[SaltyCaptain]

Im 26 years old. I graduated in 2016 with a degree in accounting and I have all passed my cpa exams. I have been currently working at small cpa office for almost 2 years. Its just me, my boss and 2 other book keepers. I do basic work like write ups, tax return preparations, financial statement praperations, bank reconciliations, filing state tax payments, book keeping and etc. No audit exp. The problem is these firms dont even bother talking to me. Their recruiters are like “Sorry, students only” or they dont even bother responding. Like hows someone even supposed to approach them? Why would u want a student over a CPA? Doesnt make sense to me at all. Surprisingly, the only people actually responding to me is the state government, giving me tons of interviews for tax auditor positions, and even a bonus just cause of the cpa! I did great on the interviews and they told me that theyre waiting on HR approval. But im just dissappointed the big4, and national firms dont give a damn even if you are a cpa with some experience under your belt.

[cpa1234]

Big firms like the Big 4 or national firms like promoting from within. They like to hire staff accountants so they can get them working for a couple years and promote them to senior to teach the next round of staff accountants how to do things and which manager likes things done a certain way, etc. I work in a specialized field, and my boss said he definitely does not want to hire seniors. We might need to based on how we're growing, but he said he would rather hire more staff and just promote them to senior eventually when they know how things are done in our firm. The problem is people from outside firms are not going to be happy starting from the bottom as a staff at the big four. So they hire students because students are at the staff level. I would look at regional firms, because they tend to have seniors without CPA licenses. Either the senior is working on getting the license or is not planning to get it. So they can't get promoted above senior. So if you apply for a senior position with a regional firm, they may hire you because they know you have your CPA and you will continue to get promoted up until you're a director/partner. Also try contacting a recruiter from a recruitment firm, not a recruiter inside the company. The recruiter from a firm can talk you up to the recruiters at firms and then get you in the door. And then the CPA firm would pay the recruiter for finding you and you end up with a better job. Good luck!

[Outsider626]

Big 4 want naive students who will bust their asses for 2-4 years and than the new wave will come in and replace them.

[Painted_Jeans]

If you can get into government why would you even worry about big 4? are you just upset they dont consider you? 🙂 I'd rather work for government to be honest.. have u tried private? there are tons of companies that want to hire in-charge accountants and they actually appreciate them, unlike big 4. If you ask me you got no reasons to complain.

[SuperAccountingGod]

Have you tried using recruiting agencies like Robert Half?

[Mike J]

Recruiting agencies are a waste of time. They work for the benefit of employers and boast about their deep reservoir of resumes. They often post one job, only to sucker you to come in to discuss others. They only exist to stockpile resumes.

[SaltyCaptain]

Robert half is a scam, so are all the others. I avoudl them like the plague. Im willing to start off as a staff, as i said I have no audit experience. I just want to stick around for a couple years and get into a cushy industry job. But man these firms are really retarded. Their loss that they gamble their resources in hiring a student and than paying becker fees for the chance to see they MIGHT pass the cpa exam, when they could just hire a cpa right from the beginning.

[Anonymous]

I worked at EY in DTLA for 2 years. If you are open, advisory seems to be growing and they want someone with experience compared to tax and assurance where they want someone from their intern programs who's green. Human Capital would hire experienced CPAS from outside. I left EY after my first son was born due to the long hours, weekend hours, and travel. Never use a headhunter like Robert Half. Those places are a waste of time.

[Nate]

I will say this for the rest of my life, but not getting considered by the Big 4 is really a blessing in disguise, they're lazy and don't want to train and just want to hire the partners' kids. They are not worth working for, low pay, extreme hours, can't think of anything good besides networking if your dream is to work for a big corporation like Nike. I work at a smaller firm with 3 partners, and 3 main accounting staff including myself (there's other staff, but only 3, soon to b 4, main accounting staff). I get paid very well for the area and while busy season is busy, it's not near as bad as a Big 4 firm (Sundays are closed, we're not allowed to come in on Sundays, and we are capped at 60 hours/week). The partners here actually mean it when they say family first no matter what time of year it is. It's awesome being able to buy a decent house and nice car, not have to worry about finances when my wife and I have our first child, even if my wife quits her job (she only works part time for a Church as it is, Church pay is not good!), and have a real work-life balance. I cannot think of any reason someone would choose the Big 4 life over this! I also have way better job security than anyone at a Big 4, avoid Big 4, the schools will advertise them as the only option because they get paid by them, but there are a lot of small and mid-size firms where you can get great and legit experience and actually enjoy life.

[ruggercpa2b]

OP It sounds like you have done well for yourself so far, however, it sounds like you may think too highly of yourself where you think that because you passed the CPA exam you should be what the Big 4 are going after. Some people may come off as over confident and that may rub people the wrong way. You may need to rethink how you are presenting yourself to the firms. Its possible to get hired, but they hire based on personality. Will you fit in with the team, which sucks but that is just how it goes. You may have passed the exam but they are still going to have to train you. And also, passing the exam really means nothing at the Big 4 till you need to make senior., so having it might work to your advantage in some cases but it is by no means a guarantee to getting hired. I transitioned from industry to Big 4 and then went to a regional firm. I liked the regional firm much better because I did a lot more stuff compared to the Big 4.

AUD - 73, 72 retake 7/2/2016
BEC - 8/20/2016
REG - TBD
FAR - TBD

I am so ready for this nightmare to be over. Been at this way too long.

[Anonymous]

I don’t have an answer for you but do have a question. So how are you applying to this government jobs?
I’ve always wanted to work for the IRS as an auditor but can’t seem to be able to find a job with them. All their job postings are always only open to IRS employees. Would You mind sharing how you are finding these jobs please!!

[Author]

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