[mike_terror]

I’m kind of stuck in a situation regarding employment and would like some advice from my fellow board members here @ another71.

My background is that I’m 23 and I’ve recently graduated from a state college and got my bachelors in accounting, eligible to sit for the CPA exam, and have ZERO accounting experience.

I recently started an UNPAID internship last week at a local small CPA firm a few miles away from where I live. This internship is part-time as I currently also work part-time elsewhere that is totally unrelated to accounting (more of a retail business) and making only a few dollars over minimum wage.

A few weeks ago, I applied for a Staff Accounting position at a private retail clothing company. To keep the story short, the recruiter is actually interested in me for a Human Resource associate position and the HR manager wants me to come in for an interview. The Accounting manger did not respond to the recruiter about my application so I most likely won’t be offered the staff accounting position.

Now my question is, if I were to be offered this full-time HR position, should I take it? It is totally unrelated to accounting and I feel like I’ll be wasting time in getting my foot into the accounting profession. The bright side to this is that I’m sure the pay will be a lot more than what I’m currently making at the part-time retail job. I’ll also be able to add something new to my resume. If I take this HR position, this means I’ll have to drop the UNPAID Accounting Internship. Do you guys think this is beneficial? I mean, I could take this position in the mean time and study for the CPA exam and look for another job in 5 months?

I really want to get my foot into public accounting, but it just seems that no one is biting and I’m getting desperate. If I take this HR position, it will be very difficult for me to get time out of the day / days off to have other interviews with other companies. The other downside is that I feel like the clock is ticking where I eventually will no longer be considered a new graduate. When that happens I’ll be neither a fresh graduate or an experienced hire.

If I don’t take the position, then I’ll be stuck working for free at the small cpa firm and making a lil more than minimum wage at my other part time job.

What to do??! Any advice would be greatly appreciated, what do you guys think is the best choice? Is it beneficial to have some HR experience on my resume?

[Herbieherb]

Depends on your financial situation. If you have tons of bills/rent etc. I would take the HR position and study for cpa…theb when you pass start looking in acct again? If you don't need money stay at the unpaid/retail and keep looking

NEW YORK- DONE

[mike_terror]

Thanks for your suggestion / advice Herbieherb.

For my current situation, I'm not really pressured with too many bills, so I don't really NEED the money. I can continue to make do with what I'm making now by being a penny pincher, but having the extra bump in pay will surely be nice and make things more comfortable for me, but it's definitely not needed.

If money was not an issue, what would you guys do in my shoe? Would you guys still take the HR position? Does it add value to my experience in the long run to potential employers?

[MikeInMIA]

I think CPA firm internship looks better to other accounting employers. You don't have to tell anyone its unpaid (I don't think?). Also, bouncing jobs often is not very impressive.

of course, if your goal is to just make money a career in HR can be as lucrative as anything else once your in the right places.

BTW, I would still go to the interview. In this day getting experience on how to present yourself is very valuable. I know a lot of people who are stupid on technical stuff (accounting rules, applying accounting) but have good jobs because they're likeable and know how to talk a big game.

[ROACH]

How long is your internship? See if you can get a job offer at the HR place but delay it a few weeks/ months until you finish your internship.

I'll be honest and say HR work seems so easier than accounting work. And more chill. You never know bro what the future holds.

BEC: 66 | 69 | 7/23/2013
AUD: 8/28/2013
REG:
FAR:

[mike_terror]

@ Roach

The internship is until the end of tax season which will be around April of 2012.

To me HR does sound easier than accounting work, but I'm not sure if its possible to get as far up the corporate ladder with HR?

[mla1169]

I'd wait until I talk to them and see what the offer is, then ask the question here again. I'd be especially interested to know what the benefits are, etc. I think you probably still have 2-3 years left on your parents health insurance correct?

FAR- 77
AUD -49, 71, 84
REG -56,75!
BEC -75

Massachusetts CPA (non reporting) since 3/12.

