Welcome to summer (OK, maybe I’m a week early…..)!!!! But we’re all soooooo ready for those warm days and long evenings. For those of us in education, this time of year is especially anticipated – end of the academic year and the graduation of this year’s crop of newly minted undergraduate and graduate students. This week our graduating students will go through their “commencement” activities. I always liked that name for the event – “commencement”. Even though the event marks the end of their academic travels, it also, and more importantly, marks the beginning of the next chapter in their young lives.
For accounting majors, the next chapter contains some certainties – landing a job (there are plenty out there), taking and passing the CPA exam, and getting licensed. But there is also uncertainty – where will that job be? How long will it take me to pass the exam? Where do I want to get licensed?
To help you with those uncertainties and any other questions regarding your new found profession, don’t overlook your professors as the valuable resource that they are (and have been throughout your academic travels). Your professors, for the most part, have “been there”. Most of us have been licensed as CPAs for some part of our adult lives, which means we also worked in public accounting and perhaps in another accounting capacity along the way. We have been faced with the same certainties and uncertainties that you now face – we would love to sit down with you and help you work through these choices.
Additionally, remember we’re here for you long after you “commence”. We love to hear from our students, to get an update on their lives, and perhaps even be of assistance again at the time of a job change. I realize that social media allows us to keep in touch much easier than before, but a phone call or personal email every once in a while is nice too.
My experience is that accounting program graduates are extremely loyal to their classmates and their program. This loyalty manifests itself through various connections with their program – recruiting events, alumni events (UO Accounting Alumni Network, Portland, July 26, 2012 at the White Stag), and financial support.
Please stay connected as you go out in the world. If you’re already out in the world, never too late to reconnect. Please reach back to your accounting program and see how you can help OR how it can help you.
