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best place to jumpstart your career?

And the marketing machines of the Big 4 churn again....for those of you who didn't catch the news plastered on Yahoo! Finance's homepage (businessweek story)...this story is about how the big 4 are amongst the best places for one to jumpstart his or her own career. Check it out.
I actually agree. The Big 4 are definitely a good place to jumpstart one's corporate career. Jumpstart being the operative word.
I would like to point out a few quotes from the story:
"This year accountants became sexy." Well, yay? Our jobs are sexy, I'm glad the outside world thinks of us in that way.
"Why did the accounting firms do so well? Enormous demand. Across industries, there is a mad scramble to recruit the best and brightest of a new generation, the much-maligned, heavily scrutinized Gen Y. Nowhere is the pressure more intense than in the Big Four. The Sarbanes-Oxley Act has so greatly increased the need for their services that the firms are facing an epic talent shortage." Epic talent shortage? Maybe it will help if the big 4 can atleast increase senior salaries to match other openings in their market so the seniors and above don't leave. Just yesterday another one quit.
But, to reiterate, it is definitely a good starting point, judging by the headhunters clamoring to reach out to us with companies offering higher salaries and less hours. We probably couldn't get there without public accounting experience on our resume. I think our experience is greatly exaggerated, but hey, who's complaining?
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Anonymous said…
Maybe things will finally start to change and we will start to be paid what we're worth! Here in Canada, public accounting is one of the only industries that are given exemption from the labour standards act. This allows them to force students to work all kinds of crazy hours for no overtime pay or benefits. I bet there are a lot of partners out there that don't want you to know how much the ball really is in your court as a staffer.
September 15, 2007 at 10:06 AM
notfordisplay said…
It's the same in the US too, what's funny is that interns get paid overtime but full-time employees do not.
September 16, 2007 at 6:19 AM
Mark said…
Yeah, we worked the math during tax season this year, and intern pay + overtime was BARELY behind our full-time pay, if you broke it down hourly. It was pretty sad. Two friends of mine at the same small firm also read your blog, and we got a solid laugh about the goodbye emails(got one this morning, actually, for the woman who formerly had the cube next to me).

Mark
September 17, 2007 at 6:54 AM
Darcy Grubaugh said…
And the thing is, accountants will always be in demand, as new companies will be formed endlessly and there are companies that will expand continually. And yes, accounting is sexy. Especially with those sophisticated tools and programs that accountants have on their hands.
July 12, 2011 at 11:50 AM
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June 10, 2021 at 11:10 PM
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