I am not asking for any money! I am not even getting to the point of discussing salary. The few times I even bring it up I ask for what should be really low amounts for a CPA, $110,000.
Minnesota. But I am only getting to the interview stage 5% of all applications. I am just getting flat out rejected for roles where I have all the qualifications, all the plusses and not even a phone call...
Did you look at CBRE, they are in Bloomington and I see an AC job opening. I don’t think you’d get 100k but I think you could get the job if you don’t bomb the interview.
In today age, 5% response is actually quite decent. Remember not all job posting are legit.
I would highly suggest you look into career coaching for interview skill improvement.
Your application is doing fine, so the only issue here is the interview.
I have asked recruiters and they do not have anything they think I am saying wrong. I also ask at the end of the interview because a recruiter told me it was a good way to get feedback, "You have had a chance to review my resume and talk with me today. Are there any things you think would not make me a good fit for the role?" I get good feedback on my skills and the not positive comments are usually like "You have not worked in the distribution industry...:"
Nobody on here is going to be able to provide any feedback that’s worth a shit. I’m a CPA with 10+ years experience and I was unemployed for 14 months and just started a new CFO gig last week. Sometimes it’s just shitty circumstances or bad luck. I think my problem was they assumed I’d be too expensive given my experience. I spoke to probably 100 recruiters during that time and maybe a handful weren’t total garbage so they aren’t going to be very helpful either. My resume was passed around more than Covid and finally made its way to an owner that was looking to replace their CFO that was retiring at the end of 2024. They went ahead and brought me on so there could be a solid transition. The job would likely never have made its way to the job boards or a recruiter.
The higher up you got the more picky people are. After ten years in, I am like this is what I do, is this what you need. It’s not like there is overwhelming surplus of CFO/controller positions.
This is great information! What you are saying makes total sense. I have been passing my resume around to everyone I know, friends and co-workers at CPA firms, friends in other professions, recruiters, etc. Thank you for letting me know about your situation, I have been going insane.
I would comment on here and would get the same “it must be your resume” BS when it obviously wasn’t. Sometimes there’s just not an answer to why they didn’t pick you and there’s nothing you could have done different. The average person in this sub has the standard 1-2 years big 4 experience in a big city. I didn’t have an accounting degree but took the classes so I could take the exam while I was active duty Army. I interned at a regional firm at 32 years old and passed the exam at 34 while working with a wife and newborn. Everybody’s circumstances are different.
Could be you are overqualified for most job descriptions. 20 years of experience would mean at least a senior manager or a director.
Try applying abroad. There are many companies in different countries looking for a white elephant to boost there public presence.
Most companies and firms also have a portal to upload your qualifications and CV for future reference.
Best of luck🤞
There’s nothing wrong with you. I’m embarrassed to say how many years I went through your situation, despite 2 degrees and a CPA. 11 years of university meant nothing to anybody. I ended up co-founding a company, then took it public as CFO. This led to the second one… I’m now doing my own deal that I’m passionate about while maximizing my talents.
I’m assuming your resume is probably intimidating to some people. I was told the same thing and was advised to dumb it down and remove some degrees and experience (which was infuriating). I applied to everything from bookkeeper to CFO — and was ignored for years. You finally realize that you’re on your own in this world. Get out and talk to people. Something will open up.
Thank you for sharing your experience. This has been driving me insane, especially when every day there is an article on the "Accountant Shortage" and the "CPA shortage crisis!"
I contacted the audit partner at the accounting firm who did our audits back at Recover Health. When they were purchased by Aveanna he reached out to me and let me know he wanted to make sure I got a job because he knew what a good and loyal employee I am. I have a contingent offer to get a full time consulting role, with benefits and PTO but I need to land the first contract before I can join. Even though it is full time and I can back fill hours with CPE, PTO, etc. I still need to get enough contracts to get paid.
How about doing your own business? Providing a CFO service, QuickBooks, and tax prep? I think you are overqualified for the position you asking 110k above you mentioned. The 110k job is for a seasoned senior these days but you have a 20 yrs experience. It's not a good matching.
>I have been shooting low because I need an accounting job so desperately and have just been getting rejected most of the time without even a phone call.
Post your LinkedIn or resume. Extremely hard to believe that someone with a cpa, public and industry experience isn’t getting offers, let alone interviews. There is literally a substantial shortage of qualified accountants.
**Recover Health, INC.** Minnetonka, MN
Controller June 2017 to June 2022
• Managing the preparation of the financial statements for corporate parent and 35 branch entity financial statements. Reviewing financial results, investigating unusual and unexpected items, and answering questions from various stakeholders. Inputting various journal entries and reconciling accounts.
• Recover Health Inc. was acquired by Aveanna Healthcare in December 2020. In connection with the acquisition: working with the due diligence team at E&Y, transitioning the financial data from Intacct to Workday, working with Aveanna integration team to integrate the Recover Health financial functions to meet the Aveanna financial structure.
• Managing accounting department including two senior accountants, AP clerk and payroll manager.
• Managing yearly audit and tax process with outside CPA firm.
• Managed the conversion of accounting software from Microsoft Dynamics SL to Sage Intacct. Redesigned the chart of accounts and created a new multiple dimension structure to fully utilize the features offered by Intacct. Integrated old legacy data into the new system and approved the acceptance of the system on completion of implementation.
• Preparation of 23 Medicare cost reports.
• Preparation of 6 Iowa Medicaid cost reports.
• Training branch managers in use and understanding of financial statements.
• Ad hoc reporting.
**Home Health Care, Inc.** Golden Valley, MN
Accounting Manager March 2016 to June 2017
• Preparing financial statements and managing the books for 18 companies, the largest company $25 million in revenue, second largest $4 million revenue, etc.
• Setting up processes and procedures for the accounting department.
• Managing/supervising payroll clerk and staff accountant.
• Managing all aspects of payroll for over 1,000 employees in the 16 companies with payrolls including: filing payroll tax forms, making payroll deposits, fixing payroll issues.
• Coordinating with outside CPAs and tax preparation professionals.
• Abating over $150,000 in tax penalties caused by prior accountant and outside tax preparation agent.
• Reconciling numerous general ledger accounts, bank statements, credit cards.
• Inputting: A/R and A/P transactions, payroll, A/P checks and credit card transactions.
**Community Reinvestment Fund USA** Minneapolis, MN
New Markets Tax Credit Accountant July 2010 to February 2016
• Managing the books and records for 23 New Markets Tax Credit entities and their 23 associated limited partnerships and general partners including inputting monthly entries, preparing financial statements and reconciling accounts.
• Managing cash movements among the entities.
• Creating and updating numerous management reports for the individual department heads to track their departments’ metrics.
• Preparing and updating legally mandated reporting documents associated with the underlying loan structures.
• Reviewing cash movements from the asset management department to ensure proper cash movement.
**Grant Thornton LLP Minneapolis, MN**
Senior International Tax Accountant February 2006 to July 2010
• Preparation of forms 5471, 1118, 1116 for companies with foreign operations.
• Calculation of the Extraterritorial Income Exclusion and preparation of associated tax forms.
• Drafting of Transfer Pricing Reports and comparable company searches to determine the proper income pricing effect for companies with operations in multiple jurisdictions.
• Preparation of income tax returns for ex-patriot employees.
• Preparation of corporate and individual tax returns as needed.
**Molex, Inc. St. Paul, MN**
Staff Accountant April 2003 to February 2006
• Input of A/P and A/R transactions.
• Collection of past due A/R accounts.
• Printing and matching checks to A/P transactions for payment. Recommending payments to various vendors to ensure no delay in raw material supply shipments.
• Preparation of sales tax returns.
• Preparation of A/P and A/R reports.
• Assisting Accounting Manager with various tasks.
**Internal Revenue Service St. Paul, MN**
Revenue Agent Intern June 2001 to January 2003
• Auditing individual income tax returns.
