For this week’s blog, I want to go back two months and share some unique experiences I had during the first few weeks into the MPA program. One of those things was definitely the “Open House” event, during which I had the opportunity to meet with partners and recruiters of three top-tier public accounting firms in New York. How? Well, this was an initiative spearheaded by the Director of the program, Jim Franklin, and the MPA recruiting office to assist students interested in working in cities outside of Austin. They organized “Open Houses” for key cities, both within and out of Texas. We had the freedom to choose the cities and companies that we were most interested in, from the list of participating firms. At this point, I think I may need to clarify this: it was our responsibility to pay for our traveling expenses. The cost of travel for a class of more than 100 would be too formidable for either the school or the companies to undertake at this point. Now I chose New York because my family eventually hopes to settle down there (That’s another plus of being part of this program – you actually have options as far as the cities you want to live in!). I met with two of the Big 4 and one of the top six public accounting firms. The experience was very informative, since I could ask questions specific to my location of preference. The recruiting process, specifically for New York, became clearer to me as well. But the best thing was being able to meet these folks without the pressure of having to interview with them. Because of that, the whole recruiting process became less intimidating.The second event I really enjoyed was the recruiter panel session during orientation week. During this session, representatives from four sectors (government, consulting, Big 4 public accounting and regional public accounting) talked to us about the recruiting process. Continue reading An Insight into the MPA Recruiting Process
