One of my favorite things about the holiday season is all of the delicious food. In honor of that, I have decided to offer you all some food…for thought. This sugar free, zero calorie advice is for all of the third years heading into recruiting season, fourth years ready to tackle their internships, and anyone else interested in career prospects as an MPA student.
Public accounting is not a prerequisite for success – Public accounting is a fantastic option, and I highly recommend that MPAs recruit for an internship in this industry if they are interested. However, I have heard of far too many students accepting a full time offer in public simply because they wanted the firm name and experience on their resume. They disliked the work and envisioned a very short-term career in the position, but they felt that it would open doors and allow them to pursue other opportunities in the future. I strongly disagree with this attitude; I feel that you will have more opportunities in the future if you can talk about work experience you genuinely enjoyed and were invested in. Furthermore, work consumes the best part of your day, and you don’t want to spend that time hating your work and regretting your decision. If you are not excited about the prospect of an internship during recruiting season, or if you do not enjoy your internship, don’t do it. There are countless other opportunities available to MPA students, which leads me to my next point…
MPA students are not limited to accounting – You build up a very strong knowledge base in accounting from the MPA program, and this obviously will be an asset in any accounting career. However, it also makes you attractive to industry, consulting, finance, public service, and many other employers that are looking for candidates with strong critical thinking and research skills. I received full time offers for industry, consulting, and financial services positions because of my MPA experience, not in spite of it. A director at a financial services firm I recruited with put it best when he said, “We prefer to hire accounting students because we know we can teach you finance and you will pick up quickly. It’s much harder to teach a non-accounting student accounting concepts.” Ultimately, though, the most important piece of advice I can offer is…
Do what makes you happy – Incredibly cliche, but so true. As you recruit, you are going to find that everybody has an opinion about different firms and career paths. Your friends. Your parents. Professors. Acquaintances. Random drunk people you meet at parties. You’ve got to block all of that out and make a decision based on what you want. Others may perceive certain companies or jobs to be more prestigious or impressive, but they are not the ones that will be working there. While Company XYZ may impress people at your high school reunion, the fleeting glory doesn’t really seem worth it when the tradeoff is spending 40+ hours per week in a job you dislike.
The job search is stressful in many ways, but it is also fun. Never again will you have access to hundreds of incredible employers right at your fingertips through OCR or career fairs specially planned for you, so take advantage of this time. Explore different opportunities, talk to as many company representatives as possible, and identify what you value in a career. This research and reflection will help you make the right decision.