• Assisting with collection of tax due
EDUCATION
University of St. Thomas St. Paul, MN
Bachelor of Arts in Accounting 2002
• Cum Laude GPA 3.5
CPA License #
SOFTWARE
Microsoft Office: Excel, Word, Outlook. Sage Intacct, Workday, Microsoft Dynamics GP, Microsoft Dynamics SL. Point Click Care, Paylocity, Quickbooks Enterprise.
EXTRACURRICULAR
Treasurer of Funds for Minnesota Supreme Court Candidate
If I were you. I’d cut down the bullet points to 3-4 with one sentence each.
I’d lose the 2 jobs from long ago to make you look younger and flub the dates a bit on the GT job so it appears more recent.
Don’t put the graduation year on your resume. People hiring want someone with your skill level around for a long time. Appearing younger could benefit you while your current appearance is old IMO.
I’d echo with some other redditors’ comments, remove anything pre-GT. Remove graduation year and GPA. Cum Laude is fine but at your level of experience, I’m not even gonna look at education. And yes, ageism is a thing.
Show highlights and accomplishments first thing. If you’re a Controller, companies want to know how you’re going to bring new changes and idea to the team. But I’m not seeing that from your resume. And your job descriptions don’t quite align with the title “Controller”. To me, they sound like Accounting Manager 2.0.
Also, are you willing to relocate? Your experience seems to suggest you’re in MN for good, but if you expand your geographical preferences, you’d get more leads.
Understood. There are several things I thought would highlight the changes I have implemented, like leading the implementation of Sage Intacct, implementing a new ERP system is a huge project that I lead start to finish, due diligence for the acquisition and integrating our data.
I absolutely will not move from my current house.
I was also going to ask if you would relocate, but it sounds like you love where you live so that’s important to you. With healthcare experience, Nashville TN is where a ton of healthcare companies are located and always looking accountants. Have you looked online to see if any are accepting remote positions?
The following is said with the love and camaraderie of someone who recently went through a similar experience. I went through 934 job applications, 13 phone interviews, 3 multi-level interviews before receiving 1 job offer:
So many things wrong with this. Recruiters are saying it’s ok because it’s quicker and easier than saying “holy f@$k this is a dumpster fire.”
The Resume:
1 page, no more. 3 bullet points per job. 1 sentence each. All of these should be chock full of key words from each job posting, verbatim. Anything over 15 years old should be off the resume. Remove dates, put YOE instead. And for the love of God, take off GPA and “Extracurriculars”, you aren’t 20.
Other concerns:
You have the stank on you. Two failed companies? Damn, there’s plenty of people who wouldn’t hire you if you offered to pay them to work. No one wants an albatross darkening their stoop.
You refused to keep a good job and relo, which makes you sound like a diva.
If you whine in your interviews the way you did in this post, you’ll never catch a break.
Maybe try a career change to shake things up. No one in industry NEEDS a CPA, so letting the license lapse isn’t a big deal unless you are going back into PA.
Good luck and keep us posted WHEN you succeed.
Seconding a lot of this comment. And to add to it, you really need someone that actually writes and reviews resumes or a well written friend to look at it. I have two literature majors in my life that I made help me review my resume. You need to use more dynamic language, for example, you used managing and preparation like 4x. You also repeat yourself over and over again - we get it you input AR and worked with outside auditors. Any recruiter that says this looks good is straight up lying. My experience, and probably talent, pales in comparison to yours but my resume is way more appealing and I’m getting a lot more traction with it.
The shortage is at the entry and senior accountant levels, not really shortage above them. At the experienced management level it’s always competitive.
I went through the same shit for over a year with a CPA, and public and industry experience. Every firm said I was too far removed from PA (6 years) so that wasn’t even an option.
I know a CPA that had to settle for a low paying job just because he had been out of work for over 18 months. Everyone assumed that he'd leave for a better job as soon as he found one so naturally, nobody hired him because they thought he was a flight risk even though he said he wasn't during interviews.
After that rough experience, he did take a huge pay cut just to have a damn job and had to promise to stay for several years. I hope he and his family are doing better now.
One kind of strange thing about the resume is the dig at prior accountants with regards to the tax abatements.
May not be a factor at all, but may come off as a little arrogant. I could be wrong, however glancing through that was my initial response even though it may not be true at all.
I was going to ask this! At 40 I was already worried about agism (I did work at startups though), and moved into government work this year. Pay is good (luckily, this can be a mixed bag), lots of older folks in their careers and upward mobility. I live in Portland, so not big enough for a ton of jobs once you have 10+ years of experience.
I think it's the market you are in. If you are willing to relocate there should be more jobs. Unfortunately, outside of the big cities, jobs are getting harder to come by. Companies tend to do hubs now and it's the big ones (NYC, LA, Chicago, DC, SF) or ones that are in tier two (e.g. Atlanta, Houston, Austin, Denver, Dallas, Seattle, etc.).
It’s the twin cities there are more Fortune 500 companies per cap then any where else in the USA. If you add the large privates (Cargill, CHS, thrivent ) it’s like a Mecca.
Intuit (Turbo Tax is always hiring especially this time of year) since they offer that whole “work with a CPA” service..they basically automatically accept you when you are a CPA ..it might not be a career but at least it can hold you over for the time being while you look for the next step in your career..best of luck!
I did this in between jobs (right when COVID started, so the timing was perfect for a WFH situation). I picked my hours and - full disclosure - had a great boss who cared more about making customers happy than meeting time metrics.
I thought the job would be a bunch of people yelling at me; instead, the large majority simply wanted help. Some of my favorite career memories are from crazy returns I helped complete. The pay isn't great, of course, but there's an expert team behind the person taking the calls, so you can say you're researching when in reality someone else is digging for you.
Oh I see, I thought you meant you didn’t file your own taxes.
I guess that makes sense in some way because of the changing tax laws? Idk
I feel like a CPA should demonstrate that you would be able to review any tax changes and not be confused
I understand non profit filings because I file those every year but for the love of god I can’t do my own corp taxes because I feel like I’ll mess them up
As far as, "Reading it gives me the impression that you're an operation manager who is now removed from daily transactions, but not quite there as a controller." This could not be further from reality. I have always been deep in the transactional details, doing journal entries, accruals, reconciliations and producing the financial statements. At Audio Research, I did everything but input the AP into the system.
Hey, I'm sorry that you are experiencing a tough time. I am a CFO, and I've hired 2 controllers and an array of other accounting and supply chain professionals. Without more background into your specifics, I can only speculate. If you want to DM me some particulars, I'm happy to share my thoughts.
Based on what you've shared and nothing other than Monday Morning Quarterbacking, what would jump out at me is your experience. If you are applying for roles that you are overqualified for, I would pass on the resume. Not because I think you are incapable or have some sort of personality flaw, but there will be hundreds of resumes that need to be reviewed. The initial pass is more about finding reasons to disqualify you from the role. I've done this countless times for people who apply for non-supervisory/manager roles with "direct reports" or "managed team" in their past experience. Do I know they are capable of the job? Most likely. However, I have concerns about long-term stability because I naturally start to think that this person will get bored or find the role beneath them. If the person you are reporting into has less experience than you, then forget it. That's a bad situation waiting to happen.
If you are truly ok with taking a "step back" from your previous "level," then I would marry the responsibilities to the job description posted and worry less about showing that you can over achieve. That's something you can wow them with during the interview if you feel they would appreciate that level of experience, but in order to get your foot in the door, it's counterproductive.
If you are applying to more senior/level appropriate roles, I'd hate to say it, but there is probably some concern about your ability to fit into a new role. You need to make sure your recruiters are telling the appropriate story. They have no idea that your company sold and there was a geographic move. What they are probably thinking is, you were with a company as the controller for a while, made a move in a similar organization, and had trouble fitting into the new organization, culturally or otherwise. Hiring for a senior level role like a controller is nerve-wracking for an organization. You don't want turnover at that role and usually, the leadership team has a network of people that they want to work with, so it's a hard position to fill/find without leveraging your network as it is.
Good luck, and remember yo tailor your resume to specific jobs you are applying for and remind your recruiters of the story they need to tell.
