[Mike]

Hey all,

I know this topic has kind of been beaten to death, but I was looking for some advice on making the (difficult) jump from private to public. Little about myself:

I stayed an additional semester at University to obtain a second Bachelor’s degree and get as close to 150 credits as I could. This was at the expense of missing out on prime public accounting recruiting in the spring/summer. I spent a year and a half in a F500 Internal Audit Department, and was promoted to an Experienced Associate role. I was not exactly thrilled with the industry I was in, so I have been doing all that I can to make the move into public accounting.

That all being said, it’s a weird situation being that I technically have experience on the internal side of things, but I know I would be looking to start at the bottom as an Associate. My question is: what is the best way to go about recruiting? Most of the firms list Experienced and Senior roles, and use campus recruiting to go after their new associates. Any insight would be much appreciated! Thanks!

EDIT: I forgot to mention, I am in the NYC area and will have sat (and hopefully passed) all four sections by the end of this summer/fall.

[Sage]

Hi!

I have zero advice whatsoever but am consider a similar private to public jump. My story is I did go into public for almost a year after graduation, but a combination of a crappy culture (it was a really small firm) and hating where I lived (Phoenix, AZ sucks), I needed to move to be somewhat content with life and found a job at a non profit. Now after almost 3 years at that non profit and a few months at another non profit (moved from AZ to the southern tier area of NY), I'm thinking of going back into public. I don't like my current job and despise the area we moved to. So many higher level positions in private that I've seen require public accounting experience and I think it'd be good for my career to have more experience. But like you said, firms seem to recruit new associates at schools and then want experienced people if they are coming from other avenues. And I don't want to start back at the associate level persay.

SO, I'm joining this thread to see what people have to say.

Good luck!!

FAR - 89
AUD - 78
BEC - 81
REG - 5/28/16

[jombe]

Just few days ago, people were saying in one of the posts here that public accounting is absolutely NOT necessary for a successful career… lol.

My background –

Worked in various operational roles (logistics, sales, purchasing, accounting) for ~6 years after graduating w/ an accounting degree.
Decided I wanted some job stability, so I passed the CPA exams & now work at a public accounting firm (it's on a smaller side, 160+ employees).

Summer ~ Winter here are actually quite flexible and enjoyable, but we still need to put in at least 40 hours a week.
During spring, depending on your experience level, we average anywhere from 55 ~ 70 hours (some people put in 80~90 hours on few weeks, but I've yet to had to work that kind of ungodly hrs).

I am sure other smaller sized public accounting firms have similar routine.

Are you sure you want this kind of life? More and more people are opting for better work/life balance 24/7 these days…

Anyways, bottom line is it's much easier to get an offer from public accounting firm if you passed all the exams, or at least passed a couple of them.

If you want Big4, I'd try reaching out to someone who you know that works at Big4. It's hard to get an offer for an associate level position unless you are freshly out of college.

FAR - 94 (10/4/15), Local Prep Online Lectures, BISK & NINJA MCQ
AUD - 99 (1/19/16), Local Prep Online Lectures, BISK & NINJA MCQ
REG - 96 (4/19/16), Local Prep Online Lectures, BISK & NINJA MCQ
BEC - 91 (7/19/16), Local Prep Online Lectures, BISK & NINJA MCQ

581 days of listening to lectures, reading texts & 10,000+ MCQs...

[ultrarunner]

I am about to switch from private to public. As long as you are young, you will be fine working in private industry. However, once you get older or more experienced, it is unlikely to move up without public accounting experience and CPA. Job competition in private industry is very bad. College graduates can take your job anytime since many industry accounting jobs don't require accounting degree or credential. Anyway, to get hired by the public accounting firm, you will need to pursue an advanced degree. That's how I got the offer. It was not easy to pursue the advanced degree while working full-time, but you could do it. All the best.

FAR 72,67,79 (Roger+Wiley test bank)11/15
AUD 80 (Roger)10/15
BEC 80 (Roger)4/16
REG 63,78 (Roger+Ninja MCQs)5/16

[CPAchiever]

The best way to make the jump when you have private experience is to network heavily. I made the switch from being a budget analyst to tax accountant at a mid-tier firm.
Nowadays, a referral has more weight than an online application. So first,research the firm you want to work for because each has different culture. I recommend to go back on campus for their campus recruiting. Genuinly meet the recruiters and ask them good questions. stay in touch and active on linkedin.
Secondly, join the AICPA and attend their events. You’ll meet people in the field and you can communicate you desire to switch to public. you’ll be surprised how many people will be willing to help.
Finally,you can try to reach out to your classmates that are in public accounting and ask them about their experience first and how you can get a chance to an interview. They could even put a referral for you.

Good luck!

[Mike]

These are all great replies, so thank you all for the advice!

I've been heavily researching the firms of interest in my area and I found the most success (i.e. getting any response at all haha) through reaching out directly to the recruiter via email versus dumping an online application. I've had a few referrals sent to the larger firms, but it's hard to say how much weight that holds, considering most of my colleagues are associates/experienced associates themselves. Better than nothing I guess.

Good luck to everyone else in similar situations.

[Author]

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