[mike_terror]

@mla1169

I'll definitely update everyone on the status after my interview. Regarding my parent's health insurance, if I remember correctly, its up to the age of 24 only if I'm still a full time student. Since I've graduated, I think I'll be cut off if the insurance company ever decides to run some type of confirmation.

[Anonymous]

@mike_terror

I think with the new healthcare law children are covered until the age of 26, and they dont have to be a student, dont have to live with their parents, and they dont have to be a tax dependent either.

If you dont need the extra money, I would not take the HR job. Whats the point in taking a position that does absolutely nothing to further your career in the field you actually want? You might as well take a manager job at mcdonalds or something because thats about the same amount of accounting experience you're going to get. Know what I mean? There will always be other opportunties to take new jobs in other fields. But if the goal is to make a career for yourself in accounting, then you need to stick to whatever position is going to help you do that.

Stay in the internship, but continue to apply and look for other opportunities in accounting. Don't feel desparate, something will come along, and as you start passing more sections of the CPA exam you'll become increasingly marketable and attractive to other accounting positions.

[mike_terror]

Just an update, I came back from the interview and everything went pretty well. They questioned my goal with obtaining a CPA license because they are looking for someone who will be committed to the job and not someone who will be leaving after a couple of months or a year because it wasn't what they expected or because they want to seek other opportunities. The manager mentioned that the HR position isnt just the normal admin work, recruiting, etc etc, but actually dabbles around everything else including payroll, taxes, and other financial tasks.

The standard benefits are offered such as health, 401k, and vacation days. I tried negotiating between the ranges of $17-$20 per hour, but was shot down. I was told that they would not be able to offer that range to start off, but will most likely be around $14-$15 because it is an entry level position and also to see how my performance is first because everything will basically be learned from scratch and academic skills won't really be a factor in the pay. I haven't been offered the position yet, but the interview seemed to go quite well.

What do you guys think? I'm in So. Cal, and this will be my first entry level full time position job. I've had other part time positions throughout college that are unrelated to accounting. The only thing I got going for me is my B.S degree in accounting and studying for the CPA. Does $14-$15 seem low for a new graduate in my area? Would there be better opportunities with higher starting pay? The other thing holding me back was the discussion about “commitment” and what I plan to do with the CPA license. I do plan to continue seeking other opportunities out there in public accounting while working at the HR position, but of course I didn't tell the interviewer that. She wants someone who will be committed to sticking through at the company for a couple of years because obviously they would hate wasting time to train someone and have them leave a year later. I'm not sure if I'll be comfortable to say that I will be the perfect candidate planning to stay over a year. But at the same time things might change, and I might change my mind if I decide to go with it.

Regarding the unpaid internship that I have right now, I plan to actually leave the position. To be honest, I've been feeling pretty miserable there because I feel like there is no formal training structure and there's a lot of information just being thrown at me. Kind of like being tossed in the water, and expected to swim on my own. It's a very small size local firm focused on tax with just 3 staffs and the boss doesn't have time to really show me anything. I also feel quite overwhelmed with the amount of information and task given, and expectancy to complete them on my own. This was my first time applying information that I've learned throughout my academics into the real world, but a lot I have forgotten and do not know the proper way the firm would like them to be done, also with no examples given or shown. I plan to leave and just use my off days to continue studying for the CPA on my own time.

In the end, my decision right now is to either take the HR position and make a couple dollars more than what I'm making, or don't take it and keep studying for the CPA on my own and continue seeking a public accounting job elsewhere. If I take the HR position, I'll be hard for me to seek out other public accounting positions.

P.S for those who work at larger size public accounting firms, is there any formal training structure given to new hires? or are they just thrown into the water and expected to swim / sink and left alone like what I described above?

[pinkshel]

I think that the company is prefering someone with an accounting background on purpose. If you decide to accept the position you will use more of your accounting knowledge than you think, especially when it comes to the payroll side of HR. Being in HR/Payroll is not that far out of the realm of public accounting to be a detriment to your career path. Unless you have your heart set on doing something specific like tax or auditing, then accepting has many benefits beyond the pay amount.