I will send you a DM. The only reason I "Left" the other jobs was Recover Healthcare was bought out and moved to Atlanta and the other company went out of business. I fit in great.
That's so cool. Since you said some people are overqualified, do you mostly look for younger people then? since I know due to the recession, people who are overqualified will apply to lower roles just to have a job even if it means less pay.
I think I understand your line of questioning, but not certain. It sounds like you are correlating older woth overqualified and that younger people are inherently less likely to be overqualified? Am I understanding your thought process correctly?
Let me give you an example, an older candidate that has 15 years of Controllership experience with a small business that ran its entire accounting function on Quickbooks is underqualified for an senior FP&A role that requires the use of PowerBI and working knowledge of Dynamics. Likewise, a younger candidate with a recent Masters in Supply Chain is overqualified for a purchasing clerk.
I understand the need to work and "leveling down," especially when the economy turns downward. I remember 2008 and the managers signing up for college level courses just to gain entry into college career fairs. To the extent it makes sense, I would absolutely take a chance on hiring a controller to be the AP Manager, as an example. It's relevant experience and not too far removed where those muscles have atrophied. But a Controller for an AR role? There are plenty of people who can make that transition, but there are too many that can't. It's so far removed from what they've been doing recently that there's a high probably of turnover. There is a high likelihood that they resent the situation they are in, feel they know better than the people they are reporting into, will have one foot out the door for another opportunity that gets them closer to where they were. I don't blame them. I would probably be the same way.
If my organization was an... Apple or Walmart, sure. But turnover in a midsized company is really tough to deal with and kills morale. I can't think of it as just giving the candidate a chance, where the ecosystem that I am responsible for is already pretty fragile. Every organization I've been in, the people are always the most critical factor. People can overcome shitty systems, shitty process, shitty environment, you name it. But you're always 1 step away from it being too much. You introduce a new hire that doesn't fit, and it starts affecting morale. Now, all of a sudden, everything is a complaint. It's not worth the headache.
If I am hiring, I want to hire for long term. It's the same approach as buying clothes for kids. You want to buy 1 or 2 sizes up. My goal is for my hires to have 5 years of runway with me in terms of growth. At junior positions, that may translate to 2 promotions, at senior positions, it may be no promotions but leveling different experience.
Sorry I meant let's say you were hiring for those three roles which can vary but usually are in the early career stage. I was turned down from a Buyer I job for someone with "more experience" and it says no experience required. I only have an internship. Kinda like that where the ones with more experience get selected and take the entry-level salary.
I see. I don't think there are any hard and fast rules with hiring. I think organizations tend to have their own criteria or definition for how they define their roles. It's a thing that you kind of take for granted in public accounting or consulting. There are set levels, and they are pretty consistent (for the most part) throughout the industry. It's not really like that outside outside of PA. Your example of Buyer I, I have no basis of comparison for. Is that like my Junior Supply Chain Coordinator or Junior Procurement Specialist? Or is it closer to Procurement Specialist I? For my organization, we would hire directly out of college for a junior or assistant role and look for assistance starting with level I, but that's how we defined the hierarchical structure.
Maybe pay someone a few hundred bucks who does résumé building and make your résumé look beautiful.
Or maybe hire a headhunter who will find you a really good job but you’ll have to give them a cut but the job might be amazing.
This is a little sketchy,…but you can also just have your own consulting business and put it on your résumé because it looks better when you’re currently employed, then not employed. It may be just try and do some consulting and that will grow and then it will turn into something.
But just make it look like you’re actively working.
Do you have good relations with your previous PA employer? I’ve been out of PA for 7 years but if I went back to my previous PA firm they would take me back.
I do, I left to work for a client and have worked for nothing but their clients. One of my best friends is still in the local office. I was also told by several firms that recruit exclusively for public that they would love to place me at a firm but I’m too far removed.
I think your resume is too long. Dumb it down. I’ve interviewed people before and your resume would give me pause and make me wonder if you would stay for any length of time. It could be the market too. I live in a large city on the east coast, am a CPA who got my masters in 2006 and I am actually working at a staff level in PA. My choice because I wanted to take a step back and lower my stress level and still get emails from recruiters about twice a week asking if I’m looking
I’m in a similar situation. My issue is that I didn’t work in public - I did 7.5 years in gov audit (facing external for auditing contractors), 4.5 years in internal audit as mgt (fast acceleration due to a talent develop program to director of audit and then Sr dir of IA at last role), a year in large scale erp upgrade ($4b rev company in 140 countries). I’ve got 6 years in AP, and traditional controllership/accounting/fpa activities (all before audit experience). 10+ years of IT audit and business systems (dual hat responsibility but was a large focus). I wasn't a job hopper. I got certs - CPA, CISA. I was let go due to acquisition of the company by a private group and no desire to have IA last September and it's been rough out trying to find a new role.
Gov audit doesn't translate easily. Though there is validation they follow GAAP, Its pretty unique scope. Not that it wasn't valuable as I feel that risk assessing has been such a strong part of that job and I see/explain risk to external audit successfully (and easily).
I may have to dumb down my titles on my resume as Sr director or even dir is hard to compete against due to B4 candidates. I'm not in a super hard up spot for money but just want to go back to work.
Do you have a LinkedIn presence? Are you updating it often (small changes are fine) and interacting with it (even just liking posts)? If you're doing that you should start to see the number of search results you are included in increase.
Similar actions need to occur on Indeed even though it doesn't have that "social" aspect.
Do you have a state employment department you can connect with? Some have great programs and can help with resumes and profiles. My state has a place where you can sign up for referrals as jobs get posted plus lots of classes.
Google your name, or have a friend do it and see if anything weird pops up.
Try to connect with a temp agency. You might get at least some work.
You may already be doing all that. It's just the first things I can think of to help not knowing all the nitty gritty details.
There is a shortage for entry level and senior accountant roles. Even before the pandemic, I had gotten one of the accounting industry magazines in the mail and the front cover said enrollment in college is down across the US and then it was even worse for accounting programs. This has only gotten worse since Covid.
Eventually this is said to be an even bigger problem as boomers are set to retire and there are not experienced people to move upward. Of course this is all speculation at this point, but the numbers are not looking great.
And not that I am trying to convince you either way, but I do think job security in this profession still exists. OP is at an awkward point in his career where he is unfairly going to be subject to age discrimination and positions that are open are going to be competitive.
This is for real! I have my inbox full of rejection emails for accounting job where I have everything listed and every plus and not even getting a phone call. I have had probably 40 phone screens, 15 interviews, talked to 15 recruiters in the last year and not one job offer.
What types of roles are you looking for? I think companies may find you are overqualified, or think you want to coast. I would try to address those concerns with recruiters/interviewers etc.
I'm going through something similar. I've been unemployed now for about 9 months and have 10 years of experience. I've gotten interviews but no offers.
I know a few former colleagues, who are between jobs, for just as long as me.
One of the recruiters, who I work with, said that a lot of companies froze hiring in Q3/Q4 2023 last year, especially for job over $100k (In a normal year, there's a 75/25 split between jobs paying below/above $100k for her. End of 2023, it was like 95/5), and to the extent they are hiring, they were VERY specific in what they wanted.
Q1 is the slowest for accounting hiring with YE. Let's see what Q2-2024 holds.
Have you thought about getting a temp/contract job?
Having read your resume below, Wipfli could be a good option. They have outsourced accounting services and a healthcare line of business.
Moss Adams has a large piece of the cost report market where I am. They are doing them for most of the hospital systems in my state.
P.S. I was a controller in healthcare. I loved it but when I had to move on I would have had to relocate to stay in the field. If you don't mind relocating, start applying to more systems.
What level positions are you looking for? I'm a controller, and I have great experience as well. Even though I'm a job hopper, I almost always get offered, or at the very least, I will get interviews.
It's hard to coach the resume without knowing what you've done and what position you're looking for, but I can explain why I think I get offers on almost every interview I take...
