[Anonymous]

Hi everyone,

I am looking for a little job hunting/career advice. I recently passed all four parts of the CPA exam in the beginning of December and just started applying for Chicago-land entry level positions (mostly audit) in public accounting last week. I graduated last May with a BS in business and double major in Accounting and Finance.

I know it has only been a week, but I haven’t heard much back from the public accounting/CPA firms that I have applied to. I talked with a recruiter for PwC’s assurance group in Chicago and she told me they are looking to hire entry level accountants to start in the fall at the earliest. My hope was to start a job within the next few months at the latest. Are these expectations unreasonable? I have no problem working for a smaller/mid-size CPA firm, but I am not sure if all public accounting firms are done hiring until summer/fall 2014. My hope is that smaller firms will be hiring year-round. Can anyone in smaller/mid-size firms explain what their hiring situation is at this point in time.

Also, if starting at a public firm is not an option until summer/fall, would I be making a mistake to look elsewhere (ie private)? Starting a job in 6-7 months would not be ideal, but I’ve heard that starting in public is probably the way to go because of the future job opportunities it will open up down the road.

Sorry for the long-winded question. Any advice or responses would be much appreciated. Thanks a lot!

[Anonymous]

@mysticalguy, my guess is you were hired as an experienced hire, which is totally different than someone trying to get hired from on campus…there are no set times for interviews etc. for experienced hires and we do that year round…but it would be much more difficult for someone to get hired off campus outside of the normal structured interview schedules without relevant work experience in the industry that would enable them to be brought in as at least a 2nd year (at least at my firm, I would think similar elsewhere unless a lot of interns turned down offers and they really needed a staff one that year).

[LoveEventing]

Typically, firms hire in the fall and bring a few people on in January. Sounds like you missed the January busy-season boat, so you will have to wait until fall. They just don't have the resources to train someone in the middle of busy season and they like to train everyone at once. I would wait to try and get into public, but that's just me.

Experienced hires are usually different and can be brought on at different times of the year.

BEC - 68, 76
AUD - 90, 91
FAR - 63, 83
REG - 55, 79

FINALLY DONE!

[LoveEventing]

Typically, firms hire in the fall and bring a few people on in January. Sounds like you missed the January busy-season boat, so you will have to wait until fall. They just don't have the resources to train someone in the middle of busy season and they like to train everyone at once. I would wait to try and get into public, but that's just me.

Experienced hires are usually different and can be brought on at different times of the year.

BEC - 68, 76
AUD - 90, 91
FAR - 63, 83
REG - 55, 79

FINALLY DONE!

[Author]

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