Intro: You can skip to the next bold heading to get to the point
The summer of 2010 was the worst time I ever had searching for work. I was fresh out of college with my degree in accounting. I graudated Magna Cum Laude with a cumulative GPA of 3.85. The biggest problem I had was the fact that I had no work experience at all.
At least I was prepared for it. The financial meltdown happened in 2008. The previous months leading up to graduating, I kept hearing from students around me talking about students not being able to find jobs and competing with graduated students from previous semesters.
At that time, I had to learn how to do the job search on my own. The most disappointing thing I experienced were how few jobs were available. I wanted to find some job relating to accounting. I wanted to be a staff accountant, work in A/P or A/R, send payments, or do anything related to accounting.
Each day, I would search for the accounting jobs available in my area and I saw a total amount of 5 or 7 job opportunities. The problem was made worse when most of those positions required 2 years of accounting work experience. Having a high GPA in your field of study meant little to nothing when it came to actually getting hired. The idea of getting a college student getting a job offer before graduating seemed like just a dream at that point.
During a 3 month period, I had to spam my resume on different job sites in order to find whatever work possible. Over that period, I must have sent out 50 applications without much luck. I got desperate enough to start sending applications to fast food places and just pick up a part time job to get some money coming in.
At this point, it was a common strategy for many of my peers to go back to school and pick up a masters degree. This was completely out of the question for me because I had no way to pay for tuition. I got through college with merit based scholarships but the same scholarships were not available for graduate school. I could take loans but I was completely unwilling to take the risk of assuming thousands of dollars worth of debt without a guarantee for employment at the end.
Spamming my resume wasn't getting me much success. Maybe there were things I could add to my resume to make me look like a more valuable employee.
How to build up your resume:
While browsing the internet, I thought about working for a common tax preparation company. The company taught an 8 week class which was a total of 84 hours and after the class was completed, you were guaranteed an interview. The price was good, it only costed $250. Even if I didn't get hired, I would have something to boost my resume and have a better chance at getting a different job.
I really had something to believe in with this company. If you got hired, you could keep taking additional tax classes to further specialize. The classes would be free if you were hired.
If you completed all the classes, you had the option of becoming an enrolled agent.
The funny thing is that I actually was hired by a different company during the middle of taking the class. My dad knew a guy who ran a small business and he had a similar background to me. He was a CPA and he actually worked for the same company I was trying to work for.
I worked for his company for 15 months before our contracts ended abruptly. I was unemployed again. At that point, I decided to look for another certification or achievement. My previous boss owned an insurance company and he was willing to pay for me to become an agent.
The cost of the class was only about $250. It lasted one week and was a total of 40 hours. The class was just like a college course. You learn about the different types of property and casualty insurance, what they cover, and different legal topics. After that is done, you go to a testing center you get a certificate if you pass.
On a separate occasion, I also paid for and took a class for life insurance. I got my license to sell life insurance and I was going to get licensed to sell property and casualty insurance until....
I found another job. As fate would have it, I didn't have to get into the insurance business and I never actually sold anything.
The job I took was a contract job that lasted seven months. By that point in my life, I had saved up a good amount of money where I could just take a few months off as a vacation.
I work as an accountant today. It took me 3 years after graduating college to become an accountant. I'm grateful for being where I am today because I was beginning to believe I would never become an accountant.
My boss encourages me to continue to collect certifications and increase my skill set. After doing a little bit of research, I found that it is possible to become a certified treasury professional.
Conclusion:
To any student recently graduating college, I would encourage them to continue to expand your skill set. Including these experiences and achievements on your resume will show your potential employer that you are willing to work hard, continually improve yourself, learn new skills, and show your ability to adapt to new situations.
On top of all that, you can learn useful information from the classes you take. After taking the insurance classes, I learned how insurance works, what and why deductibles exist, what sort of events are covered by different types of insurance, and how different insurance policies are priced. After taking the tax preparation class, I learned how to receive more money in your paycheck by filling out a W-4 and I learned about the different types of tax benefits from investing in different retirement programs.
The other point I want to talk about is that taking these extra classes or certifications can broaden your perspective a little. I know that doesn't sound like much, but you can get more of an idea of what you want to pursue (or not pursue) in life. Life is an interesting experience. Go ahead and explore it a little.
Compared to a master degree, you can pick up smaller achievements at a fraction of the cost. Tuition for a master degree can cost tens of thousands of dollars while becoming licensed to sell insurance costs only a couple hundred dollars and take only a few weeks. Because of this, the rewards for the certifications/licenses may be smaller but the risks are also smaller.
I've taken classes for insurance and tax. These classes can be found easily online with a few Google searches.
For anyone pursuing the accounting/finance field, I'd recommend getting certified to use QuickBooks or a different accounting software.
If you pursue the IT fields, there are countless amounts of certificates you can pick up for C++, java, and html. Some may be more expensive than other. The IT field is where large amounts of money can be made.
Or if an office job isn't for you, the certificate training programs for becoming a mechanic, plumber, or carpenter only take up to 2 years.
The world is an interesting place. Go out and try new things. Its kind of like collecting achievements while playing Xbox.
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