Best way to look for jobs in the AA / Detroit area ?
I currently go to school at UW-Milwaukee
I have a 3.5 gpa in both undergrad and grad school
finishing my masters in professional accounting with an emphasis in taxation in May !
I am interested in moving to AA or the Detroit Area.
What is the best way to look for jobs in AA or the Detroit Area ?
Monster, or look at companies, or are their some local AA or Detroit or Michigan job sites I should be looking for.
Any ideas or help would be appreciated.
Thanks
and
GO BLUE !
Indeed.com
But it's slim pickins...anyone disagree hire me, BA Marketing
try craigslist for easy shit
indeed.com will let you grab an RSS feed for a search. Craigslist has RSS feeds as well. When I was looking for a job, I grabbed about 4 RSS feeds from indeed.com with certain keywords and the Detroit RSS feed from Craigslist. That should give you a very good list of new job postings to work from every day.
Appreciate the feed back everybody !
keep it coming
a decent sized network. If you're in accounting and want to work for the Big 4 or a regional accounting firm in the Detroit area, your employer options are limited, so hit up all of those companies.
Get in touch with alumni from your school who are in the area and use whatever personal/professional network you have. Employers these days are often receiving hundreds of resumes from job seekers. Distinguish yourself from the pack by having someone recommend you, who knows both you and someone at the company. If you don't have any such network here, just try to contact someone at the company and express interest in a well-written cover letter even after you've applied online. Using those Taleo application systems, and those alone, rarely works.
I'm an alum of U of M, and I can unfortunately count on one hand the amount of times current students have contacted me even though I'm part of the Alumni Association and more importantly, put myself in an alumni database at the schools I graduated from as person to contact if they're looking for some career advice. Trust me, there are more people like me who are willing to help, if it all possible. I'm sure UW-M is the same way; contact your career services.
I think students feel embarrased or like they are bothering alums, but if someone specifically put themselves in a career services database to be contacted, that's why they're in there: to be contacted. If they are too busy or can't help, they'll let you know, but that small, small "rejection" is worth the minimal effort it takes to thoughtfully contact them with your situation.
I'm not in accounting (I took ACC 312 and decided figuring out how to properly amortize a lease was not my cup of tea), so can't help you there - good luck with your search.
from Michigan alumni association website?
The Alumni Association has InCircle (http://alumni.umich.edu/networking-tools/social-networking/inCircle) but you may need to be an alum to use it, and I have no idea how well-populated it is.
Each school (e.g., Business, Law, Engineering, LS&A) has a career office, and that's who you should contact (depending on your degree). See if they have a list of alumni, whether it's in a database you can search, a program they conduct or if not, a less formal list that still has some names, who have expressed interest in mentoring or giving informational interviews.
If you want to go Big 4, I would create an online profile on their websites. After creating a profile you can apply for any listed position. I haven't looked in a few months but last time I checked there were various tax positions. I was just hired as a tax accountant in metro-detroit so I know what you're going through with regard to the job search. Good luck!
Start with not writing in one-sentence paragraphs.
One sentence paragraphs are the key to solid writing.
In fact, some paragraphs don't even need to be proper sentences.
Because that's how good prose works.
Sincerely,
Drew Sharp.
The unnecessary period at the end of the signature is a nice touch.
I'll second LinkedIn as a good starting point, but you may also find this site worth a look:
http://www.annarborusa.org/talent
Good luck with your search.
CareerBuilder.com is a great tool also. I think its much more user friendly then Monster also.
I have 4 interviews this week, so hopefully something goes right for me.
Best of luck on your job search.
I am also interested in the advice. I just graduated with my masters in biophysics. I currently looking for work in the SE Michigan/Toledo areas. I am kinda tied down to the areas as my wife's position just turned full time. I mostly interested in laboratory work, particularly in biochemistry and analytical chemistry.
Start looking at labs connected to UofM and Wayne State.
Try to go to as many career days as possible at your school. I'm not familiar with UW so I'm not sure if the Big 4 recruit there. I know UofM may be an exception(as it is a "high proprity" or "target school"), but all of the accounting firms recruit here at the career days. Also, given your degree I would try to get lincensed if I were you (CPA). Make sure you have the 150 hours necessary to sit for the exam. You will be a much more attractive candidate with a CPA. That certification also opens a lot of doors in other related fields.
