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Dona
DeZube, 2008,
Jobs In The Money, www.jobsinthemoney.com
With demand so high, today's accountants have an enormous number of opportunities to
choose from when shifting their career gears. Once you've got some
experience under your belt, you can pursue any number of specialties that
match your strengths and interests. So how do you plot your direction? In
part, the answer depends on where you started your career and where you
sit now.
Because the industry faces such a
dearth of accounting talent, you can re-think even your most basic
decisions, such as whether to work in public or private accounting, whether
to put yourself on a management track or whether to explore options in
contract accounting, running your own firm or working for a non-profit
entity.
Do Overs
The first decision facing most accounting graduates is whether to go into
public or corporate accounting. It's probably not a good idea to leave
either of those fields in the first 12 months. However, once you've stuck it
out for a couple of years you'll find it's not so hard to jump to the other
side if you find yourself wishing you'd taken the other route.
In fact, moving from public accounting to a position in Corporate America is
easy, says Patricia DiNunzio, regional managing director for placement firm
the Mergis Group, who works in Columbus, Ohio. DiNunzio sees specific good
times to make the switch: "You either do it as a senior after two years of
public accounting work, as a manager after five years or as a senior
manager after eight years," she says.
Whenever you move, pay attention to timing and don't move during the busy
season, adds Sheryl Martin, executive director of firm operations for
WithumSmith+Brown, P.C., a CPA firm with 11 offices along with Mid-Atlantic
corridor. "I would never recommend that anyone move in the busy season," she
warns. "Smile, stick it out and leave in May. It's always frowned on when
you leave, but if you're leaving during tax season, you're inevitably going
to leave on bad terms."
There is one exception, adds Glenn Dubiel, vice president of the Mergis
Group in Ft. Lauderdale. That's when you face a compelling event in your
life. "It has to be something that's beyond your control, such as moving to
follow a spouse who's transferred, or a serious injury. Otherwise a job
change during the busy season is a spot on your resume." You can heal the
spot, he allows, "but the people who are going to do the best in their
careers are those who will tough it out through the busy season."
So, when's a good time to move? Recruiters expect to see candidates leave
public accounting in the late spring - right after the busy season. Explains
DiNunzio: "That's when they remember the blood, sweat and tears they just
went though."
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