Your Summer Action Plan To Get An Accounting Job This Fall… Oh, and Jill from Deloitte in Atlanta.

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The fall recruiting season is the best time of the year for you to find your dream job/internship and this post is dedicated to my TOP 5 action items this summer to prepare you for this fall’s hiring frenzy!

But wait… what about Jill?

If you read #3, you’ll find out exactly who Jill is and why it’s VERY important that you know how I found her. What I teach you in point #3 could be the difference in a dream job, or moving back in with mom.

Let’s get into it:

1) Beef Up Your Resume

The best resumes don’t have a 4.0 GPA and a listing of the classes you took. The BEST resumes have work experience, community service involvement, relevant work experience, and organizational involvement (i.e. Beta Alpha Psi).

So this summer I want you to pad the resume and here’s how:

  • Sign up for your state CPA society (most are very inexpensive for students) and attend at least one event
  • Reach out to the leader of the accounting club or Beta Alpha Psi and ask how you can help plan the fall semester
  • Get an internship (even if it’s not paid) and get it in accounting.
  • Do some community service

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2) Make a list of all of your “targets”

We all have our dream firm or company, what’s yours? I don’t even care if these companies recruit at your school, or attend your career fair. I want you to sit down and make a list of the top 15 (at least) companies you want to work for. Here are the top 100 CPA firms, in case you’re getting into public accounting. If you specifically interested in Big 4, you need to review my course Get Hired By Big 4 Accounting Firms.

Then, once you’ve got your list, now comes the exciting part.

3) Get the HR Manager or Recruiters Email

I want you to go to LinkedIn and look into signing up for a premium account. If you’re already on LinkedIn, you most likely have already received an invitation from LinkedIn for a free 1 month trial. If so, use it. Sign up for the “Recruiter Lite” account which is approximately $99/mo.

With this “free trial” version, you are going to research who the HR Manager is for each of your Top 15 companies in at least 2 cities (Note: DO NOT request to connect with them unless you actually know them).

So here is an example of how I found the Deloitte Campus Recruiter in Atlanta:

3) Step 1: Search City on LinkedIn

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3) Step 2: Search City on LinkedIn

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3) Step 3: Search for the “Human Resource” Function

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3) Step 4: Find someone with the right title

Boom, right on the first page, campus recruiter from Deloitte! Yes, that’s “Jill” (real name blurred, but this is an actual Deloitte recruiter)

3) Step 5: Get or guess the email

Now comes the trick part. She didn’t have her email on her LinkedIn, and I don’t want to connect with her, because, I don’t actually know her…

So….

I turn to google to find out how Deloitte structures their emails…

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On the second page, I found what I needed!

While I’ve blurred out this persons name, I can now tell that Deloitte uses the first letter of the first name, and the last name (even though you can’t see that). Now I can structure two potential emails for my target, “Jill Argue Richardson”. I’m guessing she is married because she has two last names which is making this tricky for us. Since I blurred out her name, let’s image her LinkedIn name was Jill Argue Richardson. Here would be my best guesses:

jargue@deloitte.com or jrichardson@deloitte.com

I would send an email containing both of those emails. Then, if I received errors messages, I might try other combinations like jarichardson@deloitte.com. But you get the point. All the information you need to find the recruiters at your top firms is RIGHT AT YOUR FINGERTIPS!

4) Prepare your resume, cover letter, and emails

I know this may seem anal, but if you’ve chosen 15+ companies to target, and research all the contacts you need to email, this has taken you some serious time. But hey, this is you CAREER. We’ve got more to do.

I want a beautiful resume, a consistent cover letter, and drafted emails to each target.

The cover letter should have the targets name, office address, and email at the minimum. This shows you’ve done your research and you are talking directly to them, this IS NOT spam, and when their name is on it, they will feel compelled to respond.

Note: If you want help preparing a cover letter and resume, email me here, I am happy to help out.

Once you’ve finished the cover letter and resume, save them as PDF’s and attach them to your emails. Save the emails as drafts and send them all the day after the Career Fair.

If you met the firm at the career fair, only send the resume to the hiring manager, but email everyone you spoke to thanking them and expressing your excitement about the firm. For more on the career fair, check out my full career fair strategy.

If you didn’t meet the firm, this is your chance to get in with them. You have the contact, email, and an individualized email and cover letter! Do that 15+ times, and you WILL get interviews… It’s just a numbers game.

5) Practice the close AKA the Elevator Pitch

If you have a good resume, cover letter, and email, you will get interviews. I want you to practice with Mock Interviews, but that can wait until the actual dates are set. However, the elevator pitch CAN’T wait.

You need to be ready to sell anyone you see on WHY you are the best candidate for them, starting today. You might see someone on campus tomorrow, or at a restaurant next week. You will certainly start to see them the first few weeks of class.

The point is, the resume, cover letter, and email only get you so far. Now YOU need to be impressive.

What is unique about you? Why are you interested in accounting? This takes some practice and it’s very unique to the individual. For more detailed information check out my eBook on the Elevator Pitch.

Conclusion

This is not something to take lightly. Approximately 45% of college grads move back in with mom and dad after college.

But I bet it’s even higher than that. And uh, wouldn’t that suck.

If you’re reading this email, you already doing one right thing. Now it time for you to take the BOLD action necessary to take control of your life and your future. I can’t wait to hear your stories!

Questions?

Email me at andrew@thebeancounter.com.