I’ve never expect that I would be laid off via a 15 minute skype chat while WFH. I felt shitty because I could not even see if my boos was really “sincerely sorry about the situation”. Details of the laid off was screen shared by the HR on a sunny Friday afternoon. The deliver man came to my place to pick up the computer and sent back my Italian made shoes still left in the firm before the WFH thing happened. Nothing could be as ironic as it seemed.
Instead of having myself in the angry mode for too long, I’ve decided to move on. I would like to know if you can share the channel to land a Finance related job.
I am a CPA in Canada, and I have worked in Public accounting firm for a couple of years.I have also passed all CFA exams, and am looking to jump into finance-related work to gain practical experience for my CFA designation. I am eligible to work in both Canada and USA. If you happen to know any companies or connections that are looking for people like me, please let me know.
I am so sorry to hear that my friend. It must be difficult for you now. But please keep your head up, I’m sure our fellow AFers here will be cheering you up and giving you some helpful suggestions.
I work in Private Banking with one of the big 6 in Canada… Private Wealth firms are really ratcheting up their specialized planning teams - particularly looking for, and poaching tax accountants. It’s a good gig. Prob more immediate cash than you’d make at an accounting firm, and definitely less hours.
A few of my colleagues just left the bank to work for smaller wealth managements shops on the planning side… all of them were accountants. You’ll find something my man.
OP, sorry to hear that. What I would do, since you have public accounting experience is try to join one of their finance oriented groups (valuation, transaction services, ect). There’s CFAs in those groups. Find someone inside one of the firms and tell them to submit your resume (so they can earn a referral bonus and so your resume gets to the front of the line). Do that a couple years and then you can move on if you like.
Hey, thanks bro! I’m a newly designated CPA (got my designation in January 2020). I worked for a small size accounting firm for 2 years, and a national firm for another 1.5 years. As every CPA student, I did primarily audits, review engagement, notice to reader and corporate tax returns.
While being a CPA student, I self studied CFA just out of my own passion. I passed my CFA Level 3 last year.
Do you have grapevine about which banks are looking for people? You can PM if you wish.
I’m looking to break into corporate finance because I contacted CFAI and had an assessment on my experience, most of my experience in public accounting firm did not qualify. So I’m ready to leave the firm, but the lay off came faster than resignation…
Thanks! Yea there’s some local office bias with my firm, but given the uncertainty of the Covid19, I’m a bit anxious about how long I would land another job
If you’re on linkedin, try to find a 1st or 2nd degree collection.
If I was there, and some stranger asked me to submit a resume, I would do it just to try to get the referral bonus (couple thousand) if you get hired and stay on for however long.
I was laid off three times early in my career. Each time led to one of my best career moves. That said, that will depend on the individual. If things don’t immediately work out for you then how you respond will define your career path. That bad news is the financial industry is hard and not as stable as it was. The good news is it is in your control. When I played football in HS and ice hockey in college (along the boards) one of the key things they drill into you is to keep your feet moving when you hit someone or get hit. Once your feet stop and become planted you are done and you will be rolled over. Always be developing and over a long enough time frame you will be ok.
Charlie Munger said this in a commencement speech about lifelong learning:
"You have to learn these things in such a way that they’re in a mental latticework in your head and you automatically use them for the rest of your life.
If you do that I solemnly promise you that one day you’ll be walking down the street and look to your right and left and think, “my heavenly days! I’m now one of the few most competent people of my whole age cohort.""
It stuck with me for some odd reason and as I kept continually learning I started to notice how quickly it played out as people around me became distracted and stagnant. So in summary, this is tough, but life is long and will ultimately be in your control.
Hey, that is absolutely encouraging!! Although it is pretty hard, I am persuading myself to use this experience as a learning tool, meditate, and learn the technique I may be able to use in the future. It’s tough, but I’ll try day by day
I think it’s more like a self-esteem thing to think about it sucks to be laid off. Also, the future employer will ask the reason, which might turn potential opportunities away.
But in this case, I agree with you because the laid off is more due to the Covid19 thing but not personal misconduct, and there is more financial relief than other time.
