Career Talk: Why I Decided to Quit Public Accounting

Hello!

I still remember the excitement I felt getting my first job in public accounting. I was ecstatic for months before my job began.

Pros

• The People
• It's so nice to work at a place that everyone is around your age. Most of my managers were around their early 30s. Everyone likes to joke around and it definetly more relatable. You get to work with people that very passionate about their job and are so so smart. During my first work training in New York, I roomed with this other girl that work in the Indianapolis, Iris. While going taking the elevator to go to breakfast the first day, we met Sarah from the Salt Lake City office. Fast forward 2.5 years later, we still really good friends and kept in touch with each other.
• Big 4 Accounting Firm
• Everyone knows the Big 4 Accounting firms (Deloitte, PwC, EY, and KPMG). You get to work on fortune 500 clients and deal with the most complex issues in the accounting world. Some companies specifically look for experience hires that have that Big 4 experience. 
• Trainings/Travel
• One of the best experiences was being able to travel to other cities. I was able to go to Chicago, New York, and Pittsburgh! Nothing better than going on company traveling and especially during trainings it's similar to a workcations.
• Challenged/Fast Progression
• You always workings on areas that will challenge you either because the complexity of the client or a high risk area. We're always progressing towards the next level. Its honestly the perfect job for someone who doesn't know what they want to do in life or was to get promoted fast. 

Cons

• Extremely long hours
• Something that is expected for busy season is those extremely long hours through the months of January through March. The bare minimum expectation of work I would say for me was 55 hours. Typically that means working Saturdays. Depending on the client need it would be determined if you need to work on Sundays too but I always felt the unspoken pressure to work on Sundays too while being a senior. The longest day I ever worked was right before filing. I left client site at 3am and woke up at 6:30am the next day went back to work. I never want to do that again. 
• Stress
• I cried three times while working as a senior. The amount of stress is unbelievable. You are expected to be within budget and be able to do what you are expected to get done within a certain timeframe. Additionally, you have to manage your staff and coach them while dealing with your managers too. I would get to the point where I was stressed about work during the weekends. 
• Discouraged/Unmotivated
• Everyone has high expectations for you. It's so easy to feel down on yourself if you don't get the assurance that you are doing it right. When I feel like not good with the quality of work, I feel so discouraged and unmotivated.
• Pay
• Everything is pretty much transparent these days and you can tell what comparable jobs are making. Public accounting does start your salary lower however the increase when you get promoted is significant and at the partner level you make a lot of money. There's always a price that you have to pay in order to get a nice salary and that is your time.

Overall it was an intense 2.5 years. There way so many highs and lows and moments where I felt so good about myself and times where I felt my world was crashing down and nothing is going right. I do believe that even if you stay a couple of years the knowledge you gain and the experience will make you well prepared for your future endeavors. Hope this is helpful.

XOXO

-M

Career Talk: How To Job Hunt During The Coronavirus Pandemic

(image credits: imgmodels.com)

"Use fear as fuel to overcome your struggle." - Akin Akman

Hello!

One of my favorite quotes is this one above by former SoulCycle instructor Akin Akman had in his old instructor profile page. I feel like this quote fits incredible well during this time that we are in. When I was in college, I realized that a lot of people do know how to job search. I figured this would be appropriate time to help those who have been recently laid off or hoping to have a career change. I started the job searching process beginning of April and got an offer beginning of June. Hope that some of the things that I have here can assist you in your job searching process.

If you are a college student or a new graduate, please refer to my first post for advice and tips.

Tip #1 Polish Your Resume

When was the last time you update your resume? Probably the last time that you were looking for a job. This first thing I would do is to add and chop. What I mean is that you should make sure your most recent title/job is on the top of your page and start cleaning out your resume by removing your college related activities that are no longer relevant. Generally, no company will ask for your GPA again so you can remove it. Think about it this way you are no longer competing with other students. You are competing with other working professionals. I know you did great things like you were the president of your club or headed this committee but what the employer really wants to know is what did you do during your previous job that is similar to what they are looking for in a employee. As always, make sure your phone number and email address is up to date! Companies cannot reach you if you do not have the correct contact info. Do a quick grammar check and I'll say that you are ready for the job hunt!

Tip #2 Be Organized

When you are job searching, you will be looking and applying to many jobs. You need to create different login information and definetly be asked why you want that job. I would recommend keeping an excel listing. A list of things you should keep track of are company, what position, login in info, job description, location, and date. I will explain below:

• Company - You want to know which companies are you interviewing for and what companies have rejected you so keeping track of that will make your job searching a lot easier.
• Position/Job description - One of the most frequently asked question is why you want the job. You can highlight what skill sets you have that aligns with what the position entails 
• Login info - Sometimes a company may ask you to login back to their website to fill in more information so its very important and more time efficient when you can write down somewhere what are all the usernames and passwords are
• Location - This is more for when you are looking for jobs in different states or different cities. if you were to get a job offer for two different companies, one of the factors you may look at will be commute time or cost of living
• Date - I like to keep track of dates so you know when you applied or when you interviewed so you can follow up when there is no response from the recruiter

Tip #3 Look for the posting date

A company can be looking to fill that position a month ago but right now can be in a hiring freeze or worst case down under water. You have better chances of scoring that interview if you're one of the first people to apply to the job posting. Its important to know that different between applying to a company for a job or applying to a post by a headhunter. I've seen so many job postings by a headhunter/recruiting agency. Basically, in the simplest form these type of recruiters make a commission if you get the job from their client's who are looking to hire someone either temporary or permanent. I personally would not go through a headhunter/recruiting agency but there are pros in going through one if you are in a pinch to get a job. 

Tip #4 Apply, Apply, Apply

A professor once told me that there was a study that was done that for every 10 jobs you apply to you get 1 interview and for every 10 interview you will get 1 offer. Until an offer letter reaches your hand, do not stop the search! I probably applies to over 30 companies in total and got offered a first round interview for 5-6 companies and made it to the third round for two companies.

Tip #5 Don't Get Discourage and Trust your Gut!

I had some many people tell me that it was a terrible idea to quit before I found another job. I applied/interviewed for jobs for almost 2 months before I decided to quit. I was so burnt out from my job and had to work such late nights that it was so hard for me to job search and do well in interviews. I knew what I had to do so I quit my job. I did a third round interview for this one company then I got a offer a week later! It's definetly risky move and not for everyone. All I have to say is to trust your gut and it will not lead you wrong.

Thanks for reading and I hope that this was useful!

XOXO

-M