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Subject Topic: Please critique my resume! CPA candidate (Topic Closed Topic Closed) Post ReplyPost New Topic
  
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lapchern
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Joined: 09 Jul 2007
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Posted: 12 Apr 2010 at 22:28 | IP Logged  

Hi I've been trying to apply to accounting firms in southern California for the past 12 months with no luck and hardly any calls. I've been self motivated to pass the CPA exam on my own with no guidance or mentoring from my employers (none of them are CPA related).

Could you guys provide some feedback on my resume? I'm struggling to get my foot in the door of public accounting to eventually get my hours after I pass all 4 exams. My main weakness is I'm not exactly entry level, but I don't have any public accounting experience or have worked with anyone with a CPA background.

Thanks.

Note: name and personal info are fake


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micky201314
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Posted: 13 Apr 2010 at 15:15 | IP Logged  

I am in the same situation. However, I am a recent grad. and passed the CPA exam. I am trying to get my feet into the door of public accounting. I had apply some many positions online and sent tons of resume to local accounting firms. I barely get any replies... All my work experience were not accounting or finance related...I am so worry that I wont be able to find any accounting job in the future if I cant find any now... because employer would think there must be something is wrong with me for I can't find any accounting job since graduation.....

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REG-Finished Good 92
BEC-Finished Good 90
AUD-Finished Good 84
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AccountingNerd8
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Posted: 13 Apr 2010 at 15:38 | IP Logged  

Overall, it looks great....so I'm going to be a little picky here.

At first glance, it's very wordy.  That is the only thing that I would change a little bit.  You want the important stuff to stand out, and you want the reader to be able to read it pretty quickly. 

1) Under your summary section, for the second bullet point, I would take out "section of the CPA exam".  So you would just say :"CPA Exam Candidate: Schedule to take BEC in July 2010, and complete remaining parts by early 2011"

2) Under your summary section, I would take out the last bullet point completely.  With your high GPA and all that experience that you have, you are obviously very organized, attentive to details..I think by keeping that in there you are just being repetitive.  I'm only saying this because there is a lot of info in your resume, and you should only include what is really necessary.  On this same note, I might also take out the Accounting Coursework section.

3) For each job that you list, I would keep it to no more than 7 bullet points.  For example, for your current job I would take out "Ensured financial information has been recorded accurately".

4) What type of company is St. Josephs?


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I'M DONE!!!!!!
BEC- July 22, 2009 PASS
REG- February 26,2010 PASS
AUD- July 7, 2010 PASS
FAR- February 11, 2011 PASS! Last attempt before BEC expired
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allegro-cpa
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Posted: 13 Apr 2010 at 16:15 | IP Logged  

How can you sit for the CPA exam in California without enough accounting credits?  Looks like you only took 4 accounting classes.  Or did you take all of them already and did not add that to the resume>?  I thought the classes you need are. cost, intermediate 1 and 2, tax, audit, accounting info systems, government, advanced, etc. 24 accounting credits. 

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bird
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Joined: 22 Aug 2009
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Posted: 13 Apr 2010 at 16:46 | IP Logged  

it will be difficult for you to get a job in public accounting, at least at a larger firm, because like you said, you aren't exactly entry level.

I work for a Big 4 firm, and I can tell you the duties and tasks of being an auditor can only be learned by working as an auditor. Someone with your experience could not come into a major public accounting firm at a position higher than entry level because it takes years (literally) to be able to run an engagement as a senior and manager.

at this point, i would not even bother trying to get a job in public accounting. most of the people in public accounting want to get out at some point, so that tells you alot about the industry.

your resume is very wordy, at my undergrad school, they had a specific way they wanted us to setup our resumes. We were only allowed 3 (max 4) bullet points per job. No summar section. Education section was at the top.

If you are really serious about finding a job, I would spend the $$ to hire a professional resume expert who can help you.

 

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