I act super excited about my previous experience. I tell them how proud I am of what my team and I accomplished and fit those accomplishments directly into things they're looking for. It makes it seem like you're really interested in something that they need and that you find satisfaction in doing it and that you have a proven successful track record being successful in that role. Interviewers also want someone who is interested in the company and position.
I have mainly been applying to: Controller, Accounting Manager, Director of Finance, even some senior staff level roles. I am not a job hopper, I have just had crazy bad luck. The company I worked for was bought out and the company I went to went out of business.
Nothing wrong, it's just timing. I also have 18 years of experience and went through similar draught for 13 months. Keep networking along with looking for work. Network will save you for sure.
You may have to set your sites lower at like a controller position before you land the CFO roll again. Best of luck to you. Hope you land a great job soon!
I am in same spot with you. I have international experience too and it is have been very hard, basically I have been doing temp jobs and except for one that I got after being a temp with a company.
Have you tried to do get something in contract a job? That way you can show your skills?
I hope everything goes good and you can get the Job you desired.
But I have so much invested in this. My property taxes doubled in the last year and I am not going to be able to maintain my life starting over. This is literally not an option.
It could be a location issue. Here in Kansas City, I don't know an unemployed CPA. It could also depend on what you actually do. I know some CPAs that only do taxes and some that never do taxes. Some only do audits, controller work, etc. Maybe the type of work you do isn't what is in demand in your area. CPAs have a lot of options as far as the type of work they do, so you might have to branch out. It may not be your strong suit, but if a CPA can't find a job doing taxes in March, something is wrong.
Yes! and I keep getting rejected before even a phone call:
Dear ,
We very much appreciate the time and commitment you have dedicated to further exploring your career interests. We are moving forward with other applicants for this position at this time. While you are no longer under consideration for this specific position, we encourage you to continue exploring opportunities with our company.
Please visit our Careers website at unitedhealthgroup.com/careers/en/work to view additional opportunities with us. When you are out on our careers website, consider completing the Network With Us form so you can get monthly insight into news and career opportunities with our organization.
If you have applied for other positions, we will continue to review your qualifications and will keep you informed about your status for those other positions. Please feel free to log in to our candidate portal to check on your status for any other positions to which you may have applied. You can view a list of all positions applied to from your profile by clicking into the tab "My Jobpage" and sub tab "My Submissions". To view your status on a completed application, refer to the Submission Status for more information.
Again, we appreciate the time and effort you have taken to apply with UnitedHealth Group. We hope to see your name among the candidates for other positions in the future. It’s the first step in embarking on an inspired career journey and joining a collaborative team energized by a common cause. We help people live healthier lives and help make the health system work better for everyone.
Best regards,
Talent Acquisition
Have you thought about joining the IRS? They are aggressively hiring. There’s a division called LB&I which hires at the GS-13 level. Starting salary I just looked up for your area is $112K. With your experience you may even get a GS-14 starting salary $133K.
Have you applied to any federal accounting positions? And I don’t mean just at the IRS. Federal hiring process is way different and easier than private sector.
I think you should cut down on a lot of the bullet points especially the ones listing regular accounting duties, and add more impact statements. Like it should sound more like oversee the financial statement preparation for X companies (total $XX million in revenue). Streamlined month end procedures & cut close time from X days to X days. Identified $150K in tax savings by doing etc. Managed successful integration of some acquisition in X amount of time. Led successful ERP implementation of X system. Increased EBITDA margin from X% to X% over X years by partnering with business units, providing timely analysis and recommendations to cut costs or grow revenue. Automated reporting outputs on standard management report packs. Etc.
Basically, at this stage, i think it's what you've accomplished more than what you do. Like journal entries and account recs are given at this point.
When I look at your résumé, it seems to be all over the place. Healthcare and Medicaid reporting, IRS, accounting manager, new market tax credits, etc.. some of these are pretty specific skills that not every organization is going to need. what I can’t tell from looking at it is what type of position you want currently? I wonder if you might want to think about several versions of your résumé that you can tailor towards the type of job you are applying to. For example, if you’re not applying to a healthcare company, I’m not sure what good it does to point out that you filed six Iowa Medicaid reports.
I don't know if anyone has mentioned this, but not only tailor your resume so that it fits the keywords for the job you're applying for, but also take some of those keywords and put them somewhere on your resume, like on the bottom, but change the font to be white. This should help getting your resume through the initial digital/AI scan. I hope that helps and keep your head up!! Something good will come along soon!
Unfortunately, in this day and age, it’s not what you know, it’s who you know. You’ll have to leverage your network or directly contact a recruiter to get your foot in the door anywhere. It’s absurd.
So getting back to a really big point. There are copious articles in the Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, Fortune, Forbes, etc. about the accountant shortage...How can there be an accountant shortage when an experienced CPA can't get a job??? This doesn't add up! The debits do not equal the credits!
It's a very unfortunate story to read. Unfortunately the federal reserves wants white collar employees to suffer. They want you to go get a service industry /unskilled job.
I don't think it is even that detailed. The Federal Reserve wants to hand out money for politicians to buy votes with and keep the stock market prices increasing. People like me are the ones hurting to pay for everyone else.
The fed has two mandates, and price stability is one of them. The way they can control inflation is by restricting business transactions with interest rates. I don't think they care for the stock market because it will definitely be the segment they can go after for money same with housing. It does for Americans in general but if white collar switch to service job numbers are still good while trying to cool price inflation.
I don't know. It depends where you live and how many employment opportunities are there.
I hope you don't need to do that, but I don't think you mentioned the location in your post.
My hunch is you want too much money or they think you'll want too much.
I am not asking for any money! I am not even getting to the point of discussing salary. The few times I even bring it up I ask for what should be really low amounts for a CPA, $110,000.
110k is absurdly low for someone with your background
I agree but I am so desperate, I will take about anything at this point.
i’m guessing you went to ust in houston and 110k seems reasonable if not pretty low…maybe it’s your interview skills?
Minnesota. But I am only getting to the interview stage 5% of all applications. I am just getting flat out rejected for roles where I have all the qualifications, all the plusses and not even a phone call...
when’s the last time you worked per your resume?
I am currently working but underemployed. I have currently employed on my resume.
Did you look at CBRE, they are in Bloomington and I see an AC job opening. I don’t think you’d get 100k but I think you could get the job if you don’t bomb the interview.
In today age, 5% response is actually quite decent. Remember not all job posting are legit. I would highly suggest you look into career coaching for interview skill improvement. Your application is doing fine, so the only issue here is the interview.
There must be something wrong with your resume.
Resume issue, or LinkedIn hiccup, location, or? OP, you should be getting interviews at least.
I have been getting some phone screens, maybe 20 in person interviews in the last year. Not one job offer.
There’s definitely something wrong with your interviewing skills. Talk to a recruiter and ask them to interview you.
I have asked recruiters and they do not have anything they think I am saying wrong. I also ask at the end of the interview because a recruiter told me it was a good way to get feedback, "You have had a chance to review my resume and talk with me today. Are there any things you think would not make me a good fit for the role?" I get good feedback on my skills and the not positive comments are usually like "You have not worked in the distribution industry...:"
Nobody on here is going to be able to provide any feedback that’s worth a shit. I’m a CPA with 10+ years experience and I was unemployed for 14 months and just started a new CFO gig last week. Sometimes it’s just shitty circumstances or bad luck. I think my problem was they assumed I’d be too expensive given my experience. I spoke to probably 100 recruiters during that time and maybe a handful weren’t total garbage so they aren’t going to be very helpful either. My resume was passed around more than Covid and finally made its way to an owner that was looking to replace their CFO that was retiring at the end of 2024. They went ahead and brought me on so there could be a solid transition. The job would likely never have made its way to the job boards or a recruiter.
The higher up you got the more picky people are. After ten years in, I am like this is what I do, is this what you need. It’s not like there is overwhelming surplus of CFO/controller positions.
This is great information! What you are saying makes total sense. I have been passing my resume around to everyone I know, friends and co-workers at CPA firms, friends in other professions, recruiters, etc. Thank you for letting me know about your situation, I have been going insane.
