[onestep]

I know this is wrong and unethical, but it really wasn’t my intention from the start. So this is basically what happened. During the interview, the interviewer kept on asking me how much times I took each part and I felt so much pressure that I told her once for each part except regulations. The truth was I took each part twice and FAR three times. I really didn’t want to sound dumb, but instead, I think I made it even worst. I am feeling so bad right now. Do you know if they can find out? I really want this job as I’ve been unemployed for over a year since I graduated. I have no experience under my belt except passing this exam.n

n

[GSU Josh]

I am 25 years old so this makes it even more difficult. I feel that I could do anything if I was just given the opportunity. I was laid off from my last job from no fault of my own, and my employer did not even try to work with me/implement me into their long term plans. More than anything, I'm sick of being absolutely broke. If I had my $40k salary back right now, I would feel rich.

AUD - 74, 87; BEC - 84; FAR - 78; REG - 79
It's done, Son!

[onestep]

I so agree with you GSU Josh, if they don't hire you, how the hell are we suppose to get experience? First the cpa exam has taken over my life, and now, I can't find a job. It just puts me back to that shitty feeling that I had when I was studying. With the free times that I have now, I don't even feel like going out anymore. I don't want to go out and then bump into people that I know and be asked, “so..what are you doing now?”. I don't want to answer with “unemployed for a year”.

I am like totally opposite of you. I have about a year of experience of tax. That gets me no where but into tax. I can't go into AP/AR, etc. I think audit is a lot more flexible. And what is pissing me off more is my first job pays about 50k, and now that I passed the CPA exam, I dont even think I can get back into the workforce within the 40s. I feel like I am going backwards. All the employers are trying to lowball people during this time.

I also thought accounting was a solid professional too. I switched from computer science to accounting because I was afraid of the position that I am in right now. Hell, guess I was meant to be. T__T

[GSU Josh]

All we can do is keep our heads and hopes up and keep pushing. Once I get done with this exam, I'm gonna give it a little while in my current area to find a job. If nothing happens quick, I'll be out beating the bushes across the state. Whatever it takes at this point. I won't quit fighting until I find a solid job. I can't be ignored forever.

AUD - 74, 87; BEC - 84; FAR - 78; REG - 79
It's done, Son!

[potatogun]

If you are a solid programmer you should go back into that field. A lot of CS programs don't pump out great real world developers by themselves since a lot of the programs are largely into the theoretical aspect and utilize languages that aren't always so useful to the market (but people are moving to using python now at least!). But if you have a CS theory background and some personal programming experience then that might be a better bet than accounting right now.

I know a lot of CS and computer or electrical engineers who do software development that were in relatively high demand recently.

FAR 92 - AUD 91 - REG 94 - BEC 86

[FARbehind]

I wonder why she asks you that question to start with. It should be illegal to ask you how many times you took the exam. From my experience most of the people in real life lie about that. The statistics is only 10% of the people pass all 4 exams on their first attempt but I know way more people who are telling me they passed on their first try. This information is irrelevant to the job so I wouldn't try to make it up…

aud,bec,reg-passed
far-->75 Done!!!!!
ethics-100

[onestep]

Oh? Is it illegal? And speaking of illegal, there was also a whole bunch of red flag questions. One example was that he was trying to get my age. He was trying to be slick, so he asked when I graduated from HS. I think its a dirty way to use indirect questions.

[limey]

A way to get around those (really lame) interview questions is to blow it off and then move the conversation to something else, i.e. “Taking each exam part once is one too many!”

And illegal questions – you can always give vague, silly answers to defuse and steer the conversation elsewhere, i.e. “Oh, I graduated high school last year, I think you were in the class the year before!” or “I'm adopted, so I'm clueless about my true ethnic origins or where my name came from!” or “I think my pet rock is sometimes eligible for childcare credit!”

It's generally illegal to ask about age and ethnicity, but small shops ask them b/c they can get away with it. Watch out for similar questions that indirectly ask things about yourself without directly asking, i.e.

What are the origins of your first/last name?

How do you spend your weekends?

Where are you living and do you like living in an apartment? For a house, who handles the house maintenance? How many room are there? How many roommates do you have? (Trying to figure out if you are married but not wearing a ring, if you have kids, etc)

These are very natural conversation questions when you meet someone new, but how you answer these in an interview gives the interviewers clues. You can be polite, but you don't have to give too much information – you can give fairly broad answers.

I really can't pass again!

[Author]

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