The following is an old forum post favorite of mine. I like it because it’s a good confidence check. Basically, don’t worry about your GPA. A 4.0 GPA doesn’t guarantee you an interview, so don’t hide behind your perfect GPA. A low GPA (2.5-2.9ish) is nothing to brag about, nor is it anything to worry about. If you successfully market yourself 
to the recruiter, GPA shouldn’t be an issue.
A Balding College Student writes:
Hey all,
I know these personal advice threads are annoying, but I’m kind of at a crossroads in my life and could really use some help. I just finished my Sophomore year at [University]. From what my professors and peers say, the Big 4, as well as some other large firms, recruit accounting majors heavily from my campus.
Originally I thought I was going to major in Econ/Math. They was going alright – I currently have a 3.84 GPA, but I noticed that the only people getting jobs from my school were accounting majors.
So I transferred into the business school. The only business class I’ve taken is Financial accounting, which I got an A in and enjoyed a great deal.
What I’m worried about is career prospects. I stupidly have not networked with any of the recruiters, despite the fact that they are on campus all the time. I applied for all those summer leadership programs, and didn’t even get an interview. I thought they were geared for rising Juniors, but I’m guessing the fact that I had never talked to the recruiters hurt me.
I’d rather be an unemployed starving math major than an unemployed starving accounting major. Do you think it’s too late to land a job by graduation?
The other issue is self confidence. As the title of the post describes, I’m going bald at the ripe old age of 20. Life’s a bitch sometimes. It’s not too bad yet, just a noticeably receding hairline. Hopefully I don’t lose too much more before graduation. Other than that, I’m tall, white, in good shape, and not a complete dork (only a partial dork). I would hope that my “leadership” potential would still at least on par with all the international students who are accounting majors and barely speak English. I get worried because a lot of the people getting hired look like Abercrombie models. That’s life I guess.
So I guess my questions are, is it too late to hope for a shot at the Big 4? Are recruiters really that vain? Is it possible to be making 90K+ after 10-15 years working if you don’t get hired by the Big 4 (I know, money questions come off as really shallow)? If I maintain a 3.85, does that ensure me interviews in public accounting?
There are a lot of non big 4 firms that are registered for our career fair like Anchin, Block, & Anchin, Feidman, Grant Thornton, Sciarabba Walker and WeiserMazars. Are these good places to launch a career?
Thanks a lot for reading through this convoluted post. Appreciate any help a great deal,
Balding College Student.
Do you think it’s too late to land a job by graduation?
It’s not too late. You’re behind, but not completely screwed yet. It’s going to take alot of effort to catch up.
Is it too late to hope for a shot at the Big 4?
No, you still have a shot because you’re still in school and have access to recruiters.
Are recruiters really that vain?
NO, it’s all in your head. Quit worrying about things you can’t control. This is a bad topic to discuss on this forum because there are many bitter candidates on here who didn’t get offers. Asking questions like this and thinking with that mindset will never get you an interview.
It’s quite obvious the problem exists only in your head. You can’t assume recruiters are vain just because you weren’t offered an interview. It’s your fault for not going up to them and introducing yourself. Recruiters don’t even know who you are and will never have time for you because their too busy trying to remember the names of all the students bombarding them with questions about public accounting.
Put yourself in the recruiters shoes and realize how ridiculous this topic is. If you were a recruiter, what would you think of a student with a 4.0 GPA that submitted his resume online, but never bothered to say hello to you on campus? Would you pick that person over, Wang, the funny international student with a heavy accent that made a joke about his middle name being “Chung”? (When actually his middle name was Steve; Chung was last name.) Would you, as a recruiter, lay awake at night looking through the student directory and wondering why some students with 4.0 GPAs didn’t request an interview?
What you need to do is mature and workout your self esteem issues.
Is it possible to be making 90K+ after 10-15 years working if you don’t get hired by the Big 4 (I know, money questions come off as really shallow)?
Yes, but Big4 experience opens doors faster than small firm experience.
If I maintain a 3.85, does that ensure me interviews in public accounting?
Death and taxes aside, nothing in life is guaranteed. Firms can only offer a finite number of interviews. There could be hundreds of candidates with 3.85+ GPAs. When this is the case, recruiters tend to only offer interviews to students that bothered to network. At this stage, networking is easy. RSVP for every single event, be polite, smile, and be yourself. Your classmates that were invited to interview, probably showed up to ALL the recruiting events, collected the recruiters’ business cards, and emailed thank you notes to everyone they met.
Again, now you are far behind in the eyes of recruiters. When you show up to your first recruiting event this fall, you might feel like recruiters are avoiding you because you’re balding. In reality, they probably walked passed you because they saw the familiar face of a student that attended events last spring and wanted to know what that student did for summer vacation.
Now it’s up to you how to initiate the conversation with recruiters. Hopefully, you’re a quick learner and figure out how to work your way through the crowd.
Then again, maybe it’s your lucky day and a recruiter initiates the conversation. It might come up during the basic small talk q&a that you’re senior, at which point the recruiter might ask why you didn’t come out to any events as a junior. They’ll probably think to themselves why all of a sudden is this person feigning interest in my firm, because any response you come up with will most likely sound canned and insincere.
Hopefully my post made sense and wasn’t too convoluted. I’m a lazy writer and a better storyteller in person. Learn how to network and exude charm/personalty/charisma to win recruiters over. The hardest part of recruiting/interviewing/landing a job is talking with a relative stranger and getting them to like you.
Good luck to you man.
P.S. If you’re gifted at math, look into actuarial science. At Big4 firms, actuaries work alongside CPAs and get paid better.
{ 0 comments }
