Meet the Firms: The Largest Career Networking Event for New Accounting Students
The Big 4 firms joined with boutique accounting companies and state agencies to recruit new talent
The 7th Annual Meet the Firms networking event brought together recruiters from 24 public and corporate accounting firms to meet our largest class of incoming Master of Professional Accountancy students.
More than 175 students, recruiters, senior staff and partners from across Northern California introduced themselves and shared their personal and corporate stories during the two-hour career fair.
More photos on Facebook.
“We carefully select the largest and most prestigious consultancy firms in the world,” said Accounting Professor Robert Yetman of the companies that are invited. “It speaks to the program that so many large firms are coming here to talk with students.”
Yetman says that for the students, this is just the start, with hundreds of interviews taking place over the coming weeks. He said most students secure a job offer by Thanksgiving break.
“All of a sudden you’re thrown in with these firms who are interested in you just because you’re in the right program that has the right reputation.”
“The MPAc program is something that has excited me from the beginning, because you have one of the best faculty in the state here,” said Roger Power, an audit partner at KPMG who has known MPAc Executive Director Will Snyder since the early 1990s. “Will understands how to mentor students and teach them to be successful.”
Power said the event has great potential for new hires because the caliber of students accepted into the program is already high.
Anzhelika Levkiv MPAc 19 was one of those students hired as a result of a previous Meet the Firms event. As an early admit to the program, Levkiv was able to attend the 2017 gathering, where she talked with a representative from the tax firm Apercen Partners because their booth was open at the moment.
Levkiv later rejected an offer from her dream company and accepted an offer with Apercen because the company left such a positive impression on her. She will start there immediately after she graduates in 2019. But first, she is ready to dive into her MPAc program.
“We carefully select the largest and most prestigious consultancy firms in the world.”
“I’m excited about this class because I like everybody I’ve met,” she said. “They’re all motivated and fun to talk to.”
Recent alumna Courtney Gilbert MPAc 18 said last year’s Meet the Firms event led directly to a job offer for her. She starts at BDO in San Francisco in January.
“I’ve stopped and talked to a few students and it looked like they had just run a marathon,” she said. “All of a sudden you’re thrown in with these firms who are interested in you just because you’re in the right program that has the right reputation.”
