After interviewing and working with thousands of very sharp public accounting folks during their transition into a corporate accounting position, the following 10 suggestions come to mind:
1) Make sure you want to make the move.
2) Don't leave your CPA firm until you've attained the "Senior" level, this usually means that you should put in at least 2 years. If you leave earlier your public accounting experience does not count for nearly as much in the corporate world. If you must leave earlier, at least get to "Acting Senior" level.
3) Get the CPA designation. Again, corporations are always willing to pay a premium for the CPA. The exam is not easy - most everyone knows this, but the study time you invest now will keep paying you back for the rest of your professional career - think of it as an annuity.
4) Don't use too many recruiters. I would suggest 2 at the most since they have mostly of the same opportunities / jobs to discuss with you. Make sure your recruiter knows that your search is extremely confidential and that he/she are not to send your resume to any hiring managers until you give them the "Green Light" to do so. If you ever catch them doing this even once, fire them immediately and find another one. Trust is very important in this process.
5) Know what you want and stick to your guns. For example: if you are coming out of BIG 4 (KPMG, PWC, DT, EY) and most of your engagements have been focused has been on Financial Services companies and you really enjoy your work, then don't let anyone talk you into "trying out" a manufacturing company, while some of the skills are transferable, you will not be up to speed when you start your new job and your "learning curve" will be steep, putting you behind your peers that will have the industry experience. This usually means that they will be promoted first.
6) Be very picky about the opportunities for which you will take off work. While the first interview is usually only a phone screen or a quick face to face for an hour or so...the 2nd and 3rd round of interviews can easily last 4-5 hours, which will most likely require you to take off the whole day from work. Hence you don't want to have too many things going, because it can easily snowball into having to take off several days in a row or in one week. Also, if you think that you can just postpone these 2nd and 3rd round interviews to next week for example, you are wrong. Companies will think that you are not interested in their opportunity and move on to other candidates in the loop.
7) It is smart to look during busy season because you have less competition. This is obviously hard to do if you are working 70-90 hours per week, but keep this in mind. While we don't think you should leave your CPA firm during busy season, it is smart to look and line up an offer / position and arrange a start date for after the busy season.
8) Don't tell anyone at work that you are looking. No matter how close you may think that you are to these co-workers, people talk and word will surely get back to your manager or partner in charge.
9) Invest the time in preparing a quality resume with lots of details about your past & current client engagements!
10) Invest the time in preparing a quality resume with lots of details
about your past & current client engagements!
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