[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?

[mike_terror]

I just want to say thank you to every single one of you guys for the great support and advice.

You guys really did make me open my eyes and realize that no one will be holding my hand or have me shadowing someone in public accounting. I guess since this internship was my first time actually stepping foot into something remotely close to accounting, I had a rude awakening and was shaken up quite a bit. Maybe it's because I was so used to getting some type of training on the first day with my past part time entry level odd jobs. It's just that when I spoke with public accounting recruiters at college events and a lot of them told me that they don't expect much of new hires because they have no experience. They told me that everyone starts at zero, and will expect them to know things as they are taught as they go.

Ahh! now you guys are making me think twice about quitting the internship, bringing it back to either take the “Internship” or “HR Position”. To complicate matters even more, in November there will be an on campus interview being held for seniors / recent graduates with 2 public accounting firms participating. These 2 firms aren't big 4's but they are in the top 50.

I want to give this a shot and see if I can make it in, but the only complication is that if I take the HR position, I won't be able to do this. Even if I give up the HR position, there is no guarantee that I'll get into either one of the public accounting firms and move forward in the interview, in which I lose everything.

So many angles, so many decisions!

[IamBlessed]

have you ever considered taking the HR Job and trying to transfer internally to the accounting department?

[yankeeaccountant]

@mike_terror

I am sure this is one of many decisions you will come across in your professional experience. I agree with Calcpasoon, being thrown into the work is par for the course in accounting. And honestly, sometimes that is the best way to learn. I am trying not to get all motherly on you (My oldest is in college, and probably not that much younger than you!!), but I would tough it out on the internship. I think you will be surprised after one tax season how much you will have learned. Especially working at a smaller firm, where each person is probably wearing different hats. I wouldn't take the HR job and stray from your accounting course. If you have zero experience, this will fill that bill and then you will have more opportunities ahead of you. I would be thinking the long run. That is this mom's two cents worth!!!

Best of luck on the road ahead!

[markiux88]

@mike_terror……just do what you think it's best for you…I've been in this misery too..noone has ever showed me how to do anything…when I'm given something to do..they just tell me to do it…no explanations…sometimes I spend a lot of time figuring things out…one time I was working on some financial statements in Excel..when I was done I noticed the balance sheet did not balance…I bet my boss had fun going through that…lol

[Author]

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