I am currently a junior majoring in accounting at a major university three miles away from home.
After having failed to land an internship at one of the Big Four accounting firms this summer (had one interview with KPMG, no offers), I have decided to take a more radical path to seeking employment this summer. In the past hour, I have compiled a list of 20 local accounting/tax preparation firms, ranging from one-man operations to slightly bigger operations comprising of a few dozen people. Tomorrow afternoon, when I get home from school, I'll be calling three to four firms for internships and remind the person/partner on the other line that it's tax season, and I will be very happy to work for free.
I've never done this before, but I believe that this is the best way for me to land an internship of some kind this summer so that I am a bit more competitive come full-time recruiting next fall.
Has anyone cold called for work before? Did it work for you?
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Make sure to rehearse what you want to say before you call.
Also, don't work for free. These words should never come out of your mouth. When ever you work for free, you cheapen your worth as an employee. Are you worth nothing? Were your years in school worth nothing?
I'm just looking for an internship to bolster my crappy resume. Pay is not terribly important at the moment - I want to set myself up in a better position for Big Four fulltime recruiting in the fall. And I've read that it's not advisable to walk in randomly, unless it's a retail position or something like that.
Really? I've read websites advising against this...
Well, if you do anything randomly it will end badly. If you investigate, use proper timing and hit up the right people it won't be a disaster.
When you go hunting, you don't randomly decide to do it while you're driving. You don't suddenly jump out of your car with no rifle and strangle a passing deer to death. This would make you a sociopath and a poor hunter. Similarly, when you're job-hunting, you don't randomly call/walk-in. You prepare all your gear beforehand and stalk your prey until you sense the time is right.
Edit:
Wait a minute. You made 6 calls, that leaves 14 firms on your list to go. Are you giving up now?
True. My timing was way off - people already have enough people for tax season. I guess this effort was doomed before it began.
You gotta change this attitude. Keep calling. 6 phone calls is hardly a job hunt.
Well, I'm a bit more comfortable with calling random places now. Just called two more one-man operations - both guys adamantly said no.
Called another firm. They asked me for a cover letter and a resume. Well, my resume might shit, but I think I can still do a pretty decent cover letter.
Consider also volunteer work. Nonprofits often need accountants & bookkeepers - try looking on www.volunteermatch.org for keywords like "accounting" and "bookkeeping" and "financial."
the "no true scotch man" fallacy.
What was somewhat more helpful was asking, rather than about jobs, just to interview established people about how to find jobs/interview/etc. People are more willing to talk to you because it doesn't seem as much like you're asking for something (even though you are) and you can do some networking. Plus if it does so happen that the person's company is hiring, chances are they'll mention it to you.
Pluto was a planet and I'll never forget
What do you mean, by "established people"? I get a feeling that this is better if you are already employed and are networking internally or via professional groups. I am only a mere student. I've reached out to professors (and one of them indicated that he was willing to help me out).
"Hi, I'm writing an article on what sorts of things employers are looking for in an accounting intern. Would you mind scheduling 15 or 20 minutes with me to give your thoughts?"
So rather than calling firms and being all 'so, you guys hiring? No? Okay then,' figure out who at the company is doing the job you want. Then call them up, and say hey, I'm so and so and I'm trying to break into the industry, and I was wondering if I could come in and talk to you for 15 or 20 minutes about [blah blah blah].'
Some people will still refuse/blow you off, but most like to talk about themselves, so they'll agree at least to meet you over coffee or something. And you have a much better shot at having a good conversation and getting a line on an actual opening this way than you do by walking into an office and talking to whoever the front-end HR person is (their job, basically, is to get rid of you.)
ed: then having gotten an interview, come prepared with 20-30 minutes of questions and stuff to actually talk about. The goal is to impress this person, after all.
Pluto was a planet and I'll never forget
I second this approach, especially in regards to letting them talk about themselves some. As someone who works with a fair number of one-man and small accounting operations, they love talking, and talking about themselves is only one-upped by talking about accounting
Are you looking for an internship or a summer job? If you just want the cash money, temp.
Internship.