Quote: (02-15-2015 10:34 PM)numanist Wrote:
I'm 23 years old and I graduated with a Bachelor's in accounting (3.3 cumulative GPA and 3.5 in the field). Currently, it has almost been two years since I graduated from the field. In all honesty, if I had to do college all over again I would veer away from accounting.
The job prospects are really limited and the work can be really mundane and boring. After graduating I spent countless hours sending in resumes and applications with very little to show for it - except 3 interviews. The interviews were with big corporations, non-profits, and one public accounting firm.
After many months of job searching I finally settled with a job that is in the IT field. Luckily, they took a chance on me in spite of my lack of knowledge in the field.
As of right now, I've been reluctantly filling out applications in the hopes that I land at least a 35k a year job. In the meantime, I've just been saving money living with my parents in order to build up my pocketbook.
My passion in the field is nil and I'm completely thinking about giving up and pursuing a different line of work. I've got friends that work in the lab doing testing. One of my friends got a job in accounting and he is currently doing biology work.
One of the friends I graduated with in accounting decided to forgo the field altogether. He too couldn't get a job in the field, in spite of being probably the smartest and most charismatic of all my classmates.
Since he decided to quit the accounting field, things couldn't be better for him. He currently resides in Sin City making lots of money day trading. A normal day for him is two hours, and he spends a good portion of his time eyeing dimes by the poolside.
Moral of the story: forge your own path and don't be dissuaded by job employers rejecting your applications. A good majority of HR types are complete schlubs or ditzes.
Numanist, I'm not sure you read my data sheet above. The shit talk in general about Accounting being "mundane and boring" is a myth. I also don't agree that the job prospects are limited. There are going to be other factors involved (eg. location for one). Again, covered in the data sheet.
Accounting jobs in reality are not like a trade or sales job in which there may be a specific set of skills across the board. However, there are jobs in Accounting that require a set of mundane and boring skills. These are the jobs you'll get if you go to a lower tier school and/or have a lower gpa as well as not have a CPA license. At these levels, you can generally expect to be cast out of the higher end jobs in Accounting that are not so mundane and boring. That's the red pill truth. However, that's the case in every profession, isn't it? We're talking about the notion of an "Accountant" versus a "Business Professional." They are two different people. The former will just have an "Accounting" background while latter also adds business acumen and social abilities.
Now, your friend can be the smartest and charismatic in the school, but the level of refinement required to succeed at the higher levels in the business world can be relegated to a niche in itself. That's not to say Bookkeepers are idiots. Just that you need train more to get more which shouldn't be surprising. Again, covered in the data sheet.
The "desk" accounting job you describe constitutes only a portion of the profession. And that portion just happens to be the portion that is disgraced in the world because most people just don't have the experience or knowledge that allows them to see the bigger picture.
While I appreciate your perspective, I think you are only looking in one corner of the profession and likely misunderstanding a lot of truths about the entire profession as a whole.