Note: this is an excerpt from the course Get Hired by Big 4 Firms.
We all have our dream accounting 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 25 CPA firms, in case you’re getting into public accounting.
Then, once you’ve got your list, now comes the exciting part.
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 accounting firms and 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
3) Step 2: Search City on LinkedIn
3) Step 3: Search for the “Human Resource” Function
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… You can also put “*@deloitte.com”
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!
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.
NOTE: See also a FREE Resume template for signing up.
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.
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.
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.
The Exact Email to send
When your doing your research, you want to try and find the contacts you need to reach out to at each firm. I want you to find at least three. Preferably the titles are as follows:
- HR Manager
- Recruiter
- Partner
Try to find them in the office where you want to work. If you have these contacts in Dallas but you want an internship in LA, that won’t work. Make sure they’re local contacts.
Prepare an Email, Resume, and Cover Letter
I’m going to be very generous here and give you the exact word to use in the email:
Subject: Recruiting Contact
Hello [FIRST NAME],
Good morning!
I’m writing to find the contact who handles campus recruiting. I wrote to Other Contact 1 and Other Contact 2 as well. Are you the person I would speak with? If so, are you available for a call?
I am currently a student from [INSERT NAME] and will be graduating in [INSERT GRAD MONTH AND YEAR]. I have attached my resume and cover letter for your to review. I am eager to discuss the opportunities with [INSERT COMPANY NAME]. I took a look at your website and am specifically interested in learning more about [INSERT ONE THING YOU RESEARCH]
Are you the person to speak with, I am free tomorrow at X time and Future Day at X time.?
If not, who do you recommend I talk to?
Best regards,
[INSERT FIRST & LAST NAME]
Mobile: [INSERT NUMBER]
Email: [INSERT EMAIL]
[Attach Cover Letter & Resume in separate PDFs]
For the “one thing” you researched. Make is something simple, such the following:
- Opportunities in X and Y industry
- Internships
- Summer Leadership Conferences
- Etc.
Don’t mention international opportunities or other obscure things that the local office won’t have say over. They’ll be annoyed and feel like it’s too much work to deal with you.
I’ll meet with you twice, provide a custom resume, cover letter, and an action plan to get in and get hired from any accounting firm.
The Follow Up
This is one of the most important parts of the process. People get busy, they don’t hate you.
Just because you haven’t received a response in 3 or 4 days, doesn’t mean your shot is over.
Here are the rules:
Have never exchanged emails with them before.
- When you’re trying to make contact follow up
- 2 days after first email
- Then 3 days
- Then 5 days
- Then 7 days
- Then 14 days
- If you still have received no response, look for different contacts in the company
Have exchanged at least one email with them before.
- If you HAVE made contact with them, and you responded, but haven’t spoken to them.
- Do not stop following up
- Seriously, I meant never. Here are the rules
- 2 days after your email to them
- Then 3 days
- Then 5 days
- Then every 7 days until they respond
People get busy, you don’t want them being overwhelmed by email to stop you from finding your job.
If they tell your they’re not interested, then stop.
But never stop if they just haven’t had the time to respond. Anyone can write, “We’re not interested, thank you“. It takes about two seconds.
Make them do that if they’re not interested, don’t just disappear.
Trust me on this one. They will be impressed by your persistence.
Did you like this post? This is an excerpt from the course Get Hired by Big 4 Firms.
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