I feel B4 experience is rewarding and provides a bird’s eye view of different industries out there. I was part of the Energy Sector team while at The Firm but I got to be a part of audit teams on various other sectors like mortgage, insurance, banking, governmental & not for profit etc. That experience helped me in deciding which sector I wanted to move on to once I decided to leave B4. “Big Four make accounting sexy” is true. Another truth is that sexiness stays with you even after you have made the move from B4 to the dark side.

Agreed the hours are long and pay is lower than what corporate sector pays out in the beginning but the learning curve makes up for that pay lag. I feel and I have been told that my analytical skills far exceed those of my peers – especially the peers who started out as Internal Auditors right out of college. I attribute my “thinking outside the box” skills to my tenure at The Firm. I will never trade my B4 experience for anything else in the professional world.

I often speculated to myself as to how it looked from the other side (given that I, as a “lateral hire”, had never gone through the process).

Now I know what it looks like to the sort of candidate the firm(s) should have been trying to attract. Question is, did the process you were going through at the Big 4 firm reveal the qualities you display here? What do you think Jordan?

I had originally been strongly against the idea, “Go 2 years for the resume experience and leave” (and still don’t want to do that). But I feel like if I were going to do something like that (or something comparable), it would be easier to start with B4 experience and go elsewhere than start elsewhere and go B4. Even from all of the critical comments about the B4 from various accounting sites, I’ve gotten a strong undertone that paying dues is valuable and recommended.

Pete- I’ve actually spent a lot of time on Glassdoor, there’s some really good stuff there and I too would recommend it as a resource. Also, reading Ola Rynge’s blog on a weekly basis has given me a new outlook on professional passion!

It’s awesome to hear you’re examining your career motives this early in the game. I think it’s easy (especially when we’re young) to enter a career path that society assumes we should take, because the only person who can do soul searching is ourselves, and we often don’t know better because we aren’t taught to. Like you said, there is definitely a herd mentality, especially with little job security today.

P.S. I often point job applicants to Glassdoor, which is a great resource to read reviews of companies from real employees who work there (http://www.glassdoor.com/index.htm).

- Pete Kistler
CEO, Brand-Yourself.com

Having nitpicked that, good luck with your new gig!