Great advice TY all for posting!
Just out of school all they are really going to care about is that you have thought of the CPA exam. You are coming out of school at a good time as the Big 4 are hiring like crazy right now. Accounting has definitly started to take strides out of the recession.
Also for the person who claimed Accountants got paid the most out of school... no way. The majority of my engineering friends with bachelors started out making more than me with my masters. Masters are basically required if you want to do public accounting with the CPA requirements being what they are.
Gives you a central place to find whatever you may be looking for by area... Wouldn't hurt to find a recruiter to help you find something either...
Honestly, I don't think you need any advice. An accounting degree is the most practical degree you could possibly have. I believe it has the highest starting salary of any major. There's always a need for accountants and you will be compensated well. You should leave the worrying to the graduating English majors.
Random fact, petrolium engineering is tops. Accounting probably isn't far back, but I'm pretty sure the top five are like four engineering subfields and actuarial science.
Not to say that accountants aren't well paid or not in demand.
ernst and young.
I would suggest a lot of prayer might help.
I separated from the military in November of 2008 and came back to metro Detroit to get employment. Though I am not a college graduate, I had to hope my skills would be valued. My advice would be to have a very eloquently written resume, and also a gregarious personality. The job knowledge should be a given for the workplace that is going to receive your application.
Hope 300 other people aren't applying for the job you want.
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<br>But in direct response, thank you for your service.
I used a service affiliated with Yahoo a few years ago to help develop a new resume, both for formatting and language.......I think I spent about $150, but I felt it was worth it.
ResumeEdge.com
Best way to find a job: go to monster.com or careerbuilder.com and do a job search within a zip code that doesn't begin with the number 4.
usajobs.com might be a decent place to look. Otherwise you may just want to get yourself some tall red boots and head down to Pearl St. in Ypsi...
And there's an app for that too!
I just wanted to wish you good luck.
My job search lasted from November of '08 until about 15 minutes ago. But it's worth it to get back to Michigan. I have seen the bright lights and cow pastures of Northern Indiana, and I can tell you that there's no place like home.
"Blue NOT in South Bend"? Or was that more a state of mind?
Congrats! Where'd you land a job?
I'm confirming tomorrow, but looks like I'm landing in Lansing. Entry level attorney position with a large computer company. Take THAT, unemployment!
Last time I looked I targeted a handful companies and contacted them directly. Not all had posted job openings but I got interviews at most of them and had two job offers. Most companies try to develop a bench of candidates and many will talk to you even if something is not immediately open.
I also think LinkedIn is a good tool, not so much for the job listings but for networking to your targeted employers.
When you target specific companies, did you attempt to reach out the university alumni with an introductory letter? I am a new to this networking game.
I had some luck using the inCircle website. I wouldn't be surprised if your school had something similar. It's a tough road, but if you get to live in the location you'd prefer it's all worth it.
Just general advice when applying, your resume formatting goes a long way as to whether or not your resume even gets looked at. I applied for a job with a formatted resume and rejected immediately. When the job was reposted a day later, I did just a plain text resume, no formatting, and I got a call back. It happened on a couple jobs for me. My advice is just to do away with the formatting when uploading a resume.
http://www.michcpa.org/Aptify/Referral/FindCPA.aspx
Type in Ann Arbor zip code. There are several, but 48103 will work.
The site doesn't tell you who is hiring, but it does give links to the firms with websites. These are your players, outside of the Big 4. You have to sift through a lot, but you might find some regional firms of interest to you.
It will help if you are qualified to sit for the exam and will satisfy the 150 rule in Michigan, which I imagine is a little different than Wisconsin (at least in some small detail). That is something you would surely want to point out in coverletters/resumes being fired accross the lake.
Good luck!
I have 156 right now and I will have 168 when its all done, and i do plan on sitting for the CPA
this summer, I still need to check to see about interstate acceptance of CPA's, as some states will be cool with allowing others states aka reciprocity
Wisconsin has the 150 rule like Michigan does, i think the only state that does not is New Hampshire
I appreciate all the feedback, i think this thread has been very helpful for many.
I just sent out a letter to the Tennessee Titans also, since the GM is an Alum of the school, I felt it couldn't hurt.
Thank god for the internship program. I just accepted an offer from Ford today!
I honestly have no idea how to find a job outside of the internship program, but everyone tells me to "network".