[xk]

Hey everyone, I’ve been looking through these forums for the past couple of months while I work on my cpa exam and masters and I need some advice. Today, I was presented an offer that I don’t know if I should accept or not. This firm offered me a busy season internship and possible full time employment after if it goes well. I was originally going for a full time position starting this October. I don’t know if I should accept it or look for other opportunities during the normal recruiting season.

They offered me the internship position instead of the full time job because I did not have an internship throughout college. I had a 3.7 gpa in undergrad and a 4.0 in my masters program halfway through. I’m also waiting for my aud score and will be taking reg end of next month; and I plan on finishing them all by the end of the year.

I was hoping for a full time position offer. Do you think I would have better luck getting a full time offer during normal recruiting season? I’d like to start working asap and I’m thinking the internship might be the best option for that. Any and all advice is super welcome! Thank you everyone!

-xk

[MIsconnie]

I do campus recruiting for our firm and I can tell you that most firms like having employees start as an intern and then get hired on full time. It is not to say no one ever gets hired full time, but generally speaking those who skipped the internship experience have a more difficult time being hired (at least in my experiences and my region).

I have some former classmates who are at job fairs I table at for my firm and they are asking me for jobs because they didn't go the internship route, don't be too good for an internship.

[Anonymous]

A number of things to consider if I was you:
-When is the start date? I assume January or February 2019 as that is when the usual busy season starts?
-When do you graduate?
-Is this company one you prefer as opposed to others?
-What is your personality type, are you OK if you swallow the risk and don't get a better offer?
-Is the compensation for interns comparable to what staff makes or is it significantly less? I've seen a wide variety of compensation structures for interns.

I got a full time offer with the firm I currently work at without interning there, but I had interned somewhere else. It's harder to get a full-time offer without an internship, but it is definitely possible. For me, I would have a hard time accepting an internship 3-4 months after I had anticipated starting full-time employment, especially if the pay was much lower than what you anticipate making elsewhere. That being said, I don't think its a bad offer.

[MaLoTu]

I would accept but continue to pursue a full time role.

I am questioning the firm’s motives here. We bring a lot of people on with no internship experience. We had 3 busy season interns and only kept one. For the summer we have 2 and it is unlikely unless they are star performers that they will be kept.

It sounds to me that they want to know they have bodies for busy season, but don’t want the commitment of staffing someone.

In reality, if you had an internship and didn’t get a FT role at that company how does that give another firm anymore assurance about your skills? I just don’t get it….

[Anonymous]

@MaloTu, guess I probably should have been more clear about my situation- I was offered a FT position at the firm I interned at. Because of a merger and other life changes that I won't delve into here, I was looking to make a change. I definitely used the full time offer as leverage to squeeze out other, better full-time offers. I also agree with you that there are a lot of firms out there looking for “temp” type busy season workers. This won't help you much in the long run, if this is really all they're after.

[MIsconnie]

Yes, some firms hire bodies just to cover their workloads. Even if that is the case, now you have experience and can use that in your search for full time. More commonly firms like employees to intern so they get a feel if you fit with their culture and if you do good work. You have to prove yourself in a lot of offices and interning is the best way to do so. Again if you feel like going straight for FT that is fine, but be prepared to interview and apply in several places. You need not search this forum long to find other CPAs who are having trouble getting into public accounting full-time even with their license, the best way to get a foot in the door is an internship.

[MaLoTu]

@chandler – my comment wasn’t directed at you, sorry if it seemed that way. I was simply stating that it doesn’t give anymore assurance.

I definitely agree that the op should accept. There is no guarantee of a ft offer this year and experience is experience. If it doesn’t result in a ft offer then it might help in seeking one later on. However, it won’t hurt to keep applying in the meantime.

[xk]

Thanks for the advice everyone, I really appreciate it. After taking into account what you all have said and speaking with friends about it, I’ve decided to take the internship.

Do you all think it would be wise to keep looking for other opportunities until end of recruiting season? If I were to get a full time offer that I was excited about, would it look bad to rescind from the accepted internship offer?

[ultrarunner]

This is a tricky one. It all depends on your school (Q. is your school a target school?) and job openings for next year. If you've never done fall season campus recruiting, then, you should wait and see. Although getting a full-time job offer (without any work experience) is very hard. Or if you were to get a full-time offer this fall, the position won't probably start until next year. So you could still do the internship. I am not sure whether rescinding from the accepted internship offer looks bad or not, but the one thing you should never do is to burn a bridge. 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

[mistahDrew]

I would say do it, if you think there is a reasonable chance that the firm has the size to hire a full time.

If it's a big 4 or national then it's prob a good chance to that you'll get hired onto the same team after the internship. So in your case it's a good test drive to see if you like the team. If not, then you get those resume bullet points of busy season experience.

[Author]

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