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Employment, Rachel, Recruiting

3rd Year Lessons – Business Professional

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If you were already a student of McCombs prior to entering the MPA program, you are probably already very familiar with the dress standards of McCombs and the degree of seriousness to which these dress standards are taken. If you’re like me, you joined the program from another university and had never dressed Business Professional in your life. I hope that you were able to blend in better than I did on orientation. I believe orientation was Business Casual. I wore white jeans. JEANS. I thought my sheer-ish chiffon shirt and heels were nice enough that a pair of hole-less white jeans were formal enough. Needless to say, I didn’t blend in very well amongst my peers of already-well-acclimated-McCombs students who all looked interview-ready in their blazers and slacks. I learned later that week in BA 101 that I had broken more than a handful of professional dress rules. The good news is that I think even the most lost souls have an understanding of these expectations by recruiting season (if you don’t feel like you’re there yet, go see Merri Su Ruhmann and ask her for one of her pamphlets, it saved me). The truth is, 3rd years typically live in Business Professional during their Spring semester. Because Business Casual is essentially Business Professional without a blazer, do yourself a favor and have more than one outfit on hand, and keep one clean at all times. If you’re a woman you are typically expected to wear heels. Please don’t kid yourself and think you will survive in heels all day. BRING YOUR TOMS, Nikes, bunny slippers or whatever it is that saves your feet. Just make sure you don’t hobble into your big interview on clearly suffering feet. Take your pants off as soon as you’re home and don’t put them on all weekend if you don’t feel like it, but your appearance really does matter significantly during that interview window. You will feel that you have been lucky to have been trained to look like a professional when you come across someone at a recruiting event who hasn’t been so lucky. This program really prepares us to be professionals in a way that will benefit our careers for years to come, if we allow it to.

Which impression would you like to make?

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Rachel, Recruiting

3rd Year Lessons – Track

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There are a few things that we all learn through our experience in this program. Some of those things being Financial Accounting Concepts and Research and GAAP, and others being things worth laughing about. I prefer to laugh at those things.

In an attempt to post less than 1,000 words, I’ll post each of these topics on its own. Consider this Part 1.

Track

cfniSo, you’ve joined the program, and that’s about it. You’ve received acceptance and you kind-of know how to dress for orientation (more on that later), and you show up for said orientation and are handed a binder that contains everything you need to know inside of it. Everything is laid out for you, and all you need to do is choose. Choose what kind of accountant you’d like to be. No, really, it’s okay, just choose your track.

I think this moment frightens everyone. Sure, most of us probably have some idea of which track is the least appealing to us, but how on Earth are we supposed to jump right in and choose which direction in which we’d like to develop our accounting careers? The information provided about each track is great, and I think most students who end up in the MPA Program are receptive to statistics, and those are helpful also.

Here’s what you’ve probably already learned, that new 3rd years will be learning for years and years after you: this is not a make-or-break decision. This is not like the faction-choosing ceremony in Divergent. Your blood does not commit you to one track for life. While it’s a good idea to do some research on your own and really consider what your personal goals and interests are for your future career, your initial choice is really more of a place-holder until you either confirm it or decide to change it. I don’t know many students who have had a hard time doing this in time for recruiting season. I did it right before recruiting season. We are exposed to so much information and so many resources and professionals with personal experiences to share in our first semester of our 3rd year that it’s hard not to form an idea of which area of accounting best fits us individually. MPA career consultants are also incredibly helpful. No need to fret. You are not going to be factionless. (Last Divergent reference, swear.)