mashi said:
b.acc is much better then any cadetship. Same goes for any other co-op.
A cadetship is just a full time bottom level role (yes the underlings do the most work.. didn't u know?) with very little pay. Most cadets know and complain they don't get paid enough.
Of course we complain- when our chargeout rate is $140/hr and we only get $13/hr pay... wouldn't you? The work that cadets do varies between firms but in reality, what did you expect? You have to start somewhere. It's a program which you'll only be rewarded if you stick to it until you finish- if you drop out, you've wasted time, money and energy. One of my mates who is a senior at a Big4 firm said that because clients are paying so much for the undergraduates to be there- they need to be doing something worthwhile.
mashi said:
You don't need to work 3 years at a firm just to 'get your foot in the door'. It unnecessarily delays the time to finish your degree (as you are doing it part time).
The work experience helps when you begin CA for one, after all, the point of a cadetship is to "accelerate" the completion of the CA program- so whilst the degree is 1 year slower, you finish your CA faster. Regardless of that, it's not a full time bottom level role- cadets are above vacationers and coops who are people not trained by the company/firm but rather, are just there for a little while with no commitment to the firm whatsoever.
Plus you invest your whole career in the one firm. With a co op program you get exposed to many firms. It's pretty standard that plenty of people in co op have cadetship offers yet many cadets miss out on scholarships.
Well I never applied for a scholarship because we aren't supposed to once we've signed for a cadetship- but is investing your whole career in one firm really such a bad thing? Sure exposure to multiple firms/companies is a great thing, but down the track, assuming both person A (the cadet) and person B (the coop person) end up working in the same firm, who do you think will be at a higher level at any one time later on assuming both people progress at the same rate?
Yes a coop definitely has advantages of a cadetship- there's less commitment, less responsibilities, more exposure to various businesses, etc... but wait, your argument of investing your whole career with one firm is flawed because in a coop- aren't you investing your career with one university program whereby you hope that the people organising it will let you have access to do work at big companies/firms? If I'm not mistaken most coops have one or two people who organise/allocate which people get to go to which companies- wouldn't it be better if you got to work in the firm/company you wanted to ALL the time? If that firm/company happened to be say, a Big4 firm, then at least if there were issues with HR, you could always be moved or change divisions. Not to mention the work experience is there- something which whilst coop students experience, doesn't really count because they were never employees of those firms/companies and thus were never properly trained or inducted into the business.
There's no doubt that UTS has very good sponsors for their accounting program, but whilst it may heighten their job prospects, there's still better job prospects for the cadet to continue working at his/her firm, and the cadet will most likely be on a much higher income bracket.
I am speaking on experience as I also have family members and friends who have completed their cadetship programs with Big4 firms, finished their CAs, and are on secondment to various countries around the world (some 6mths, some are 2yrs).
There is no definite 'better' between cadetships and coops- both will definitely improve a person's ability to get a good salary or job later on, and both offer a chance for people to experience life in the work force whilst studying so they can apply theory to practical. There will be people who appreciate a coop and there will be people who appreciate a cadetship- both are excellent programs and it all comes down to what you want to achieve at the end of the day.
Btw mashi, if you don't mind me asking, are you currently on any coop or cadetship? For the record, I am also on a cadetship.