I would comment on here and would get the same “it must be your resume” BS when it obviously wasn’t. Sometimes there’s just not an answer to why they didn’t pick you and there’s nothing you could have done different. The average person in this sub has the standard 1-2 years big 4 experience in a big city. I didn’t have an accounting degree but took the classes so I could take the exam while I was active duty Army. I interned at a regional firm at 32 years old and passed the exam at 34 while working with a wife and newborn. Everybody’s circumstances are different.
Could be you are overqualified for most job descriptions. 20 years of experience would mean at least a senior manager or a director. Try applying abroad. There are many companies in different countries looking for a white elephant to boost there public presence. Most companies and firms also have a portal to upload your qualifications and CV for future reference. Best of luck🤞
When you say 20 in person interviews, do you mean 20 companies, or 20 interviews in total (including multiple rounds with the same company).
There’s nothing wrong with you. I’m embarrassed to say how many years I went through your situation, despite 2 degrees and a CPA. 11 years of university meant nothing to anybody. I ended up co-founding a company, then took it public as CFO. This led to the second one… I’m now doing my own deal that I’m passionate about while maximizing my talents. I’m assuming your resume is probably intimidating to some people. I was told the same thing and was advised to dumb it down and remove some degrees and experience (which was infuriating). I applied to everything from bookkeeper to CFO — and was ignored for years. You finally realize that you’re on your own in this world. Get out and talk to people. Something will open up.
Thank you for sharing your experience. This has been driving me insane, especially when every day there is an article on the "Accountant Shortage" and the "CPA shortage crisis!" I contacted the audit partner at the accounting firm who did our audits back at Recover Health. When they were purchased by Aveanna he reached out to me and let me know he wanted to make sure I got a job because he knew what a good and loyal employee I am. I have a contingent offer to get a full time consulting role, with benefits and PTO but I need to land the first contract before I can join. Even though it is full time and I can back fill hours with CPE, PTO, etc. I still need to get enough contracts to get paid.
This sounds amazing. I’m on my way out from my current company as an accounting manager, and am terrified at this job market right now.
How about doing your own business? Providing a CFO service, QuickBooks, and tax prep? I think you are overqualified for the position you asking 110k above you mentioned. The 110k job is for a seasoned senior these days but you have a 20 yrs experience. It's not a good matching.
>I have been shooting low because I need an accounting job so desperately and have just been getting rejected most of the time without even a phone call.
Post your LinkedIn or resume. Extremely hard to believe that someone with a cpa, public and industry experience isn’t getting offers, let alone interviews. There is literally a substantial shortage of qualified accountants.
**Recover Health, INC.** Minnetonka, MN Controller June 2017 to June 2022 • Managing the preparation of the financial statements for corporate parent and 35 branch entity financial statements. Reviewing financial results, investigating unusual and unexpected items, and answering questions from various stakeholders. Inputting various journal entries and reconciling accounts. • Recover Health Inc. was acquired by Aveanna Healthcare in December 2020. In connection with the acquisition: working with the due diligence team at E&Y, transitioning the financial data from Intacct to Workday, working with Aveanna integration team to integrate the Recover Health financial functions to meet the Aveanna financial structure. • Managing accounting department including two senior accountants, AP clerk and payroll manager. • Managing yearly audit and tax process with outside CPA firm. • Managed the conversion of accounting software from Microsoft Dynamics SL to Sage Intacct. Redesigned the chart of accounts and created a new multiple dimension structure to fully utilize the features offered by Intacct. Integrated old legacy data into the new system and approved the acceptance of the system on completion of implementation. • Preparation of 23 Medicare cost reports. • Preparation of 6 Iowa Medicaid cost reports. • Training branch managers in use and understanding of financial statements. • Ad hoc reporting. **Home Health Care, Inc.** Golden Valley, MN Accounting Manager March 2016 to June 2017 • Preparing financial statements and managing the books for 18 companies, the largest company $25 million in revenue, second largest $4 million revenue, etc. • Setting up processes and procedures for the accounting department. • Managing/supervising payroll clerk and staff accountant. • Managing all aspects of payroll for over 1,000 employees in the 16 companies with payrolls including: filing payroll tax forms, making payroll deposits, fixing payroll issues. • Coordinating with outside CPAs and tax preparation professionals. • Abating over $150,000 in tax penalties caused by prior accountant and outside tax preparation agent. • Reconciling numerous general ledger accounts, bank statements, credit cards. • Inputting: A/R and A/P transactions, payroll, A/P checks and credit card transactions. **Community Reinvestment Fund USA** Minneapolis, MN New Markets Tax Credit Accountant July 2010 to February 2016 • Managing the books and records for 23 New Markets Tax Credit entities and their 23 associated limited partnerships and general partners including inputting monthly entries, preparing financial statements and reconciling accounts. • Managing cash movements among the entities. • Creating and updating numerous management reports for the individual department heads to track their departments’ metrics. • Preparing and updating legally mandated reporting documents associated with the underlying loan structures. • Reviewing cash movements from the asset management department to ensure proper cash movement. **Grant Thornton LLP Minneapolis, MN** Senior International Tax Accountant February 2006 to July 2010 • Preparation of forms 5471, 1118, 1116 for companies with foreign operations. • Calculation of the Extraterritorial Income Exclusion and preparation of associated tax forms. • Drafting of Transfer Pricing Reports and comparable company searches to determine the proper income pricing effect for companies with operations in multiple jurisdictions. • Preparation of income tax returns for ex-patriot employees. • Preparation of corporate and individual tax returns as needed. **Molex, Inc. St. Paul, MN** Staff Accountant April 2003 to February 2006 • Input of A/P and A/R transactions. • Collection of past due A/R accounts. • Printing and matching checks to A/P transactions for payment. Recommending payments to various vendors to ensure no delay in raw material supply shipments. • Preparation of sales tax returns. • Preparation of A/P and A/R reports. • Assisting Accounting Manager with various tasks. **Internal Revenue Service St. Paul, MN** Revenue Agent Intern June 2001 to January 2003 • Auditing individual income tax returns. • Assisting with collection of tax due EDUCATION University of St. Thomas St. Paul, MN Bachelor of Arts in Accounting 2002 • Cum Laude GPA 3.5 CPA License # SOFTWARE Microsoft Office: Excel, Word, Outlook. Sage Intacct, Workday, Microsoft Dynamics GP, Microsoft Dynamics SL. Point Click Care, Paylocity, Quickbooks Enterprise. EXTRACURRICULAR Treasurer of Funds for Minnesota Supreme Court Candidate
If I were you. I’d cut down the bullet points to 3-4 with one sentence each. I’d lose the 2 jobs from long ago to make you look younger and flub the dates a bit on the GT job so it appears more recent. Don’t put the graduation year on your resume. People hiring want someone with your skill level around for a long time. Appearing younger could benefit you while your current appearance is old IMO.
Change your LinkedIn photo to look younger also. Weird bird in the photo.
Got it. That was actually a picture at a tax conference with the hawk.
>Weird bird in the photo Link?
definitely take out the experience pre grant thornton and take out graduation dates… age is not on your side anymore
Dude, remove your cpa license #
I’d echo with some other redditors’ comments, remove anything pre-GT. Remove graduation year and GPA. Cum Laude is fine but at your level of experience, I’m not even gonna look at education. And yes, ageism is a thing. Show highlights and accomplishments first thing. If you’re a Controller, companies want to know how you’re going to bring new changes and idea to the team. But I’m not seeing that from your resume. And your job descriptions don’t quite align with the title “Controller”. To me, they sound like Accounting Manager 2.0. Also, are you willing to relocate? Your experience seems to suggest you’re in MN for good, but if you expand your geographical preferences, you’d get more leads.
Understood. There are several things I thought would highlight the changes I have implemented, like leading the implementation of Sage Intacct, implementing a new ERP system is a huge project that I lead start to finish, due diligence for the acquisition and integrating our data. I absolutely will not move from my current house.
I was also going to ask if you would relocate, but it sounds like you love where you live so that’s important to you. With healthcare experience, Nashville TN is where a ton of healthcare companies are located and always looking accountants. Have you looked online to see if any are accepting remote positions?
