17 Career Concerns From Readers

21 Comments

June 12 2015

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Over the last few weeks I’ve been running a survey from all of you.

One of the questions I asked was:

“What are your main career concerns?”

While I got 300+ responses, I’ve widdled down  some of the more popular and interesting answers.

Here are 17 career concerns from fellow Bean Counter Readers:

  1. Will I enjoy public accounting?
  2. Can I pass the CPA exam?
  3. My degree was completed online, will that work against me?
  4. I’m scared I do not have enough accounting experience.
  5. After being a stay-at-home mother, can I still find a job?
  6. Being able to add value to the company.
  7. Communicating professionally and being successful in an interview.
  8. Fear that academic success won’t translate to work success.
  9. Getting caught up in office gossip/politics.
  10. Hating my job despite financial success.
  11. How can I put being a mother before my career?
  12. How to keep up with the younger generations?
  13. Figuring out how to become a chairman of a fortune 500 company.
  14. Obtaining good work performances but still have a personal life.
  15. What to do after I leave public accounting?
  16. Being able to still do busy seasons as I am aging?
  17. Becoming a billionaire [ed note: this is real]

I’ll be using this and other responses I received for ideas for new posts, courses, and webinars.

To help me out, are there any of your career concerns that I missed?

Let me know in the comments.

  • Jack from the Bean Stalk

    Complete my work in a timely fashion, and not struggle with Excel.

  • Gabrielle Kuhn

    I like Jack’s comment down there, and all of these sound great!!!

    • http://www.thebeancounter.com TheBeanCountercom

      Thanks for the comment Gabrielle!

  • Grigory Kostuchenko

    to create something usefull and innovative in programming for a US accounting company, which no one have done before. competitive advantage.
    to move to US. to get CPA and make it more popular

    • http://www.thebeancounter.com TheBeanCountercom

      That’s awesome Grigory! Let me know what you end up working on!

  • Becky Hill Soprych

    Is it more lucrative or appealing to companies if I pass the CPA or obtain a masters in Taxation? I currently just have my MAcc.

    • http://www.thebeancounter.com TheBeanCountercom

      Depends on the company. Large public firms (like Big 4) would like to see both. Smaller firms care much more about the CPA than the whether you have a Masters or what type it is. Do you already have 150 credit hours to be a licensed CPA without the masters?

      Check out this post: http://www.thebeancounter.com/all-posts/avoid-40k-student-loan-debt-become-cpa/

  • Heather McG

    Can I work part time and still be a successful CPA at a small firm?

    • http://www.thebeancounter.com TheBeanCountercom

      Yes! It is all about setting up the expectations with the main employer AND then anyone your are reporting to at any given time. If your agreement is 25/hrs. per week and they pay your for that, it can definitely work very very well!

  • KPMGed

    How should I handle telling my new employer that I am a parent?

    • http://www.thebeancounter.com TheBeanCountercom

      Did you get the offer already, or are you interviewing?

  • KPMGed

    Also, is it ever OK to mention in the interview process that you are a parent to CPA firms? Are they likely to discriminate against parents since they would want to hire people who don’t have these kind of responsibilities in their lives?

    • http://www.thebeancounter.com TheBeanCountercom

      I would discuss it IF it comes up in normal conversation. I wouldn’t make a huge deal out of making it obvious.

      Once you get an offer in hand, then I would negotiate any specific privileges you need (i.e. leaving early to pick them up from school).

      Email me with more info on your specific situation and I’ll see if I can help: andrew@thebeancounter.com

  • Ron

    I am looking to get my CPA but I do not have the 150 hours needed to sit in for the exam. Since I have to go back to school I was thinking to go for a masters in accounting. My question is if I attend an online college that does not require a GRE or GMAT will that matter? Or will employers only look at weather you have a masters and not really focus too much on the school?

    The GRE is becoming sort of a pain in the butt for me.

    • http://www.thebeancounter.com TheBeanCountercom

      Thanks for the question Ron. What is most important is the CPA. If you have to get the Masters online, very few CPA firms will care as long as you passed the CPA exam.

      How many more hours do you need to get the 150?

      • Ron

        Yes, the current rules are 150 credit hours.

  • Chantel

    Trying to decide if I really should do the CPA or go to CMA instead since my aim is to be a CFO (currently training with one) and I don’t want to do public accounting in large companies like the Big 4. Any suggestions? And any other certifications I should look at?

  • Andrea

    I’ve never worked with the big four. I’ve only worked with small, local cpa firms. Though my current employer works with publicly traded companies (SOX work), I feel exit opportunities for me mabe limited.

  • bt
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