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February 18, 2010The Pre-Interview Banquet/Meet the Firms is arguably one of the best opportunities to make sure you get a job with the Big 4. If you have been following my advice, and have been networking with the Big 4 recruiters and employees on a regular basis, you will probably be ahead of the curve. If you haven’t been networking, all is not lost. Just know that you will have to work a lot harder now for an interview than your peers.
The Pre-Interview Banquets or Meet the Firms are usually bi-annual events. One takes place in the fall to recruit for full-time employees, and another one takes place in the winter or early spring to recruit for summer interns.
Usually your college’s accounting club or fraternity will organize this event, and may take place at a swanky resort (as was the case with my school) or it may be held in a school facility. Regardless of the venue, this is probably the most important event if you want to get recruited by a Big 4. If there are drinks and snacks at the event, then great! If not, then make sure you take some water with you and leave it in the car. Since you will be doing a lot of talking, and you will definitely get the worst dry-mouth of your life. Additionally, your attire should be business professional and you should look your best.
Buy yourself a nice portfolio to hold copies of your resume (which better be printed on resume paper), and give your resume to every single person with whom you speak. Your resume is the student-equivalent of your business card. You need to have more than enough copies to go around.
There could be as many as 25-50 firms recruiting at these events. Your job is not to talk to every single firm. Research ahead of time, and pick four to six firms that interest you the most. Spend most of your time talking to the partners and employees of these firms.
A lot of the candidates going to these events are nervous, and rightfully so. A slip-up now could mean that you never get an invitation for an interview. So, my advice to you, if you get nervous, would be to talk to at least one or two firms that you don’t want a job with as soon as you walk in the door. Talking to the employees and partners of these firms will have a calming effect on your nerves. Once your nerves are calm enough, you can proceed to the firms that you do want to talk with.
The more “competitive” students will try to screw you. They will try to hijack a conversation into their favor. Some are even bigger assholes. I have seen candidates effectively shut another approaching candidate down by tightening the circle in which the conversation is taking place. They will pull other tricks too. These tactics can be very frustrating to other candidates, and I personally hate it when anyone does something like that. However, as a candidate when this happens to you, do not show your frustration or aggression. Just pretend that you are oblivious to their cock-blocking moves. You are going to this event to secure an interview position, so forget the assholes and work on getting that interview.
As a general rule, most of candidates tend to gravitate towards the senior management present at the Big 4. I think the mindset is that “This person is important, he must have a bigger say in things, I need to impress him.” Fair enough.
However, if I were you, I would start from the bottom up. I would engage the lower-level associates first. They are easier to access because a lot of the candidates are busy focusing on the managers and the partners. They are also more likely to be pretty close in age to you. I would talk to them about their experiences, challenges, and rewards at the Big 4. I would get as much knowledge out of them as possible. It’s very important that you do. To end the conversation, ask them permission to contact them in the future for any questions, get their business cards, thank them for their time, and politely ask them if they could introduce you to a senior manager or partner.
Congratulations, you have effectively by-passed the twenty or so people waiting to talk to the partner or manager. The psychological effect of being introduced by someone who is already working for the firm is big, and is not lost on the partners. In a way, you have been pre-screened and you carry a subliminal stamp of approval from the associates.
At this point, talk to the partners and managers, about why you want to work for the Big 4. Talk about everything you discussed with the associates you were speaking with earlier. Tell them how helpful the associates were at addressing the specific questions you had regarding the Big 4. Ask the partners and managers for advice. Once again, when you wrap up the conversation, keep a door open for future questions, get their contact information, thank them, and walk away.
Rinse and repeat!
Once you are done talking to the people of one particular firm, don’t move on to the next one immediately. Takes notes about the conversations that you had with the various people from that firm. An effective way is to do this is to jot down some main points of the conversation on the back of the business cards that you just picked up. This will come in very handy, when writing your thank-you notes.