Good Luck.

BEC - 77 (lost credit)
AUD - 65
FAR - 76
REG - 64,64,68,73

[kandisjoy]

“I've been feeling pretty miserable there because I feel like there is no formal training structure and there's a lot of information just being thrown at me. Kind of like being tossed in the water, and expected to swim on my own. It's a very small size local firm focused on tax with just 3 staffs and the boss doesn't have time to really show me anything. I also feel quite overwhelmed with the amount of information and task given, and expectancy to complete them on my own. This was my first time applying information that I've learned throughout my academics into the real world, but a lot I have forgotten and do not know the proper way the firm would like them to be done, also with no examples given or shown.”

Are you sure you want to work in public accounting at all? Because that's pretty much exactly what my experience in public accounting was for over a year and two different firms (both regional). Seriously. Which is one of the many reasons that I got out of public accounting as soon as I could. And it's not just me… I've heard this from many people about public accounting. It's a running joke around here that hardly anyone in public accounting really has any clue as to what they are doing.

FAR: 71, 77
BEC: 70, 82
AUD: 62, 78
REG: 71, 68, 85

CA Licensed 11/2011

[Anonymous]

The feeling of being thrown into the water with no formal training is VERY normal in accounting, especially in public accounting. I was at a regional firm, actually had a week of training classes, then was thrown in on huge audits and expected to apply everything perfectly. That week of training class was NOTHING, and wasnt any different than being asked to apply what you learned in school to the real world, which is exactly what you said you're being asked to do now.

I'm not sure what you are expecting from an accounting position, but there is certainly no hand holding, no shadowing someone else for weeks, no one-on-one “show me how to everything at least once”. It is very much a sink or swim, figure it out on you own kind of deal. What you learned in school helps a little, but for the most part it's looking at what they did last year and trying to figure it out, screwing it up and getting yelled at, hopefully someone shows you how to do it right, and then dont ever make that mistake again. Eventually you start to figure things out. This is even more true in public accounting. Honestly, i dont see how things will be any different a year from now when you've finished the CPA and you're back out there looking for an accounting job again. Except then you wouldnt have even had the benefit of the experience gained in the internship.

[jenuno01]

@Kandisjoy i completely agree with you! There is NO hand-holding in the public accounting field what so ever! So, @mike_terror, in order to succeed, you really need to be able to use your analytical skills and figure things out on your own (i.e. look at last year's files ha! jk)

I actually just graduated last year in December and was hired by fortune 500 company as an Internal Auditor… and let me tell you, it has been quite a ride! I was thrown in the water expecting to know how to swim… I was running opening meetings, walkthroughs, writing reports, doing analyticals. closing meetings etc! within 3 months of starting my job! The public accounting field is definitely not for everyone, and you never know, you might actually like that HR job!

Good luck on your decision! I would take the HR job if I were you.

Class of 2012

[NolaCpa2Be]

I would hold onto that internship at least until you get offered the HR position. It's tough getting a job in accounting without any experience these, and the more, the better. Firms are investing less and less into training and are looking for candidates that have that precious experience under their belt. If you are really THAT miserable or money is tight, then go for the HR position, but if you are really pursuing accounting, I'd suggest bearing with the internship because it might just be the extra push on your resume that lands you the position you REALLY want.

[ROACH]

@mike don't dwell too much on formal job training… I'm entry level too and although I did have someone babysit me for the first few months, I think I could have done it on my own. It'll just “click”.. and you'll grow from that point on. I'm a staff in private industry not public though.

Also, the HR position does sound kind of on the low end regarding pay. See if they're willing to start you off at $15 probation and then increase it by $18-20.. 3 months type thing. If you get a call back or another interview… whatever you do… DO NOT mention the CPA exam again. You've mentioned it once and they said they don't care about it and want someone who is focused on the job.

BTW, $14-15? cot damn these guys are wack… accept the job but keep working on that CPA.

BEC: 66 | 69 | 7/23/2013
AUD: 8/28/2013
REG:
FAR:

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