<p>"It is a two tiered job market. For college & very recent college grads, the market is still as good as in the dot com days, if you are over 32 and unemployed with experience you are basically out of luck."</p>
<p>I just saw a depressing thread on another forum where countless people said they can't get hired at public accounting firms no matter how many they apply to. This was coming from people that had already passed the CPA exam. Is this true? Do accounting firms only want fresh meat right out of college, otherwise they're not interested?</p>
<p>I’m scared. I’m working toward getting enough units to sit for the CPA exam. I’m going to an extension program to do so. Once I have the units, what if I apply to the lowest firms and they still don’t hire me? Its a legitimate fear. I’ll be one of the chumps who passes the CPA exam but can’t get hired to get the experience requirement.</p>
<p>you won’t have the same exposure from an UC extension program or other certificate program as an under or graduate program. You need to understand the purpose/market of those programs. If you want a higher 2nd chance, go for a master. I’m not saying you have no chance, but major firms hire majority of their entry level on-campus.</p>
<p>What is the purpose/market of the certificate programs?</p>
<p>The certificate probably won’t get me a job with an accounting firm then huh? I guess I’ll go for a masters in accounting or MBA then.</p>
<p>I just don’t want to start a masters in accounting program or an MBA program right now because I have zero experience. What’s the point in going to a masters program to meet recruiters if I don’t have anything decent on my resume first?</p>
<p>Its like a catch-22. I didn’t land a nice job right out of undergrad so now I want to go to grad school, but I don’t want to go to grad school until I have decent work experience.</p>
<p>The zero experience concern for a Master in Accounting is irrational. It’s not as important factor for admission if you have the grades and GMAT.
If you go to a top notch Accounting program, or are at the top of a less-recruited program, Big 4 firms only care that you can easily become a CPA, which you would with 150 hours of credits + 1 year experience.
Plus, some MAcc programs can be completed in 1 year, so if you can’t break in it’s not the worst loss of opportunity cost.</p>
<p>I didn’t say a certificate program won’t get you a job in accounting firm. I said you would have a higher chance for major public firms (big-4) if you go for a master program. I know you don’t have experience, that’ why I suggest master program route because you get more connection thru campus events. If you already have experience, then you don’t need that MS degree at all, big-4 don’t care. You just need to take whatever the courses to fulfill the education requirement for CPA.</p>
<p>Sadly, community college in calif. don’t offer upper level accounting courses. Otherwise, you don’t even need to go to a certificate program. Just take the accounting courses in CC!</p>
<p>smith415, I think you’re confused with a MBA and Master in Accounting/Taxation. Yes, for a MBA looking for job, employer expect working experience with it. But that’s not the case in accounting. Major public firms hire MS graduate with zero experience, just like Apple/Cisco hire MSEE/MSCS.</p>
<p>Yes, a lot of schools provide the Masters in Taxation or Accounting so that they can make some money off undergrads (in 5 year accounting programs) or people in their final year at other schools/programs, while helping them obtain the 150 credits needed for the CPA. A lot of those students do not have great work experience.</p>
<p>I am willing to go into a MAcc (masters of accountancy) program to get in front of recruiters if I have to in order to get in front of recruiters, but I would rather spend that time, energy and money on an MBA. </p>
<p>In 10 years from now I can have my business card say “MAcc, CPA” or “MBA, CPA.”</p>
<p>With the first one, its redundant because the CPA designation says that I know accounting which kinda outshines the MAcc.</p>
<p>With the second one (MBA, CPA) it says that I know accounting but I also have an MBA. </p>
<p>I went today to an event at UC Berkeley and I talked to a recruiter from Deloitte who told me that either you get hired as an “experienced hire” or you get hired through college recruitment. If you go with the experienced hire application process, you have to compete with hundreds of people who apply on the Deloitte website, but through college recruiting its an entirely different ball-game.</p>
<p>Master program is the 2nd chance for college recruitment into big-4 for those missed the 1st one.</p>
<p>Not compete with hundreds, but one still compete with the peers. Depends on which program (target schools or not), the chance still varies. Here in cc, we always hear big-4 recruit, or heavily recruit, at (a college name here), question to ask is how many, what percentage?</p>