[isp1217]

Hi, I am a newbie at this awesome forum, and I am glad to join here.

My first posting will be about my current situation, and I would really appreciate if any of you could give me advice.

I have been working at a small sized CPA firm in Los Angeles, CA for a little more than a year (14 months now, started as an entry level, now a staff accountant). I am getting paid for $11.00 per hour. Obviously I cannot make a living with it, so my parents are helping me out financially for the meantime. My boss considers doing overtime as mandatory and keeps giving me pressure to work overtime even when it is not a busy season. I understand people work for a number of hours at public firm when it is really busy, but I believe they get commensurate compensation for it whereas I don’t. Sometimes I work double time but just get paid as overtime which is one of many unfair treatments I get here. I value the balance between work and personal life very much, which I can’t keep in this current situation. Due to many factors, I am considering to quit here and look for a new job. The only thing that gets me hesitant about quitting here is the period of my work here. I heard that the interviewer don’t perceive short term experience (less than 2 years) as attractive feature when hiring. Although I spent just a little more than a year at this place, due to the size of the company, I had a chance to learn and obtain experiences in broad range of accounting since there were a few employees (2 to 3) including myself who had to handle the whole work. So my question to you all is “Would you endure and work for another year to fill 2 years of work experience or Would you quit and look for a new job if you were in my position?”

Thanks for reading my posting and for your answers as well in advance !!! You guys are awesome !!

[Mamabear]

I agree and disagree. I have seen many resumes where people have the same job for years, but found ways to improve the job, added more to their responsibilities, etc. I have had this job for 4 years and it is a completely different job than when I started because I saw a need for changes and made them. There is still plenty more to change and having a group that can grow with those changes versus just wanting to come in and get a paycheck is important. I would say 5/6 of my team is very ambitious and they do things every day to show that they don't want to just show up and punch a clock. I guess it depends on the environment you are in as to whether someone just wants a clock puncher or whether or not they want people that will stick around and bring ideas to the table and help implement change.

CPA Exam - Finally DONE (November 2014)
BEC (08/10/13) 80
AUD (08/24/13) 65 (11/13/13) 85
FAR (04/12/14) 81
REG (07/19/14) 69 (11/29/14) 87!!

[Anonymous]

at $11/hr you are better off going on welfare….seriously

[Author]

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