Please help! I need all the advice I can get

Career Opportunities & Internships
1

So I am extremely worried right now. Here’s why…

I am a senior accounting major and I have not had ONE SINGLE INTERNSHIP. I am beginning to panic at this point because I have been told numerous times by faculty of my university that experience – especially for accountants – is so much more heavily weighted in the determination of hiring someone as opposed to a high GPA.

My GPA right now is a 3.04; not so great, I know. It would be a 3.22 IF I did not originally attend my university part-time before transferring to a community college, then transferring back. Obviously my part-time semester was awful… My GPA in my major (counting just the accounting courses from my university) is a 3.3. I know it’s not wonderful, but believe it or not, that grade is actually higher than class average for both intermediate accounting 1&2.

My university’s accounting program is pretty well-regarded; big four are constantly recruiting our graduates. The internships that I have been trying to get are at local accounting firms near my university (I am a commuter student), so they must know that my school has a good program. Here is my guess as to why nobody is showing interest in me:

  1. My GPA is KILLING me right now.
  2. My resume needs a makeover (I guess it's not as "flashy" as others?)

That is really all I can think of… I have tons of work experience, but not in the accounting profession (just part-time jobs) but I feel as though this says a lot about who I am; someone who productively uses their time. I also volunteer at a local homeless shelter. I made dean’s list last semester as well as president’s list all throughout comm college… Maybe I need more ECs?

I feel as though I should concentrate and getting my GPA up and search for internships rather than bother with joining clubs or anything at this point. Is this the wrong mindset?

What am I doing wrong? PLEASE HELP ME!!!

2

How many resumes have you sent out? “local accounting firms near my university” suggests not many. Perhaps there are more applicants (in the periphery of a university) than spots available.

3

Check with your school’s guidelines on including major GPA in your resume; that may help you get past some auto-application readers and into the hands of people. Also, feel free to send me your resume… I can give it a look at some point this week.

It’s good that you are looking at things already… coming into my senior year I had no internships (but lots of work experience!) and a 3.08 cumulative GPA (3.48 in my political science major), so we are very comparable. Get your resume in top shape and hone your interview skills throughout the rest of the summer. Recruitment starts basically as soon as you return to campus, so figure out a strategy and apply to as many jobs as you can. It took me 50+ applications over the course of 5 months, but I found a job before Christmas of my senior year, and the market was a little worse off when I was applying, so you should (hopefully) have better luck!

4

Contact your school’s career center and speak to someone there. If you’ve sent out “tons of resumes” and not gotten any bites, there may be something wrong with your resume that you can fix.

Interview skills are incredibly important. And, like any skill, they can be practiced and improved upon.

But I would speak to someone in the career center-- maybe even NOW, during the summer, before they get hit hard in the fall.