So, you just received a promotion and/or salary increase & bonus … Woohoo!

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Now it’s time to consider – should you stay or should you go?

Public Accounting is like earning a Master degree. You’ve proved you can work on little sleep for an extended period of time for a demanding client. You have also hopefully been networking and have made great connections that are going to be beneficial to you in your future career. However, you may think you want to at least have a cup of coffee with a potential new employer. What should you consider before making the move?

Is the grass greener in private?

You might have some friends and colleagues that have left public accounting for a career in private. They gush about how they don’t have to deal with client’s unreachable deadlines & they don’t have to account for every minute of their day. However, the variety of work is no longer there and the professional development seminars aren’t available.

And when is the right time to move to private? The best time is at the Senior Associate or Manager level. Once you’ve reached the Senior Manager level, you may be priced out of many finance executive roles out there.

Public Accounting – still a secure career path?

Associate to Senior to Manager to Senior Manager to Director to MD to Partner – sounds like a plan – unless of course more levels are added to make chasing the Partner carrot more unattainable.

Many people really enjoy everything that comes with public accounting – variety of projects, professional development, etc… However sometimes a change of scenery is needed. A move from a smaller firm to a larger firm, especially Big 4, has many advantages. A global brand on your resume broadens your network and ideally you would work on more sophisticated clients. Also, many companies require Big 4 experience. Other people may want to leave Big 4 and move to a regional firm. It all depends on your career goals and life choices.

Once you’ve decided to leave – how to handle your exit?

Handing in your resignation can be emotional for some people – not just for you, but your supervisor as well. However, be strong. The reasons for looking are always going to be there. Even if they are covered up temporarily. Be professional and give proper notice. They’ll miss you, but they’ll live.

So, strike while the iron is hot. Explore new roles. If you leave graciously, you can always go back!

Your strategic career planning is important. If you would like to schedule a time for consultation, please reach out to me at 732-290-2260 or sal@zetaconsulting.net

Are you prepared for your interview?

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“Failure to prepare, is preparing to fail.” – John Wooden

Always treat “The Interview” with respect. It is not easy to get an interview. There is so much competition for each role. The last thing you want is to walk out of the interview being really excited about the opportunity & get rejected because you didn’t properly prepare.

Anyone who has ever gone on an interview has a really good idea of the types of questions they are going to be asked. The interviewer expects you to have answers ready, especially for the: “Why should we hire you?” variety.  Sometimes this is where people get stumped, it happens.  Hopefully this hasn’t happened to you, but make sure it never does again by taking your preparation seriously.

Start by listing your achievements and accomplishments from each of your positions.  Detail the implementation & all the processes. Give specific examples. Be genuinely interested in the role.  Never assume the interviewer knows what you’re talking about. For specific prep help check out our candidate resources page www.zetaconsulting.net/candidates/.

Recently we had a candidate who was interviewing at my client and 2 other the firms. Before going on any of the interview, she listed my client as her 3rd choice. I advised her to prepare as though this is her 1st choice. I felt she was going to love the people, opportunity & vision of the firm and felt strongly about her having this conversation.  After the interview when she called to debrief, she said she had learned a lot about the group & their vision, and was so excited about the opportunity.  She thought the interview went great and said it was now her number one choice.  The problem was she did not convince the interviewer that she was truly interested. When asked basic questions about her fit for the role she has a hard time answering.  By not taking the time to envision herself in the role, she wasn’t able to articulate what she could bring to the table.

Unfortunately, the client passed on her candidacy.  When I told her the news, she was extremely disappointed.

Hard lesson to learn from experience.  Prepare for every interview as if it is your first choice role.  You want to be the one making the decision whether you take the job or not.

 

Welcome to Zeta Consulting’s new site!

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Hello & welcome to my first blog of our new revised website! My name is Salvador Aguilar. I founded Zeta Consulting in October 2001, after having worked as a recruiter at a larger firm for some time. When I founded this firm, it was a month after 9/11, our second son was only 2 months old & our oldest son was 4. Since then we have helped hundreds of candidates nationwide find new jobs & achieve some of their career goals and this fall our oldest son will be heading off to college & our youngest son will be a freshman in high school.

For me recruiting has always been about being able to help people. When people are happy in their careers, whether it is being challenged intellectually, leaving a bad environment, making more money, etc. people tend to be happier. Happier people tend to be better colleagues, friends, family members. Those things are important to me. I want to hear that my candidates love their new job! I walked away from a transactional recruiting firm, where I had been very successful, because I wanted something different. I wanted to create a company that was based on honest relationships & networking, where helping candidates and clients was the goal. Though we are a boutique firm, we have a nationwide reach. We have been very selective with the firms & clients that we have partnered with. Our clients are Global Fortune firms, or firms on an upward trend with a great story. I want candidates to have pride in where they choose to take their talents.

On a weekly basis I will be writing about what I see happening in the job market. I’ll also write about process of getting a new job. Getting a new job is not a science, but there are some tools that I can share that will make the process easier from resume writing, interview prep, offer negotiations, offer acceptance, resignation, start date, etc… What you’ll read here is from experiences with candidates & clients, that I hope will help you. It will not always be pretty, but it will be real.

Thanks & I’m looking forward to sharing & listening to your thoughts.