Accounting Job Search Question

I’d like to get some advice for my daughter on how to proceed with her job search in accounting. She’s a senior and on track to graduate this June. She had one interview this fall for a full-time staff position with a larger accounting firm (not Big 4), but didn’t get the position. She was originally planning to interview for a summer internship, but was told that since she would be a graduate, to apply for the full-time position instead.

Now she’s past the fall hiring season for the bigger accounting firms. Since she will be a June graduate, should she no longer apply for any summer internships for 2018? Should she instead apply only for entry level accounting positions? I’m also wondering if her chances for getting a full-time position are greatly diminished since she didn’t get one during this last round? She’s flexible about where she’ll work in terms of the firm size, but would like to start off in public accounting. Do most accounting firms only hire in the fall? Or, is this limited to the Big 4 and other larger firms?

I think she’s a good applicant: she has a 3.7 GPA, a good work ethic, and will have 150 units at graduation.

Thanks for an advice you all can offer.

She should apply for full time positions only.

I’m a CPA as is my S. I agree, the time for internships has passed if she will graduate in June. She needs to apply for full time positions. I’d strongly suggest that your D make an appointment and speak to someone at career services in her college ASAP and find out if more public accounting firms will be coming to interview at the school. Your D can also see if career services offers any helpful advisory services (like doing mock interviews) that might provide useful tips for future interviews.

Your D can also research public accounting firms that don’t come to her school and send an email to the person in charge of hiring with a cover letter and resume.

Your D might also consider some private companies as well. It is possible to get a CPA working for a private company in many cases (check your state board rules) if one works for a CPA and does financial statement work.

Did your daughter do any accounting internships or coops during her time in college?

Thanks everyone for your input. I appreciate it. She has worked with career services, and I will encourage her to continue doing so.

She did an internship last spring as part of a study abroad program in London. It was with a small nonprofit, though, so I’m not sure how much accounting experience she got.

A couple of factors that I think may be complicating her path:

  1. She changed her major twice, and so didn't start taking accounting classes until spring of her sophomore year. When fall of her junior year came, she felt she hadn't taken the coursework needed to apply for internships. At that time, she didn't realize that fall was the main time internships are lined up for the following summer.
  2. She's at a university that's well regarded for their engineering college, but not well known for other areas. There are several other local universities that are better known for business. I think she has so far not sent resumes to firms that haven't recruited on her campus. I'll suggest that she apply more broadly.

I don’t see either of the above as insurmountable, but I have recommended she do whatever she can to set an internship for spring quarter. Winter quarter would be harder since she will have a heavier course load, but do you think a small local firm might be willing to take her on to help with tax season? She doesn’t need the college credit, and could even work as a volunteer.

I don’t know where your daughter is geographically, but she should be looking at spring internships from LinkedIn, Indeed and other job sites on a regular basis. She can sign up to get emails with positions that match her geographic / accounting interests. Then she should apply widely. It may seem as though you are sending letters & resumes out into the void, but my D got interview requests from quite a few places from these postings. Good luck.

Thanks, I’ll pass this along to her. Fortunately, she is in the greater LA region, so there should be plenty of options.

I would not have her focus on getting an internship for the spring quarter unless there is assurance that if the internship is successful it will lead into a full time job. If she hasn’t secured full time employment by the spring semester I’d have that be her focus. If your D does have full time employment lined up at a public accounting firm in the spring semester I would suggest that her time might be better spent starting to focus on the CPA exam (many firms pay for incoming employees to take the Becker review course which my S found to be extremely helpful for exam preparation). It is extremely beneficial to get through as much of the exam as possible before starting to work full time.

happy1: thanks this input. I was thinking that it might be helpful to have something on her resume that is accounting related–beyond her study abroad internship–as she’s looks for a FT position. Obviously, though, you have more experience in this field than I do, so I take your recommendation seriously.