Accounting Employment Opportunities If Graduate after Semester 1? (1 Viewer)

[sHoCkWaVe]

Hi all. I am a soon to be USYD B. Commerce student this year, formerly from UTS's B. Business. To cut the king story short, due to the pain in the arse that is credit transfers when transferring unis, if I were to proceed to USYD, I would have to do 4 first year subs (6 credit points each), in addition to proceeding with 2xxx subs and 3xxx subs in my second and third years respectively.

If I were to go, I would have 2 options:

1. Overload two semesters with an additional sub each, and then do the remaining to in this year's Summer School.

2. Enjoy uni life, just take the normal sem load of 4 subs, but this would set my graduation back by a semester.

I want to know which option is better?

And If I were to take option 2, that means that I won't be graduating in the 'normal' ceremony time as all those other regular (start their courses on March) B. Com students here and in every other uni, which I am guessing would be either in December or May (since USYD has graduation ceremonies on May, June, October and December). I am guessing I'll be graduating in October.

So basically, I'm worried about my employment opportunities if I were to take Option 2, since I'm guessing that most accounting firms hire new graduates at the end/beginning of the year (please correct me if I'm wrong).

So basically, since many unis have graduation ceremonies that aren't the 'main' ones (such as before or after the main bulk of the students graduate, like people who graduate after Semester 1), how are those students who graduate in those 'unusual' times suppose to get employed if it's not employment season yet then?

What are we suppose to do if I were to put myself in that situation? Serve burgers at Hungry Jacks for half a year until the employment season opens again?

 

[Emily.]

well they are usually fairly flexible
often they like to take a few on a bit early (of the big firms) so theres not a big influx at the start of the year. you may apply in the normal way (around mayish i think) but then express your desire to start as early as possible. if i were you i would just do 4 subs a semester cos if you do more you may not get as good marks therefore jeopardising your chance of getting the job at all.
smaller firms tend to hire year round as they see the need. but seriously, all you have to do is ask. go to a few potential employers, ask to speak to someone about graduate job opportunities and see what their opinion is. they dont bite.

 

[seremify007]

I think for the big firms, they usually do a lot of recruitment in the beginning of the year around March?, but then in some firms, they also do it at the end of the previous year. I'm basing this on the fact that the Meet-the-firm BBQ at UNSW is in week5 and is apparently just before the closing of applications for graduate positions, and from experience, the time between applications closing and offers being made is not that long (for me it was a fortnight).

My mate from KPMG had his NGI (graduate induction) at the end of February so that might indicate that they offer positions towards the end of the previous year?

EDIT
Not sure if you know this or if it was mentioned earlier, but don't forget that they offer spots to people BEFORE they graduate... such as at the beginning of the year you may get your offer, but you don't necessarily finish your degree until the end of the year. I'm guessing this makes my thought that KPMG has offers towards the end of the year somewhat mooted.

 

[sHoCkWaVe]

Apart from those Big 4 recruitment programs, how do one go about trying to get employed? By looking at the Recruitment pages in the papers?

Speaking of those recruitment ads in the papers, I've been looking through some of them, and I noticed that many of them have closing dates in early March. I'm guessing that for these firms, we aren't suppose to apply a year before we graduate, right? When they say applicaitons close on the 10 March, they meant on the 10th of March after we've graduated, right? So this means that in the event if we have to do Summer School after our 3rd Year, since it ends in mid February, we are still able to apply for those positions, right?

And P.S.: Anybody else who have overloaded before, as well as anybody who have more information on whether I'll be able to apply in the main recruitment periods with everyone else if I were to do Summer School after my 3rd Year, could you please private message me for information on these two matters ASAP? Will appreciate it very much.

Thanks for any info on this.

 

[Emily.]

or you can just go doorknocking at firms, drop your resume around to as many places as possible

you dont have to wait until they advertise, cos most positions dont even make it to the recruitment pages.

and in regards to big 4 firm recruitment programs, although the applications close in the early part of the year and they confirm positions around mid year, generally you dont start til the start of the next year, unless you ask whether you can start earlier

 

[Emily.]

Apart from those Big 4 recruitment programs, how do one go about trying to get employed? By looking at the Recruitment pages in the papers?

Speaking of those recruitment ads in the papers, I've been looking through some of them, and I noticed that many of them have closing dates in early March. I'm guessing that for these firms, we aren't suppose to apply a year before we graduate, right? When they say applicaitons close on the 10 March, they meant on the 10th of March after we've graduated, right? So this means that in the event if we have to do Summer School after our 3rd Year, since it ends in mid February, we are still able to apply for those positions, right?

And P.S.: Anybody else who have overloaded before, as well as anybody who have more information on whether I'll be able to apply in the main recruitment periods with everyone else if I were to do Summer School after my 3rd Year, could you please private message me for information on these two matters ASAP? Will appreciate it very much.

Thanks for any info on this.

no, you apply the march of your last year, before you graduate...they dont expect you to fail subjects and have to take summer school....firms wouldnt really look well upon students who have failed subjects


just to clear that up...sorry to double post

 

[sHoCkWaVe]

I am not thinking of going to Summer School due to failing something. Rather, I'm a transfer student, and there are some additional subjects that I need to do because I didn't get exemptions for them when transferring here.

 

[Minai]

You don't need to have "graduated" to get a job.

Most of my friends that are working in Big4 firms now - they have their graduation ceremonies in April.

I'm in a similar situation to you - I'm finishing uni at the end of this semester (S1) and I start work in July. Most firms are flexible - I just told them (EY) I was finishing uni mid year and they said no worries, you can start in July.

 

[seremify007]

Alot of my mates and myself found job applications/information on the www.flyhigher.com.au website, and also by going to various Accounting firm web sites and checking out the career sections. Get the BRW List of top 100 accounting firms, and then just Google them to find their websites if you can't find them on the flyhigher.com.au website (although I think they list pretty much all the CA firms in Australia?).