Current Student
Joined: 20 Mar 2010
Posts: 125
Given Kudos: 10
Location: Taipei, Taiwan
Concentration: Finance/Economics
Schools:Chicago Booth
GPA: 3.5
WE 1: Analyst: Big Four U.S.
WE 2: Senior Consultant: Big Four Taipei
Re: How to get in to Big 4 audit/tax?
[#permalink]
27 Jul 2010, 02:27
Jerz's advice is spot-on from my experience.
Big 4 typically look for three things in candidates:
1) GPA 3.5+ (so you're good there)
2) work experience (doesn't have to be acct related- just that you balanced school/work)
3) a leadership role in a campus organization
If the Big 4 DO recruit at your alma mater and you just missed them before, find out about the dates they'll be on campus and show up to every single event possible. Many of the companies participate in 'mock interviews' prior to actual interview week, see if you can get registered for that.
Once you're at the events, identify the head of recruiting at each company and make sure that person knows who you are. Be flexible about the possibility of a winter internship- we almost never hire anyone completely blind. Many times the full-time offers are all gone by the time we get to campus in the fall, to our previous year's interns who we start courting their sophomore year in college in my former U.S. market.
In the meantime, study hard for the CPA exam, let the companies know that you are eligible to sit and will be doing so on X date, and figure out whether you want to go into tax or audit. If you're truly not sure between the two, identify which companies are stronger (read: larger and make more hires) in each area, and target the stronger division at each company. So you might apply for Audit at KPMG & PWC, and Tax at E&Y & Deloitte (depending on your market).
Be sure to have compelling reasons why you were missed previously- we don't want to hear that you were too busy, or unfamiliar with the timeframe last year.
Good luck!