Well, I have officially suffered my first Big 4 rejection
A couple of my peers said they have heard back from one firm for the SLP, and I have not, so I guess I have been rejected. The firms were all very adamant about not getting discouraged if you don't get an SLP, because its more competitive than the internships and FTs, but it certainly would be nice to get one or two. On to the next I suppose...
I'm supposed to be hearing from another firm by Monday (the one that seems most willing to send me to my goal city, but also my last choice), and I had another interview yesterday, so I will not hear from that firm for about three weeks. I'm really hoping to get these two, but also bracing for impact.
Are you a Junior?
I am
Do not be discouraged, internship recruiting is much easier. I was able to get into an Audit internship senior year with no prior work experience, the only thing that I had was a "local" leadership experience from junior year summer. Now I'm starting at an MM IB/Val shop doing Valuation work.
Make sure you have a well rounded resume by the time internship recruitment comes around and you will be fine.
I appreciate the encouraging words. My resume, in a quick summary, consists of the following:
Jr. Accountant/Bookkeeper on campus Lot Manager at used car dealership (not necessarily relevant, but ton of leadership and team work examples) Accounting Intern for self-employed CPA BAP member IM sports captain AICPA/State CPA Institute student member 3.94 GPA/4.00 Accounting GPA (will likely decrease to around 3.8ish after this semester) Various scholarships and honors
I feel that my resume was much stronger than many of the candidates, and my interviews have been very easy going and conversational, so I'm really sure what went wrong. To be fair to myself, I only know of two confirmed people who received spots (one being our BAP president) so it is clearly very competitive. I just really don't know of much more I can do for a resume boost, besides being a BAP officer, which I will very, very strongly consider if I get across the board rejections.
I am definitely trying to remember that I have a few more cracks still left at it, and that internship recruiting may be easier, but I'm an ultra competitive person and failure is never easy for me. But I'm trying to keep a positive mindset, because I still haven't heard from 2/3 that I got interviews for.
It's not the end of the world. There aren't a whole lot of slots in the SLPs, so it's tough. The main purpose of the SLPs is to lock in the top talent before someone else does. Part of that means interviewing people you'll want to hire as an intern, but didn't quite make the top line cut. Get the officership and practice your interviews. You'll be fine. Let us know how it goes.
I'm definitely getting the sense that its stiff competition for these things, I just have a crazy competitive streak in me, as do a lot of us, so I hate the idea that someone beat me out for anything. I've heard the old stigma that if you get the interview but not the position, then your resume is fine, it was just the interview (or in this case maybe my interview was fine, just not AS GOOD as the couple of people they took), so I'm wondering if picking up an officer position will help me all that much. It'll lead to me having to cut down on my work hours (working approx 35 hrs a week right now), which will hurt my bank account a little, but if I get rejected from all 3, then I guess I can't just sit idly by and not improve myself.
Just judging from above your resume looks good. Of course adding an officer position will help but from my experience your resume is pretty good already. Plus they seem to like stories of kids working their way through college which it sounds like you do. Honestly, I doubt you have much to worry about for internship recruiting. I know your still going to worry but you shouldn't.
That's what I was thinking, my resume seems to be stronger than that of a lot of my peers, and I felt my interviews went great, so I'm not sure what happened with this one. But again, I'm getting ahead of myself, as I've only gotten a no from two of the three I interviewed with (I'll know of one by next week, the final won't be for about a month).
And in regards to working my way through college, yes, I rely entirely on my scholarships and work (about 30 hrs a week), so that is one reason I'm hesitant to take the officer role because I will have to cut back on work a little. But if I get across the board rejections, I feel like I have to improve in some way and not leave myself stagnant. I wouldn't want to look back after intern recruiting and think if I just did that one simple thing I'd be in a better spot.
You're right about the worrying haha. A lot of the older officers I knew who are now working or interning with Big 4 tell me "just the fact that you got an interview for SLPs means a lot", but I can't help but worry lol.
Good news guys, I got word today that I will be invited to one of the SLPs in Chicago!!!
Congrats man! I'll be starting at a firm in Chicago this fall, PM me and I see if I can feed you a little inside info on the firm (if it's either of the two I'm most familiar with).
Congrats!
Also congrats on the first Big 4 Accounting Group post to make it to the WSO home page.
WE DONE CAME UP!!!
Congrats, I know you have been pushing for a big 4 position for a while now. Also, I curious to know what exactly does the SLP entail; what kind of work goes along with it? I have only heard of it but would appreciate the two-cents of anyone with experience on this.
It's just a way for the Big 4 to lock in top talent at the sophomore/junior level before those kids would be eligible for internships. You won't do any real "work"; from my experience it's just networking, restaurants, team-building activities, case studies, etc.
BTW, what city will you be going to?
From what I've heard, the SLPs are a little mix of meet and greet, presentations, and team building activities, but that is just what I've heard, I've obviously never been to one myself.
This one is going to be in Chicago, which is my goal city. The others were for my home state, but this particular firm was more than willing to send me for the SLP, while the others would prefer me to stay in state for the SLP and then ship me out for the internships.
Does anyone have any experience with the mini-programs integrated into summer internships at big 4 (i.e a week at an international office or community service abroad) ?
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