Also, when you are speaking with the recruiters and employees, you would be well-advised to drop names of people in other firms. For example you could say something along these lines when talking to someone from Deloitte:
I am quite interested in international business and John (use only the first name) from EY, said that their firm has one of the best work abroad programs – they allow you to work in another country of your choosing for a year after three years of service. Does your firm offer something similar?
The name-dropping usually makes it look like you are on first-name basis with the other firm, which means they definitely want you. And one thing that Big 4 recruiters like doing best is poaching candidates leaning towards the other Big 4 firms.
As the event starts winding down, do one quick round and thank everyone you spoke with. This allows them an opportunity to invite you to the post-event dinner or drinks. If you don’t get an invite to such an event, don’t fret too much about it. We only invite students out rarely, mostly because then we have to behave ourselves and can’t really let loose.
Once you get home, your first urge will be to hit the liquor. Hard. I would advise you to not do that, but instead start writing thank-you emails. Thank-you emails are best written when the conversations are the fresh in your head. Personalize each email and include bits of conversations you had with the said recruiter or employee. This shouldn’t be too painful, if you kept notes with the business cards like I told you to do. Once this task is taken care of, you’re done. Congratulations. Treat yourself to some sub-standard college alcohol. You deserve it.
There are 23 comment(s) so far.
This is kind of a random question, but are there events like this organized specifically for executive members of school accounting clubs, so that the companies get to meet them first and all?
While there are no special events held specifically for the executive member of the school’s accounting club, it is not uncommon for these individuals to be invited to dinner or drinks when the recruiters are in town. And that shouldn’t be too surprising, given that recruiters and executive members of the school’s accounting association usually have to coordinate to throw a successful recruiting event. If I were you, I would try to get elected president ASAP. Even though most accounting associations/frats are a little more than a circle jerk, they do give you good opportunities to brush shoulders with the Big 4 recruiters, and try to secure an offer, especially if you’re the president.
From my experience in my school’s accounting fraternity, being an officer is usually an excuse to get to events early, stay after, and thereby get a lot more face time with the recruiters.
Plus, think about this from the perspective of the recruiter. Throughout the hiring process: looking through resumes/cover letters, the various interviews, etc., they will be talking to all of the other recruiters, people in their office, even recruiters from other firms to some extent. They want to be able to brag about the quality people they are bringing in – so if you are president or VP of your school’s accounting club, the recruiter will WANT to get you, if for no other reason than to say that they brought in a kid who is president of BAP, or whichever fraternity.
And it’s already been said, but holding an executive position in these clubs is generally a joke and won’t take very much of your time or effort at all. I am sure recruiters are generally aware of this…but in addition to being able to toot their own horn for bringing in an officer, they also know that holding an office does at least show some initiative and dedication to accounting. And anything you can do to distinguish yourself from your classmates who are all trying to get the same job, is always a good thing.
And just as a general comment, I wanted to thank the authors here – all of this information has been invaluable.
I just wrapped up interviewing for internships with each of the big 4 and accepted an internship in NYC with one of them for the summer. I am excited to say the least.
So, fellow students – all of the info on this site does work. If you will just take the time to follow it, you will have a huge edge over your classmates who are too incompetent to google ‘get hired by the big 4.’ So, go forth with confidence. The advice here is golden. And if you’re having doubts when you’re still slaving away, trying to perfect your resume after four hours…it will pay off.
And other than everything contained on this site, I strongly advise students read Dale Carnegie’s ‘How to Win Friends and Influence People.’ Why this isn’t required reading for every business student in the country is a mystery to me…
“… and politely ask [the staff accountants] if they could introduce you to a senior manager or partner.”
What if they tell you that you’re very capable of introducing yourself to the managers or partners?
@B: If you do get that answer… then you must go slit your wrists! But seriously, most staff accountants are generally not dicks about this, and a lot of them will gladly do it if they actually think you’re cool. However, if this does happen, don’t dwell on the comment too much. Just go introduce yourself to the managers and partners. It’s not the end of the world.
