So I finally finished school at OSU and ended up with 2 bachelor degrees. One in Accounting and one in Marketing. The marketing degree is pretty much useless and the only reason I got it is because I needed 225 credits to be able to sit for the CPA exam. I'd much rather do accounting. Anybody have any ideas or know of anyone hiring accountants at all?
A marketing degree from OSU? Is there such a thing? What did they teach you to market other then sheep, hay and videos of you sleeping with you sister!
haha yeah. We just learned how to understand consumers and how to do market research. Kinda useless I know. But I'd rather go the accounting route.
I think you'll be in good shape Jfizzle, accountants are always in high demand. I just finished my finance degree at PSU and the financial sector is moving pretty sloowww right now...
To be honest you would have been better off doing the 1-year MBA program or getting an MIS option rather than marketing. Accounting + MIS is a very good combination for getting hired. I graduated from OSU last September with a degree in Honors Business with options in MIS and Management. I had been looking for work until about three weeks ago (so for almost six months), when I got hired to a software consulting company in Denver. That being said, I could have taken some sort of "marketing" (aka "sales" quite often) job and made 30k, but I waited it out and my salary is more than double that. It would be ideal if you already had an offer before graduating. But since you don't, here are my tips, based on my job-hunting with an OSU degree, to get a job: 1. Talk to your professors. Hopefully you paid attention in class, stopped by office hours, participated, and they like you. They are great sources of recommendation. My professors would often send me (or the department) an e-mail if they knew of a job opening. Former students often contact professors so they can cherry-pick the best talent out of an upcoming class. 2. Go to the CAREER FAIR! I ended up getting my job by meeting with a company at the OSU Winter Career fair, and then had an on-campus interview. In addition to them, I probably had at least a half-dozen of what I'd consider SOLID leads. There were some other companies I talked with, and could have applied to if I felt inclined. 3. Rely more on your contacts and networking, rather than your resume. My resume was legit. 3.9 GPA from the Honors College, with an internship at Nike. I sent off my resume to...well probably hundreds of companies/positions, and almost never heard back. Big companies like HP, Microsoft, and Nike are all on hiring freezes. So good luck getting a call back from them. I'm not sure if that goes for the Big 4 as well. Your best bet is finding the job that doesn't exist and is created just for you. Or is about to be created, but is filled before it is open to the public. This is pretty generic advice, but I digress. 4. Don't shy away from small companies. Here's something I did, which is smart. A lot of the companies that are continuing to hire are the smaller, newer companies in the area. Do you want to live in Portland? Maybe some other area. Find out what the fastest growing companies are in the area. For example, I found a list of the Portland Business Journal's 2008 Fastest Growing Private Business Companies list. I found the whole list at one point but no longer have it. They want you to pay, but if you Google this, you can figure out which companies are part of the list (individual companies often cite their ranking on their website). Here's an example. . While I didn't get hired using this technique, I did join a company of about 300 people that is rapidly expanding, and not a large established corporation (which I would have expected). So look at the smaller, growing companies, as they may be looking for a new accountant regardless of their industry. 5. Have hope!. It's tough when weeks go by and no response. But work at it diligently and it'll come. My friend is still finishing up his 225 credit requirements at OSU but is already hired on to KPMG in August. I know a handful of others who have also started at KPMG after finishing OSU. Right now, you maybe have to go to work in a smaller company, but that may not be so bad. You might be able to get more responsibilities or be promoted faster, especially in a privately held and managed company. 6. Know what you want to do. To be honest this was a tough one for me. I was a Computer Engineering/Science student and have technical skills, but don't really enjoy writing software all day long. But I was ready to take a job, just to get paid and some experience. It's tough...if you say "well maybe accounting, or perhaps marketing". I feel that through working you discover what you don't want to do. My point is that it is best to focus on the job role you want. Too many times I'd go to a company website and say "well I could apply for a network engineer, or software developer, or marketing specialist, or sales, or.... and it was easily overwhelming. So focus. 7. Send an application a day. It's easy to get burnt out and discouraged. So instead of applying for jobs for 10 hours straight, make it a goal to apply for at least a position a day. To apply correctly (including customizing your resume or cover letter for each position) takes a lot of time and effort. Do more if you feel like it. But at least that way you are making progress on a daily basis. 8. Consider working for the government. Particularly a career federal internship. My dad was career military and my mother worked for the federal government. It doesn't seem very sexy compared to working in the corporate world. But let's face it, the government needs good people if it's going to run well. I applied to several government jobs. With the government you get good benefits and a guaranteed raise as long as you don't screw up extremely bad. And it looks good on the resume. A lot of companies like people who have experience working with government entities. I mention the career federal internship in particular because it is a 2-year program which then can be extended to full-time. It is really worth checking out. None of my friends ever thought to apply with the government, so you may have a higher chance of getting an interview than in another organization. It's easy for me to shrug it off as no big deal, but it was a hassle. I moved back into my parent's house, and it wasn't the best situation. I hope that your job search is much faster and better, and hopefully my tips help. I certainly could have worked harder on my job search, but there is only so much you can do. So I think that's really about it. Good luck and if you want any additional advice, please let me know, as I think I've learned a lot of the tricks at this point. Try to find a good company to work for, regardless of their industry or your exact position unless you know exactly what you want to do (if you do great...I don't, which has made job hunting considerably more difficult). Once you start working it's easier to switch roles. I'm probably forgetting something and there is probably a typo in there somewhere, but I didn't see any with my very quick revision job. Edit: Fixed a few typos But really...Marketing at OSU? With Professor Elton? At least maybe there were a few cute girls in the class, right?
haha I know man. It was pretty easy stuff, I just wasn't a big fan of MIS and wanted something somewhat easy next to my accounting courses so I could focus on those.
and thanks for the long write up. Hopefully I can find a job somewhat soon. I'll keep people posted, and if they know of anyone hiring in the Portland area in accounting please let me know. I definitely know I want to do accounting for my career and actually enjoy aspects of it.
I would really recommend looking at the smaller, growing companies then. Places like Nike won't even hire accounting majors straight out of school (I used to intern at Nike, so I knew the accounting interns...said they couldn't be extended full time). Network, talk to professors, and send in an application a day. Make sure your resume looks clean, and your cover letter is interesting and not just duplicating information from your resume. Good luck!
Bump. Finally got an accounting job today! Unfortunately, I had to spend a fortune at Men's Wearhouse to buy enough business clothes to last at least a week.
You shoulda got a job where you just sit on your ass during Blazer games, and show highlights of the game and pose with blazer players and announcers and act cool.
thanks guys. I'm pretty excited about it, especially since I get to stay in the Portland area. Hope I fit in well.