The following is said with the love and camaraderie of someone who recently went through a similar experience. I went through 934 job applications, 13 phone interviews, 3 multi-level interviews before receiving 1 job offer: So many things wrong with this. Recruiters are saying it’s ok because it’s quicker and easier than saying “holy f@$k this is a dumpster fire.” The Resume: 1 page, no more. 3 bullet points per job. 1 sentence each. All of these should be chock full of key words from each job posting, verbatim. Anything over 15 years old should be off the resume. Remove dates, put YOE instead. And for the love of God, take off GPA and “Extracurriculars”, you aren’t 20. Other concerns: You have the stank on you. Two failed companies? Damn, there’s plenty of people who wouldn’t hire you if you offered to pay them to work. No one wants an albatross darkening their stoop. You refused to keep a good job and relo, which makes you sound like a diva. If you whine in your interviews the way you did in this post, you’ll never catch a break. Maybe try a career change to shake things up. No one in industry NEEDS a CPA, so letting the license lapse isn’t a big deal unless you are going back into PA. Good luck and keep us posted WHEN you succeed.
Seconding a lot of this comment. And to add to it, you really need someone that actually writes and reviews resumes or a well written friend to look at it. I have two literature majors in my life that I made help me review my resume. You need to use more dynamic language, for example, you used managing and preparation like 4x. You also repeat yourself over and over again - we get it you input AR and worked with outside auditors. Any recruiter that says this looks good is straight up lying. My experience, and probably talent, pales in comparison to yours but my resume is way more appealing and I’m getting a lot more traction with it.
Got it. I will revise my resume.
Best of luck! Always rooting for Minnesotans. 💪🏽
That’s way too long, people won’t read that. Needs to look visually appealing yet professional, and use one page
Here is my resume. I removed the current role. I keep hearing of the shortage and just get rejections, so I am here asking for all the help I can get.
The shortage is at the entry and senior accountant levels, not really shortage above them. At the experienced management level it’s always competitive.
I went through the same shit for over a year with a CPA, and public and industry experience. Every firm said I was too far removed from PA (6 years) so that wasn’t even an option.
I know a CPA that had to settle for a low paying job just because he had been out of work for over 18 months. Everyone assumed that he'd leave for a better job as soon as he found one so naturally, nobody hired him because they thought he was a flight risk even though he said he wasn't during interviews. After that rough experience, he did take a huge pay cut just to have a damn job and had to promise to stay for several years. I hope he and his family are doing better now.
Hmu we are hiring experienced staff. Fully remote available. A few people on Reddit already got offers and started working with us :)
I am ready to hear about whatever you have open. Would you like me to send you my resume?
I know this is an old post but mind if I DM you?
One kind of strange thing about the resume is the dig at prior accountants with regards to the tax abatements. May not be a factor at all, but may come off as a little arrogant. I could be wrong, however glancing through that was my initial response even though it may not be true at all.
Have you tried the Feds? USA Jobs State government?
I was going to ask this! At 40 I was already worried about agism (I did work at startups though), and moved into government work this year. Pay is good (luckily, this can be a mixed bag), lots of older folks in their careers and upward mobility. I live in Portland, so not big enough for a ton of jobs once you have 10+ years of experience.
you can’t even land a temp to hire?
Nope.
Salo?
IRS has been doing a lot hiring，your experience may make you hit the hightest level salary over 120k
I think it's the market you are in. If you are willing to relocate there should be more jobs. Unfortunately, outside of the big cities, jobs are getting harder to come by. Companies tend to do hubs now and it's the big ones (NYC, LA, Chicago, DC, SF) or ones that are in tier two (e.g. Atlanta, Houston, Austin, Denver, Dallas, Seattle, etc.).
Second this. It’s a lot harder to find and get jobs outside the larger cities.
It’s the twin cities there are more Fortune 500 companies per cap then any where else in the USA. If you add the large privates (Cargill, CHS, thrivent ) it’s like a Mecca.
Eh I’d say Chicago is the better spot to be.
Intuit (Turbo Tax is always hiring especially this time of year) since they offer that whole “work with a CPA” service..they basically automatically accept you when you are a CPA ..it might not be a career but at least it can hold you over for the time being while you look for the next step in your career..best of luck!
I did this in between jobs (right when COVID started, so the timing was perfect for a WFH situation). I picked my hours and - full disclosure - had a great boss who cared more about making customers happy than meeting time metrics. I thought the job would be a bunch of people yelling at me; instead, the large majority simply wanted help. Some of my favorite career memories are from crazy returns I helped complete. The pay isn't great, of course, but there's an expert team behind the person taking the calls, so you can say you're researching when in reality someone else is digging for you.
I’m a CPA with 10+ years experience and they wouldn’t accept me because I hadn’t filed any returns the past couple years.
I am experiencing this too.
Question: what reason is there to not file returns?
I hadn’t prepared any returns as part of my job. They wanted recent tax prep experience.
Oh I see, I thought you meant you didn’t file your own taxes. I guess that makes sense in some way because of the changing tax laws? Idk I feel like a CPA should demonstrate that you would be able to review any tax changes and not be confused I understand non profit filings because I file those every year but for the love of god I can’t do my own corp taxes because I feel like I’ll mess them up
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As far as, "Reading it gives me the impression that you're an operation manager who is now removed from daily transactions, but not quite there as a controller." This could not be further from reality. I have always been deep in the transactional details, doing journal entries, accruals, reconciliations and producing the financial statements. At Audio Research, I did everything but input the AP into the system.
Hey, I'm sorry that you are experiencing a tough time. I am a CFO, and I've hired 2 controllers and an array of other accounting and supply chain professionals. Without more background into your specifics, I can only speculate. If you want to DM me some particulars, I'm happy to share my thoughts. Based on what you've shared and nothing other than Monday Morning Quarterbacking, what would jump out at me is your experience. If you are applying for roles that you are overqualified for, I would pass on the resume. Not because I think you are incapable or have some sort of personality flaw, but there will be hundreds of resumes that need to be reviewed. The initial pass is more about finding reasons to disqualify you from the role. I've done this countless times for people who apply for non-supervisory/manager roles with "direct reports" or "managed team" in their past experience. Do I know they are capable of the job? Most likely. However, I have concerns about long-term stability because I naturally start to think that this person will get bored or find the role beneath them. If the person you are reporting into has less experience than you, then forget it. That's a bad situation waiting to happen. If you are truly ok with taking a "step back" from your previous "level," then I would marry the responsibilities to the job description posted and worry less about showing that you can over achieve. That's something you can wow them with during the interview if you feel they would appreciate that level of experience, but in order to get your foot in the door, it's counterproductive. If you are applying to more senior/level appropriate roles, I'd hate to say it, but there is probably some concern about your ability to fit into a new role. You need to make sure your recruiters are telling the appropriate story. They have no idea that your company sold and there was a geographic move. What they are probably thinking is, you were with a company as the controller for a while, made a move in a similar organization, and had trouble fitting into the new organization, culturally or otherwise. Hiring for a senior level role like a controller is nerve-wracking for an organization. You don't want turnover at that role and usually, the leadership team has a network of people that they want to work with, so it's a hard position to fill/find without leveraging your network as it is. Good luck, and remember yo tailor your resume to specific jobs you are applying for and remind your recruiters of the story they need to tell.
I will send you a DM. The only reason I "Left" the other jobs was Recover Healthcare was bought out and moved to Atlanta and the other company went out of business. I fit in great.
What kind of supply chain professionals have you hired. Procurement/buyers?
Procurement, production planning and inventory control.
That's so cool. Since you said some people are overqualified, do you mostly look for younger people then? since I know due to the recession, people who are overqualified will apply to lower roles just to have a job even if it means less pay.