I have 3 first round interviews with big 4 firms next week and was hoping you could provide some info for the interviews. I’ve already done my homework and done a few interviews for the leadership programs last year, so I know what questions to expect. I’m having trouble however forming my answers in a way that make me sound confident but not like a cocky douche. Thanks!
How did it go Brian? I am still waiting for the invite decisions from the other firms, I got an invite from PwC and a rejection from KPMG. I am in the same boat as you, I expect the same questions from the SLP aka behavior based. How did you prepare and how were your interviews, if you had them already. Thanks
Accounting Genius, you’re a lifesaver! While I wasn’t fixated on obtaining a public accounting job with the Big 4, I figured that if I knew the right tips and the right things to say to the Big 4 firms, then I could land a job with any other public accounting firm. And it worked!
So fellow job seekers, listen to these tips. My new employer was very impressed with me and it all started with my first impression with them at Meet the Firms. Do your research and it’ll pay off. I’m starting a full-time position in Jan in LA!
Glad to be of service and congratulations!
I love this site. I’ve read it before but can’t help coming back and re reading.
hi
I have similar work experience to what your saying (retail work etc.) but i cant really trasnlate it into impressive format because then it would be lies (e.g. improved supermarkets sales by 10%, because I was just a cashier).
should i make it up?
thanks
Well if you were a cashier, then you wouldn’t necessarily have an effect on sales. You would have to highlight different elements.
-Maintained efficiency of transaction and decreased waiting times by 40%
…something along those lines.
It’s so funny that you make special mention of the “competitive” students. I was at an Ernst & Young social last night and one of my Beta Alpha Psi members pulled the classic “close in and hijack” strategy that you talked about. Needless to say, I was livid.
I sincerely hope that recruiters are turned off by these kind of people. I would hope that anyone worth working for would quickly snub these snarky assholes and–perhaps–even call them out on their egregious douchebaggery.
Firt of all thank you Accounting Genius for the great info…
I have a question concerning GPA.. I am currently doing my master of accounting and I have a 4.0. But the issue is with my undergrad GPA, which is 3.153 — Should I round it up to 3.2 or 3.15??
Also, do you know any company that will write resume and cover letter (the way you have explained)?? English is my second language and therefore make grammatical errors once in a while
Again thank you for your help!!!
@ajjjjeww definitely round up to 3.2
Does anyone have any advice on a big4 dinner social? I recieved an invite for an EY dinner social. Anyone know what those are like?
How often do Spring interns get full tie offers?
Greetings. Just wanted to share how this site has tremendously helped me.
I have landed second rounds with 2 of the big 4. This site has definitely played a role in helping me with that.
Any advice on second-round office visits?
And btw, first-round interviews are not all behavioral.
If you can establish that connection (whether its in a hobby, or interest), utilize it, and take advantage of that connection. They want to see how you communicate your goals/passions/choices.
@Stevo: If you don’t piss off anyone too much, you should have an offer.
@dreamer They are huge orgies, for the most part. I am kidding. It’s a professional dinner: you make polite small talk, the partners and managers pimp their firms, the associates are there for the free food, and you get to talk about why you are interested in that particular Big 4 firm.
@ajjjjeww I would keep the undergrad GPA at 3.15. It’s a non-issue since your current GPA in the master’s program is a 4.0. I can’t recommend any resume writing services as I have never used one. My take on it is that your resume is far more important to you than it is for the resume writer. You are more likely to put more effort and thought into creating a good resume. As far as your English goes, it seems fine from the comments. However, if you are worried, you could always have a business writing professor help you out.
Thanks AG for the great info posted here…
I’d like to get your thoughts on the chances of landing an internship with big 4 if you are career changing. I was a stock and bond trader for 20 years but left the industry due to automated trading. I went back to school and am currently a junior with a 3.9 GPA. Will recruiters even give my resume a look given my situation?