USA What would you do in my place?

[KnightLight]

I have a somewhat insane life situation. I graduated with a BS in Accounting/Finance in December 2013 from a state university in Florida. I had all A's in my major, took graduate courses to be eligible to sit for CPA and basically went through the accounting program like knife through butter. Despite being one of the very best accounting students in my school I never expected to work for the Big 4 because their standards were very particular(so being ignored by them meant nothing to me). My first warning sign was lack of interest from the Grant Thornton's and McGladrey's of this world(not even an oncampus interview while they do recruit at my school). Even local firms did not care. At this point I have a position that does not pay anywhere near what a college graduate would be earning and does not require a college degree(nor is it related to accounting). Everywhere else I had complete rejection, even employment agencies were a waste of time. My college experience seems like a scam to me in retrospect. Accounting was supposed to be the "safe" major. I saw people who were barely pulling through coursework get jobs. At this point I might as well go into nursing or some kind of trade. With every year the value of my degree decays and there is no point in getting a masters or passing the CPA without work experience in the field.

 

[Scott F]

There's got to be something wrong or off with your resume. As long as your GPA was above 3.2 you should at least be getting interviews. You could try to see what strings you can pull with alumni or friends who know people in positions already that can hook you up.

 

[KnightLight]

What could possibly be wrong/off? The weird thing is that I get interviews from companies that are not accounting companies (could be an accountant interview for a manufacturing company) but never an accounting company. The interviews themselves go nowhere. What I never understood is why regionals passed on me

 

[Scott F]

Do you have an internship experience? That's a big factor.

 

[KnightLight]

No internships, they were just as competitive as jobs (If not moreso)

 

[Wallis002]

I would also be suggesting to look at your resume. I recently went through looking for new employment and I found that when I had a traditional resume I wasn't getting calls for jobs I knew I was qualified for. When I made changes to it, such making the layout look more eye pleasing and cutting my job descriptions to basics plus highlights of what I accomplished, I started getting interviews. Good luck in finding the right position.

 

[KiraWei]

Can you volunteer at all for a non-profit in accounting? That can be a way to gain experience in place of internships and demonstrate that you are able to complete tasks in the field.

Maybe you can get an administrative position that includes AR and AP?

With regards to resumes, you can ask a local small business owner if you have any friends there to look it over for formatting, or what I had done most was ask a placement agency representative I was working with to make suggestions for my resume.

 

[flguy]

Hello Knightlight. I think you should open up your own business. The public needs quality accountants. Let people know who you are and what you do. Work with other professionals in other areas to refer clients back and forth to. Hope this helps.

 

[ag_cpa]

He doesn't have the necessary experience to open up a place. I would also volunteer somewhere or work for H&R Block during tax season. You need some type of experience.

The other thing is, practice your interview skills with people. An interview doesn't matter if you don't get the job.

I also had a lot of trouble finding a job. I ended up getting an internship through someone my dad knew and spent 5 months working free 4 days a week.

Hopefully you don't go through what I did. But after that 5 months, jobs came so fast. See about a Temp Agency also.

Good Luck.