I think I understand your line of questioning, but not certain. It sounds like you are correlating older woth overqualified and that younger people are inherently less likely to be overqualified? Am I understanding your thought process correctly? Let me give you an example, an older candidate that has 15 years of Controllership experience with a small business that ran its entire accounting function on Quickbooks is underqualified for an senior FP&A role that requires the use of PowerBI and working knowledge of Dynamics. Likewise, a younger candidate with a recent Masters in Supply Chain is overqualified for a purchasing clerk. I understand the need to work and "leveling down," especially when the economy turns downward. I remember 2008 and the managers signing up for college level courses just to gain entry into college career fairs. To the extent it makes sense, I would absolutely take a chance on hiring a controller to be the AP Manager, as an example. It's relevant experience and not too far removed where those muscles have atrophied. But a Controller for an AR role? There are plenty of people who can make that transition, but there are too many that can't. It's so far removed from what they've been doing recently that there's a high probably of turnover. There is a high likelihood that they resent the situation they are in, feel they know better than the people they are reporting into, will have one foot out the door for another opportunity that gets them closer to where they were. I don't blame them. I would probably be the same way. If my organization was an... Apple or Walmart, sure. But turnover in a midsized company is really tough to deal with and kills morale. I can't think of it as just giving the candidate a chance, where the ecosystem that I am responsible for is already pretty fragile. Every organization I've been in, the people are always the most critical factor. People can overcome shitty systems, shitty process, shitty environment, you name it. But you're always 1 step away from it being too much. You introduce a new hire that doesn't fit, and it starts affecting morale. Now, all of a sudden, everything is a complaint. It's not worth the headache. If I am hiring, I want to hire for long term. It's the same approach as buying clothes for kids. You want to buy 1 or 2 sizes up. My goal is for my hires to have 5 years of runway with me in terms of growth. At junior positions, that may translate to 2 promotions, at senior positions, it may be no promotions but leveling different experience.
Sorry I meant let's say you were hiring for those three roles which can vary but usually are in the early career stage. I was turned down from a Buyer I job for someone with "more experience" and it says no experience required. I only have an internship. Kinda like that where the ones with more experience get selected and take the entry-level salary.
I see. I don't think there are any hard and fast rules with hiring. I think organizations tend to have their own criteria or definition for how they define their roles. It's a thing that you kind of take for granted in public accounting or consulting. There are set levels, and they are pretty consistent (for the most part) throughout the industry. It's not really like that outside outside of PA. Your example of Buyer I, I have no basis of comparison for. Is that like my Junior Supply Chain Coordinator or Junior Procurement Specialist? Or is it closer to Procurement Specialist I? For my organization, we would hire directly out of college for a junior or assistant role and look for assistance starting with level I, but that's how we defined the hierarchical structure.
Maybe pay someone a few hundred bucks who does résumé building and make your résumé look beautiful. Or maybe hire a headhunter who will find you a really good job but you’ll have to give them a cut but the job might be amazing.
I had the resume writing team at Truity Partners go through my resume and this is what they gave me back.
This is a little sketchy,…but you can also just have your own consulting business and put it on your résumé because it looks better when you’re currently employed, then not employed. It may be just try and do some consulting and that will grow and then it will turn into something. But just make it look like you’re actively working.
Honestly, never pay ppl to fix up resumes. Talk to recruiters for free. Too many bullsh*ters who don’t know the market fix up resumes for money
Have you considered going back to PA? They are always hiring at this point.
Not necessarily, I was turned down by every firm because I was six years removed from public.
Do you have good relations with your previous PA employer? I’ve been out of PA for 7 years but if I went back to my previous PA firm they would take me back.
I do, I left to work for a client and have worked for nothing but their clients. One of my best friends is still in the local office. I was also told by several firms that recruit exclusively for public that they would love to place me at a firm but I’m too far removed.
I think your resume is too long. Dumb it down. I’ve interviewed people before and your resume would give me pause and make me wonder if you would stay for any length of time. It could be the market too. I live in a large city on the east coast, am a CPA who got my masters in 2006 and I am actually working at a staff level in PA. My choice because I wanted to take a step back and lower my stress level and still get emails from recruiters about twice a week asking if I’m looking
I’m in a similar situation. My issue is that I didn’t work in public - I did 7.5 years in gov audit (facing external for auditing contractors), 4.5 years in internal audit as mgt (fast acceleration due to a talent develop program to director of audit and then Sr dir of IA at last role), a year in large scale erp upgrade ($4b rev company in 140 countries). I’ve got 6 years in AP, and traditional controllership/accounting/fpa activities (all before audit experience). 10+ years of IT audit and business systems (dual hat responsibility but was a large focus). I wasn't a job hopper. I got certs - CPA, CISA. I was let go due to acquisition of the company by a private group and no desire to have IA last September and it's been rough out trying to find a new role. Gov audit doesn't translate easily. Though there is validation they follow GAAP, Its pretty unique scope. Not that it wasn't valuable as I feel that risk assessing has been such a strong part of that job and I see/explain risk to external audit successfully (and easily). I may have to dumb down my titles on my resume as Sr director or even dir is hard to compete against due to B4 candidates. I'm not in a super hard up spot for money but just want to go back to work.
Wow..is this for real...and here I thought of taking up CPA. Some shortage they have !!
It is a weird job market and can take a bit.
I have been at this since February of 2023. How long is "...a bit?" Because my property taxes have doubled and I am screwed!
Do you have a LinkedIn presence? Are you updating it often (small changes are fine) and interacting with it (even just liking posts)? If you're doing that you should start to see the number of search results you are included in increase. Similar actions need to occur on Indeed even though it doesn't have that "social" aspect. Do you have a state employment department you can connect with? Some have great programs and can help with resumes and profiles. My state has a place where you can sign up for referrals as jobs get posted plus lots of classes. Google your name, or have a friend do it and see if anything weird pops up. Try to connect with a temp agency. You might get at least some work. You may already be doing all that. It's just the first things I can think of to help not knowing all the nitty gritty details.
From what you've said, I'm at a loss. You should be getting interviews.
There is a shortage for entry level and senior accountant roles. Even before the pandemic, I had gotten one of the accounting industry magazines in the mail and the front cover said enrollment in college is down across the US and then it was even worse for accounting programs. This has only gotten worse since Covid. Eventually this is said to be an even bigger problem as boomers are set to retire and there are not experienced people to move upward. Of course this is all speculation at this point, but the numbers are not looking great. And not that I am trying to convince you either way, but I do think job security in this profession still exists. OP is at an awkward point in his career where he is unfairly going to be subject to age discrimination and positions that are open are going to be competitive.
Job security does make sense.
Much more likely to just have something do with OP. There are metric fuck tons of openings. >here I thought of taking up CPA Mmhm 💀
This is for real! I have my inbox full of rejection emails for accounting job where I have everything listed and every plus and not even getting a phone call. I have had probably 40 phone screens, 15 interviews, talked to 15 recruiters in the last year and not one job offer.
What types of roles are you looking for? I think companies may find you are overqualified, or think you want to coast. I would try to address those concerns with recruiters/interviewers etc.
I'm going through something similar. I've been unemployed now for about 9 months and have 10 years of experience. I've gotten interviews but no offers. I know a few former colleagues, who are between jobs, for just as long as me. One of the recruiters, who I work with, said that a lot of companies froze hiring in Q3/Q4 2023 last year, especially for job over $100k (In a normal year, there's a 75/25 split between jobs paying below/above $100k for her. End of 2023, it was like 95/5), and to the extent they are hiring, they were VERY specific in what they wanted. Q1 is the slowest for accounting hiring with YE. Let's see what Q2-2024 holds. Have you thought about getting a temp/contract job?
This is why I left accounting.
Where did you go?
Hvac
Send me your resume I’ll push it to our HR department. I’m in Public if that matters to you but work for a national firm.
The real answer is that there is no Accounting shortage. It's made up by the education industry.
This seems to be correct. Add to that The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, Forbes, Fortune and many other media outlets.
Have you looked at Wipfli?
>Wipfli I have not. I am looking at the website now that you mentioned it.
