Finally was! I will give the back-story to this exciting news and the start of a new career in public accounting. Some may think I have gone bonkers going from private to public, but those that know me know I have a few screws missing. It’s what I have always wanted and finally going after it.
In August of 2011 I had an interview with one of the Big 4 accounting firms. While there I learned that the department I was interviewing with had a hiring freeze for almost two years and after many turnovers they finally had the go ahead to hire on one more staff member. I was there for five long hours. I interviewed with four Directors and one of the Partners. Part of the interview was lunch with a Manager and a Senior Auditor. I was nervous and did the best I could to sell myself during my grueling five hours at the firm. Well, one week later I got a phone call from the HR lady and she told me that they really liked me; however, they had to get the final approval to make me an offer. Factoring in people traveling and taking time off, I patiently waited for three weeks. I finally got a phone call that I was not expecting. The department was told they had to eliminate the posting. The offer that I thought I had, I did not have anymore. Luckily only two people from my current job knew about my interview and the almost offer. All I could think was, thank goodness I had not put in my notice. I still kept in touch with the HR lady who was very nice and I checked the firm’s job postings almost EVERYDAY. Well, fast forward to April 2012, many jobs applied to and not a single phone call. I was losing hope. Out of nowhere the HR lady calls me and mentions that a job had posted in the firm and one of the Directors I had interviewed with had held on to my resume all along (he must have been guilt ridden, which they should have after that tease in 8/11). He had forwarded my resume to the hiring manager and they wanted to know if I was interested. I have to admit, I said I was interested and had no clue what the job was about. A day later I requested a description of the job and it was for a compliance analyst. Somewhat up my alley since I was currently working as an internal auditor. My interview was scheduled for the following week and I tried not to get excited. After all, we had a not so good history in the job offer department. It only got better, I discovered that the hiring manager (I spent a good 15 minutes at work one day googling her, I have quite the stalking skills I have to admit) held my same position at my current company nine years ago. FINALLY, the public accounting gods were looking out for me. The interview went well, it was one of those where I walked out confident I had the job long before I walked in to the interview and it was down to personality. A day later I got the phone call that I had the job. I was excited and rejoiced even more when two hours later I had the email with my official offer. So, here I am getting ready to start in public accounting and the pressure of passing the CPA exam is on.
So, that’s my little story of how I got into public accounting. I will learn all I can and hope that I can make a career out of it.
