To Whom It May Concern,
I am a former Marine who is currently enrolled in an accounting focused MBA program at NAU in Flagstaff, Arizona. It is my professional goal to become a CPA, and my personal goal to build a career in accounting and settle in Southern California. I graduate on May 10, and although I have had interviews, have not gotten an official job offer yet.
I am originally from the east coast, so it has been hard to make inroads into the area that I want. Also, I am new to accounting, but am 41, so it has been hard to get an entry level job in this field. I am currently more concerned about getting into the field that I want in the area that I want than I am with salary; I am more concerned with money in the long-term and simply want to get my foot in the door with a good accounting firm right now.
If anybody has any insights/suggestions to overcome the barriers associated with my age and experience (I had extensive work experience prior to going back to school and it might be hard for me to get a job as an associate) and with my lack of connections with the area that I would like (my resume indicates connections with the DC area, not California and I think this is confusing potential employers), I am open to any feedback anybody may have. Thanks!
Answers
Greetings,
First off, employers are not allowed to discriminate based on age so a good rule of thumb is to not put years on your resume for training and schooling. This is tough as you are in the middle of school, but keep that in mind for the future.
I was recently laid off but I was lucky enough to receive transition assistance and the career coach in my program stresses the importance of networking via all avenues: fellow vets that have made the transition, LinkedIn, even Facebook (when done tastefully) will all build your network. Also, do people in your network know you are really actively looking for a job? We sometimes assume, "of course they do," but you can tailor your LinkedIn to say as much and really get the word out to your associates and recruiters.
I live in SoCal so I know how recruiters think here. Have you ever considered going through a placement agency or external recruiter? They are good with the foot in the door part and once you build that resume you can move on to what you really want. Also, and I don't totally recommend this due to my experience, you may find luck with military specific recruiters liked Orion International and/or Lucas Group. There are many others but those come to mind first.
I'd be happy to provide more tips on the LinkedIn side as I recently learned them myself. You're doing all the right things, you just need to tighten up some loose ends; contrary to popular belief there is a lot of opportunity in SoCal if you go after it.
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