<p>I'm a junior at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. I would like to eventually relocate to New York City or Chicago. How would I go about finding internships in those states? I've looked through every major job site, but I have a hard time believing any company will want to hire someone who's currently in Nebraska.</p>
<p>It seems like a reach. Your best option is to go with campus recruiting and the firms hire at your university.</p>
<p>That is not to say you should not try. It is just more difficult given your limited connections. Make sure to look into CPA requirements in the state you want to eventually work in, and get a few year’s experience.</p>
<p>It is too late to apply to the good internships for the summer of 2012. I am sure you can find something though. </p>
<p>Where are you looking to work (what is every major job site?)</p>
<p>Ideally I’d find a job in New York City with a big four accounting firm. I’ve got a cousin who works at JP Morgan, but that probably wouldn’t lead me to any accounting jobs. I’ll look in to what he has to say, though.</p>
<p>Is it unheard of to intern at a big four firm in your residing state and request to interview at a different location?</p>
<p>*I had an old account I guess.</p>
<p>To be honest, you went to the wrong school. You want to work in NYC, right? You should have gone to a university in the Philly/NY region (BC, Villanova, Bentley, Fordham, Penn State, ect…).</p>
<p>You want Big 4, however, they do not recruit at your university. You will not be able to go into Big 4 straight out of undergraduate. Morever, when you graduate, you will be considered an experienced hire, and be competing against people who have worked.</p>
<p>In my opinion, you have two options.
- You work a few years and pass the CPA in NY (be mindful of the credit hours you need to sit/get licensed.
- You attend a MAC (Masters of Accounting) Program in the Northeast and try to find connections.</p>
<p>You really want this, I am sure you will find a way. Talk to your cousin. Maybe he had better advice than me.</p>
<p>1) Find a Big 4 job anywhere you can. Network like crazy if they don’t recruit at your school. I don’t care if they put you in the North Pole doing audits for Santa. Just get an internship/full time. Otherwise, go to a large national firm for now.
2) Make senior and exceed expectations on your engagements
3) Request a transfer to Chicago or NYC after a year or two of being a senior (more likely to happen if you are a high performer). If you went to a large national firm, do the same thing or you can just apply as an experienced hire in the large cities at Big 4.</p>
<p>Sure, <em>try</em> to do what others have suggested BUT</p>
<p>do not limit yourself to just 4-10 companies. That’s ridiculous, and you are likely to end up with nothing. Students always do this and then wonder why they don’t get jobs. Especially for an internship, interning at other companies with make you more competitive when you are interviewing for fulltime, no reason to limit yourself AT ALL for an internship (as long as it pays and will look somewhat decent on your resume, take it ;). </p>
<p>With that said, “Is it unheard of to intern at a big four firm in your residing state and request to interview at a different location?”</p>
<p>Nope, happens all the time.</p>
<p>Ideally I’d work in New York, yes. If it doesn’t work out I can always move there later, though. I don’t have a burning desire to move there right away, although I would prefer that to waiting until I’m say 35.</p>
<p>I’m not sure what you’re talking about. The Big 4 does recruit at UNL. I went to a couple of their info sessions.</p>
<p>I guess I’ll look into MAC programs in New York. How competitive are they? Do you know how many graduates find jobs?</p>
<p>Look, go to every single info session, and make yourself well-known (especially to the partners). Ask thoughtful questions and appear competent.</p>
<p>Edit: and are you positive? Do they take like one person a year? I find 0 statistics of Big 4 hiring at UNL.</p>
<p>They routinely advertise internships on the career services website and they have an annual get-together called Meet the Firms.</p>