The Struggle of Finding the 1st Accounting Job out of School

Like most fields, finding the 1st job out of school is the hardest. Accounting is no exception. If you’re a new graduate, ever wonder why you’re being asked many stupid questions that don’t have to do with the job?

I’ve found the following factors to be very determinative:

• Local economy effects – e.g., supply and demand of labor market, investor/business attitude, etc. Almost everyone and their dog wants to be in BC or Greater Toronto areas, for example. Not surprisingly, competition will be fierce and wages will be low. The employers have a generous pool to choose from.
• Different firms hire at different times of the year , sometimes in batches. Larger firms (esp. Big 4!) are less flexible and often recruit new grads only at certain times, often many months on advance. New grads often miss this timing and haven’t applied much to smaller, more flexible employers.
• New grads have very limited metrics to compare – more subject to “feel” tactics to judge whether to hire. See a lot of irrelevant textbook HR questions where if you don’t say expected textbook generic response, you’re weeded out. If you don’t write a pretty enough cover letter, you’re weeded out. Add more factors that don’t necessarily determine your success as an accountant, but since most new grads have little experience, there aren’t as much quantitative metrics to compare.
• You can be on paper, the God of accounting and best at the job – but if the person on the other end doesn’t even like the look of you, and/or doesn’t picture her or himself working with you, it won’t matter.