that in mind as your go through each interview. The interviewer knows your smart. It's on your resume. You wouldn't get past HR if you weren't. It's on you to show them why you would make a good addition to the team, and that usually boils down to chemistry.

[Author]

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