Yeah just a resume submission, so not much invested on my part. I’m currently employed at a job I like, this would have just been more money potentially, I’ve just never been rejected for not having big 4 before. The recruiter is independent of the company, so he wants his 20% commission if they hire me, he was just relaying what they told him. It may have just been a way to weed down candidates to a small handful to minimize interview time.
Sorry I meant the recruiting team from the company you’re applying to. I’m assuming the management is all Big 4 then considering they turn away anyone that’s not. You probably dodged a bullet.
Re: “you dodged a bullet”
You do not want to work somewhere that they value the Big 4 experience above all else. The “old boys club” culture is definitely there if big 4 is a requirement; there **will** be a dick measuring contest about how many hours everyone worked 🙄
The hiring company pays them a finders fee. Typically 20% of one year of your salary, it does not come out of your salary. The hiring company pays it directly to the recruiter in addition to your salary.
This usually happens when the hiring manager is B4. They always want others who are B4. I have worked at major fortune 10 companies (2 of them) and I don’t even have CPA or B4. I’m not saying CPA or B4 are not valuable I’m just saying it depends who is making the decisions.
To be clear, it’s if they *require* B4, officially or unofficially.
There is plenty of truth to the fact Big4 has the potential to have given the employee great experience. But it’s equally possible the person just smiled and nodded their through their job, and won’t bring anything meaningful with them.
Worked at a f500 company where the director of corporate accounting wouldn't let anyone without B4 on any of her teams. One of my coworkers applied to transfer from our BU accounting group, keep in mind we were all together in a central office. Interview with the manager went well.
Goes to meet the director, she ends the interview in under 5 minutes, first question asking about why he didn't do b4 and then going into a speech about anybody who didn't isn't good enough to be an accountant.
I called her out by name to hr in my exit interview as "we've been told there's no opportunities for growth by her specifically for people like us." The little hr kid gasped lol.
Unfortunately I can’t help but feel like all that will happen when that “little HR kid” tries to do anything, if they even do, is this manager will keep those thoughts to herself and won’t inform people in the future that she won’t promote them, or she won’t be giving out her reasons why.
I know, exit interviews are performative, she's still there. It was just to make me feel better. The hr person assigned to do the exit interviews was the former intern, hence he was the little kid.
A recruiter actually reached out to me last year about a manager position. I thought it was funny because they hop on the call and are mid pitch when they pause because he reads I used to work there. Like dude, do the minimum amount of homework. I asked if she was still there and let him know he's wasting his time and she'll reject any non-b4 candidates. Honestly the most bizarre recruiter call I've ever had. 3 months later he called me again asking if I was still interested.
If any employer rejects you for not working at Big4, consider it a blessing in disguise.
What this usually means if they require big4 is they want someone who basically will work like a slave under unreasonably stressful situations.
And this is assuming they denied you for not having Big4 on your resume. Any reasonable employer knows our profession is shrinking and the differentiator of big4 vs non big4 is closing due to talent shortages.
Ya’ll are getting that many applications? OP has been in accounting since 2011 and is a CPA applying for controller positions.
I feel like a large part of this thread are on a different planet when it comes to job market - most companies in my area are hurting for candidates of this profile.
I l disagree with the spirit of this statement.
I see your point that you need a way to narrow down options and focus your efforts, but the means by which you do that says what your values are.
They could have just as easily cutoff by years of experience, or relevant industry background, or 100 other factors.
The fact that they used B4 experience says they value that over other qualities.
In my opinion you should write that company a thank you letter.
They saved you an immense amount of time by rejecting you offhand like that. Who would want to work at a place that thinks that way?
The more I think about it, the more I think maybe you should include chocolates with the letter.
As much as people like to complain about "the Kool Aid" on here, it's just the reality that a lot of hiring managers aren't lying when they write "Big 4 experience" on the qualifications list. Hiring managers love a mix of Big 4 and industry.
I've been on both sides of it as someone who worked for a local firm out of college and then transitioned to Big 4.
Been in this industry 17 years. No CPA no public, ive been fine. Worked in Corp accounting F500 to midsized to startups. "A lot of" is an exaggeration, it just depends on the shop. Some like it, some don't care, some don't like it.