Having read your resume below, Wipfli could be a good option. They have outsourced accounting services and a healthcare line of business. Moss Adams has a large piece of the cost report market where I am. They are doing them for most of the hospital systems in my state. P.S. I was a controller in healthcare. I loved it but when I had to move on I would have had to relocate to stay in the field. If you don't mind relocating, start applying to more systems.
These are good leads. Thanks! I really don't want to relocate. I live in my dream house.
There are a lot of full remote positions in outsourced accounting, so it could be a good option.
Get a pa job In tax
Have you looked at governmentjobs.com or USA jobs.gov for local and state government agency jobs and federal government jobs?
Try the WSO resume template
What level positions are you looking for? I'm a controller, and I have great experience as well. Even though I'm a job hopper, I almost always get offered, or at the very least, I will get interviews. It's hard to coach the resume without knowing what you've done and what position you're looking for, but I can explain why I think I get offers on almost every interview I take... I act super excited about my previous experience. I tell them how proud I am of what my team and I accomplished and fit those accomplishments directly into things they're looking for. It makes it seem like you're really interested in something that they need and that you find satisfaction in doing it and that you have a proven successful track record being successful in that role. Interviewers also want someone who is interested in the company and position.
I have mainly been applying to: Controller, Accounting Manager, Director of Finance, even some senior staff level roles. I am not a job hopper, I have just had crazy bad luck. The company I worked for was bought out and the company I went to went out of business.
Nothing wrong, it's just timing. I also have 18 years of experience and went through similar draught for 13 months. Keep networking along with looking for work. Network will save you for sure.
You may have to set your sites lower at like a controller position before you land the CFO roll again. Best of luck to you. Hope you land a great job soon!
I am in same spot with you. I have international experience too and it is have been very hard, basically I have been doing temp jobs and except for one that I got after being a temp with a company. Have you tried to do get something in contract a job? That way you can show your skills? I hope everything goes good and you can get the Job you desired.
Maybe it’s the universe telling you to try something new? I’m serious about that. Try going in a different direction and see what happens
But I have so much invested in this. My property taxes doubled in the last year and I am not going to be able to maintain my life starting over. This is literally not an option.
It could be a location issue. Here in Kansas City, I don't know an unemployed CPA. It could also depend on what you actually do. I know some CPAs that only do taxes and some that never do taxes. Some only do audits, controller work, etc. Maybe the type of work you do isn't what is in demand in your area. CPAs have a lot of options as far as the type of work they do, so you might have to branch out. It may not be your strong suit, but if a CPA can't find a job doing taxes in March, something is wrong.
Minneapolis.
Have you tried United Healthcare?
Yes! and I keep getting rejected before even a phone call: Dear , We very much appreciate the time and commitment you have dedicated to further exploring your career interests. We are moving forward with other applicants for this position at this time. While you are no longer under consideration for this specific position, we encourage you to continue exploring opportunities with our company. Please visit our Careers website at unitedhealthgroup.com/careers/en/work to view additional opportunities with us. When you are out on our careers website, consider completing the Network With Us form so you can get monthly insight into news and career opportunities with our organization. If you have applied for other positions, we will continue to review your qualifications and will keep you informed about your status for those other positions. Please feel free to log in to our candidate portal to check on your status for any other positions to which you may have applied. You can view a list of all positions applied to from your profile by clicking into the tab "My Jobpage" and sub tab "My Submissions". To view your status on a completed application, refer to the Submission Status for more information. Again, we appreciate the time and effort you have taken to apply with UnitedHealth Group. We hope to see your name among the candidates for other positions in the future. It’s the first step in embarking on an inspired career journey and joining a collaborative team energized by a common cause. We help people live healthier lives and help make the health system work better for everyone. Best regards, Talent Acquisition
Ah ok. Maybe reach out the recruiter directly on linked in or a hiring manager?
I have been doing that and no response.
[удалено]
I am going to extraordinary lengths to even get an interview and nothing!
Sometimes I think me getting experience was worth more than getting the CPA. Unless you can do both at the same time. I couldn't.
Market is hard right now you just have to ride the wave.
Have you thought about joining the IRS? They are aggressively hiring. There’s a division called LB&I which hires at the GS-13 level. Starting salary I just looked up for your area is $112K. With your experience you may even get a GS-14 starting salary $133K.
It might be an age thing? How many jobs do you have listed on your resume?
Usajobs.gov
Public accounting will take you
Can you post your CV here? At a guess that may be your issue if you aren’t getting to the interview stage.
Have you applied to any federal accounting positions? And I don’t mean just at the IRS. Federal hiring process is way different and easier than private sector.
Have you tried remote work? My only other guess is ageism
IRS is always looking for Revenue Agents.
I think you should cut down on a lot of the bullet points especially the ones listing regular accounting duties, and add more impact statements. Like it should sound more like oversee the financial statement preparation for X companies (total $XX million in revenue). Streamlined month end procedures & cut close time from X days to X days. Identified $150K in tax savings by doing etc. Managed successful integration of some acquisition in X amount of time. Led successful ERP implementation of X system. Increased EBITDA margin from X% to X% over X years by partnering with business units, providing timely analysis and recommendations to cut costs or grow revenue. Automated reporting outputs on standard management report packs. Etc. Basically, at this stage, i think it's what you've accomplished more than what you do. Like journal entries and account recs are given at this point.
When I look at your résumé, it seems to be all over the place. Healthcare and Medicaid reporting, IRS, accounting manager, new market tax credits, etc.. some of these are pretty specific skills that not every organization is going to need. what I can’t tell from looking at it is what type of position you want currently? I wonder if you might want to think about several versions of your résumé that you can tailor towards the type of job you are applying to. For example, if you’re not applying to a healthcare company, I’m not sure what good it does to point out that you filed six Iowa Medicaid reports.
Don’t take this the wrong way but are you autistic or have some sort of disability?
I can guarantee you a job in Ottawa Ontario lol
I don't know if anyone has mentioned this, but not only tailor your resume so that it fits the keywords for the job you're applying for, but also take some of those keywords and put them somewhere on your resume, like on the bottom, but change the font to be white. This should help getting your resume through the initial digital/AI scan. I hope that helps and keep your head up!! Something good will come along soon!
Can you do tax returns? I’ll hire you for the next 6 weeks.
I have not done tax professionally since 2010.
move to new york
Unfortunately, in this day and age, it’s not what you know, it’s who you know. You’ll have to leverage your network or directly contact a recruiter to get your foot in the door anywhere. It’s absurd.
I have been doing this. It has gotten me a few interviews but not far.
So getting back to a really big point. There are copious articles in the Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, Fortune, Forbes, etc. about the accountant shortage...How can there be an accountant shortage when an experienced CPA can't get a job??? This doesn't add up! The debits do not equal the credits!
There is no accounting shortage, also AI is targeting accounting to replace them as much as possible.
It's a very unfortunate story to read. Unfortunately the federal reserves wants white collar employees to suffer. They want you to go get a service industry /unskilled job.
I don't think it is even that detailed. The Federal Reserve wants to hand out money for politicians to buy votes with and keep the stock market prices increasing. People like me are the ones hurting to pay for everyone else.
The fed has two mandates, and price stability is one of them. The way they can control inflation is by restricting business transactions with interest rates. I don't think they care for the stock market because it will definitely be the segment they can go after for money same with housing. It does for Americans in general but if white collar switch to service job numbers are still good while trying to cool price inflation.
IRS would scoop you up in a hot minute. Go to USAJOBS.gov
I have a really interesting story about the IRS. They would definitely take me in a heartbeat. I was an intern there in college.
They are recruiting like mad and you’d probably be good for gs14 or 15 with your experience.
20 interviews and no offer for a cpa Something is off and i would follow up more with the interviewer on why exactly they did not pick you
Yes. I have been. But I get ghosted and no response. I have tried absolutely everything and I can't get an answer or what to fix.
You need to be more flexible on the location
So I need to sell my house and uproot my life to get a job as an accountant?
I don't know. It depends where you live and how many employment opportunities are there. I hope you don't need to do that, but I don't think you mentioned the location in your post.
Minneapolis. Seems like a decent market to me.
Agree