[Winter]

Hi all,

I am writing here, hoping to get some advice.

When I started out in college, I thought having a good GPA and getting your CPA would open doors to accounting jobs for you. Unfortunately, I neglected the one thing that mattered the most – internships.

I did not do any accounting related internships when I was in school. Initially, I was holding off until my final year (another mistake). However, in my final year, something unfortunate happened (family issues) that causes me to not pursue any internships at all.

I decided that at this point of graduation, the best thing to do to make myself more marketable is to get the CPA (more mistakes). By the time I started looking for jobs, I was already 9 months unemployed with no experience in accounting. I had my good GPA, a MS in accounting, and all CPA parts passed. However, of course with no experience, finding a job was difficult. I was not getting initial screenings at all. Automated e-mail rejection after rejection. Ran my resume through career centers, friends, and other professionals. Gotten referrals to Big 4 with no further follow-ups.

Eventually, the only call back I had was for a govt job which I had gotten an offer and accepted. My initial thought was to get my CPA license and try again for public accounting or the corporate world.

1 year passed and I am now CPA certified. Job searching still continued to be difficult. Approximately only 5% of the jobs I applied to, I managed to get a call back. However, I was not able to get any offers (went to the final stages for most) except for another government job offer after a year of applying.

Due to better pay and job responsibilities and title, I accepted the offer. Fast forward to today, the same issue remains. Now with nearly 4 years of government experience in internal audit, many corporate and public accounting firm still does not seem to want to accept.

I am feeling lost right now. I feel like everything I worked for in the past 5-6 years have been meaningless with how little luck I am getting in all my job applications. Has anyone ever broken out of the government accounting bubble to get into public accounting or corporate?

Thank you for your time.

[CPAoneday]

Have you looked into regional public accounting firms that audit local governments?
I have a hunch that your CPA and IA experience will easily open the door into public accounting. Leverage that experience for a year or so by working on a gov. audit. Prove your worth in public. Then, if you desire, HR should allow you to transition out of governmental audits.

[RyonT]

I agree with the above. Look at smaller firms. Send your resume to as many firms in you area you can. Eventually someone will call you, and unless your interview skills suck, you should get an offer, could be lower, but at least it gets you in the door. I had a similar situation where I looked for work after graduation with no prior experience. I eventually landed a job with a small firm in my city. Spent 8 years there until I moved out of state.

[Winter]

Thanks for the tips above.

I have applied to both big and smaller firms in the past with a public sector (majority was in VA or DC) but haven’t had any luck. This was when I only had 1 years of experience, so I’ll try again and see if it changes anything.

Now I’m primarily just looking for a position in NYC. Back then I was looking everywhere.

Jobs right now seems to be a bit stale but I’ll give it some more time and see if anything changes.

[jpj230]

I got my foot in the door by offering to do part-time work at small firms during tax season for $15/hour. Then I started going to local chapter meetings for CPA societies, and any networking events I could go to. Keep in touch after the networking events, just an email every month or so. Eventually, they will think of you when a position opens up.

[Author]

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