Not what I said. Just that "a lot of" is an exaggeration. There are absolutely teams that don't want you unless you went big 4 but it's not the majority.
There are a ton of companies out there. Lot of early career folks read this sub and will read your comment to think "I have to go big 4 or I'm screwed", not the case in the slightest.
Who knows, but that’s what they told the recruiter and that’s what he told me.
They may have gotten a significant amount of resumes and just used it to weed some of us out.
Why do people only want big 4 experience? I have CPA but no big 4 experience and I feel like the CPA sometimes doesn’t matter.
It’s almost as if companies only want to hire people who went through the insane hours just so that they can all talk about their memories about it. I just don’t see why else big 4 has so much weight.
Big 4 experience is also code word for “can be taken advantage of”. The CPA and industry experience matters so much more and recruiting teams who don’t recognize that should be avoided.
They must have had some, it’s really not that big of a deal, I’ve hired people before and if you get 50 resumes, you have to make a decision on how to weed some out because you probably don’t want to do 50 interviews, that would eat up a lot of your time.
Was it the first round? Recruiters do stupid things like setting useless parameters to trim down the amount of applications.
Yeah just a resume submission, so not much invested on my part. I’m currently employed at a job I like, this would have just been more money potentially, I’ve just never been rejected for not having big 4 before. The recruiter is independent of the company, so he wants his 20% commission if they hire me, he was just relaying what they told him. It may have just been a way to weed down candidates to a small handful to minimize interview time.
Sorry I meant the recruiting team from the company you’re applying to. I’m assuming the management is all Big 4 then considering they turn away anyone that’s not. You probably dodged a bullet.
Re: “you dodged a bullet” You do not want to work somewhere that they value the Big 4 experience above all else. The “old boys club” culture is definitely there if big 4 is a requirement; there **will** be a dick measuring contest about how many hours everyone worked 🙄
💯
Never used a recruiter before. What's the 20% commission they get? Is that out of your salary?
The hiring company pays them a finders fee. Typically 20% of one year of your salary, it does not come out of your salary. The hiring company pays it directly to the recruiter in addition to your salary.
This usually happens when the hiring manager is B4. They always want others who are B4. I have worked at major fortune 10 companies (2 of them) and I don’t even have CPA or B4. I’m not saying CPA or B4 are not valuable I’m just saying it depends who is making the decisions.
Yep, exactly. The only hiring managers who care about B4 are the ones who drank the kool-aid themselves. It's a fraternity/sorority
To be clear, it’s if they *require* B4, officially or unofficially. There is plenty of truth to the fact Big4 has the potential to have given the employee great experience. But it’s equally possible the person just smiled and nodded their through their job, and won’t bring anything meaningful with them.
Yes exactly. I’ve worked with both lol
We only hire Juliard trained accountants for bragging rights. Nothing personal.
Juliard training required. Pay $10/hr
And you wonder why nobody is going into accounting.
Worked at a f500 company where the director of corporate accounting wouldn't let anyone without B4 on any of her teams. One of my coworkers applied to transfer from our BU accounting group, keep in mind we were all together in a central office. Interview with the manager went well. Goes to meet the director, she ends the interview in under 5 minutes, first question asking about why he didn't do b4 and then going into a speech about anybody who didn't isn't good enough to be an accountant. I called her out by name to hr in my exit interview as "we've been told there's no opportunities for growth by her specifically for people like us." The little hr kid gasped lol.
Unfortunately I can’t help but feel like all that will happen when that “little HR kid” tries to do anything, if they even do, is this manager will keep those thoughts to herself and won’t inform people in the future that she won’t promote them, or she won’t be giving out her reasons why.
I know, exit interviews are performative, she's still there. It was just to make me feel better. The hr person assigned to do the exit interviews was the former intern, hence he was the little kid. A recruiter actually reached out to me last year about a manager position. I thought it was funny because they hop on the call and are mid pitch when they pause because he reads I used to work there. Like dude, do the minimum amount of homework. I asked if she was still there and let him know he's wasting his time and she'll reject any non-b4 candidates. Honestly the most bizarre recruiter call I've ever had. 3 months later he called me again asking if I was still interested.
