Hi, I am 21 years old, and I am in my second year of undergraduate studies. In the winter of 2012 I will be attending the Business school at Wayne State University to get my bachelors of science in accounting. I will have about 128 credit hours at graduation. However, I don't plan on going into public accounting right after graduation instead I would like to get a job in the private sector working as a staff accountant for a few years, but when I look for accounting jobs pretty much all of them require not only a BA/BS in accounting, but also 3-5 years of job experience in accounting. So my question is even though I still have about 2 years left before I graduate what can I do in order to get the job experience necessary to get a position as a staff accountant? I know interships, but where, and would a job as a bookkeeper, or accounting clerk count as experience towards a position as a staff accountant?

I have no problem with taking a low paying job as a bookkeeper, or accounting clerk for the first few years. My only concern is will the experience I gain working at ether of those jobs be relevant towards a staff accountant position, or some other accounting position which requires a bachelors degree in accounting + 3-5 years of related work experience?