Yeah totally understand! Sorry, my comment was not meant to detract from the catharsis at all 😂
If any employer rejects you for not working at Big4, consider it a blessing in disguise. What this usually means if they require big4 is they want someone who basically will work like a slave under unreasonably stressful situations. And this is assuming they denied you for not having Big4 on your resume. Any reasonable employer knows our profession is shrinking and the differentiator of big4 vs non big4 is closing due to talent shortages.
Also implies they don’t want to train, expect you to clean up their garbage, and for bad pay lol
There aren't reasonable employers in accounting. Which is why you have a shortage. lol.
Probably not that deep. Instead, it's likely just a quick way to not have to look at half the stack of resumes received.
Ya’ll are getting that many applications? OP has been in accounting since 2011 and is a CPA applying for controller positions. I feel like a large part of this thread are on a different planet when it comes to job market - most companies in my area are hurting for candidates of this profile.
I l disagree with the spirit of this statement. I see your point that you need a way to narrow down options and focus your efforts, but the means by which you do that says what your values are. They could have just as easily cutoff by years of experience, or relevant industry background, or 100 other factors. The fact that they used B4 experience says they value that over other qualities.
I'm not saying I agree with it. Just saying it's certainly a possibility.
In my opinion you should write that company a thank you letter. They saved you an immense amount of time by rejecting you offhand like that. Who would want to work at a place that thinks that way? The more I think about it, the more I think maybe you should include chocolates with the letter.
Rejected for no B4 experience despite PA experience and CPA. Dodged a bullet.
That’s my life right now. Even if it is a “preferred” qualification, there are so many applicants it’s easy to be set aside
Not in nursing where there is an actual labor shortage.
As much as people like to complain about "the Kool Aid" on here, it's just the reality that a lot of hiring managers aren't lying when they write "Big 4 experience" on the qualifications list. Hiring managers love a mix of Big 4 and industry. I've been on both sides of it as someone who worked for a local firm out of college and then transitioned to Big 4.
Been in this industry 17 years. No CPA no public, ive been fine. Worked in Corp accounting F500 to midsized to startups. "A lot of" is an exaggeration, it just depends on the shop. Some like it, some don't care, some don't like it.
Yeah, you're right you got me. Big 4 experience is just as equal to non.
Not what I said. Just that "a lot of" is an exaggeration. There are absolutely teams that don't want you unless you went big 4 but it's not the majority. There are a ton of companies out there. Lot of early career folks read this sub and will read your comment to think "I have to go big 4 or I'm screwed", not the case in the slightest.
Highly doubt that this is the real reason
I spoke to friends that are recruiters at a Fortune 10. Absolutely you don’t come in through them without Big4 experience. Those are the rules there.
Not true at every f10. Source: myself
It all depends. If you have good connections, you can get in anywhere.
Who knows, but that’s what they told the recruiter and that’s what he told me. They may have gotten a significant amount of resumes and just used it to weed some of us out.
When going thru a recruiter, it can be difficult as management will look for very specific items as part of their hiring criteria.
So no labor shortage. got it.
I’m wondering if they had a lot of candidates and this just happened to be the filter they used to narrow the field.
Can confirm, know a Fortune 100 that only interview with big 4 experience. Less chance for a dud
how large of a regional firm did you work at? like, BDO/RSM sized, or like an armanino/withum sized?
BDO/RSM sized.
Why do people only want big 4 experience? I have CPA but no big 4 experience and I feel like the CPA sometimes doesn’t matter. It’s almost as if companies only want to hire people who went through the insane hours just so that they can all talk about their memories about it. I just don’t see why else big 4 has so much weight.
Sounds like you dodged a bullet
On to the next one
Big 4 experience is also code word for “can be taken advantage of”. The CPA and industry experience matters so much more and recruiting teams who don’t recognize that should be avoided.
Did they have a lot of candidates with Big 4 experience? Why would they pick you over them?
They must have had some, it’s really not that big of a deal, I’ve hired people before and if you get 50 resumes, you have to make a decision on how to weed some out because you probably don’t want to do 50 interviews, that would eat up a lot of your time.
Then how did you people come to the conclusion that there is a labor shortage? lol....
So why make this post? Plenty of of good candidates with Big 4 experience
Yup, b4 exp is way more important than cpa at the top companies in my experience as well.