gunner, do not do a masters in accounting, please. complete waste of time. the CPA IS a masters in accounting, is much cheaper and is necessary for most real accounting jobs. unless you want to end up teaching accounting, don’t take a masters in accounting. this is from someone with your exact same background, and knows many, many WLU grads who went the accounting route. stick to getting a job at one of the Big 4 in KW or London (which should be easier than TO if TO has been a problem) and get your CPA. after that, go anywhere.
i’m also interested in this. i thought it was virtually impossible to get a job overseas unless you have a very unique skillset or some sort of specialized education (doctor, lawyer).
I’m interested x3. I did not know that it was easier in the US. I don’t have commitments since I’m young so I’m willing to move anywhere with good employment rates. Got any advice?
Like gunner, I went to WLU with a 3.4 GPA. No co-op so I don’t have much related experience. They told me my GPA was not high enough, no previous experience, blah blah.
Double.
Try Calgary or Edmonton or Vancouver Big4. I know lots that have got in below 3.4 GPA. I had offers when i graduated and I was below that level. Mind you that was like a century ago now…
wow. is everyone on this forum a WLU grad with a 3.4 GPA?
Pretty amazing there is two of them. I actually find WLU way over represented in pretty much everything out here, especially for a school that’s not top tier. I know more WLU grads than Rotman grads working out west, for example.
Biggest regret so far. If I had to do it all over again, I would work harder in high school to get into Rotman, Ivey or Queen’s. Just got by with low 80’s but I also didn’t know I wanted to go the business route. Oh well… Have to make the most of it now.
^ My former boss was a WLU grad. Your education won’t hold you back unless you let it. I’m more hacksaw than WLU.
In response to all the above, I really can’t explain the lack of reception to me in Canada. I had a good GPA, 3.6 overall and 3.8 in my major (finance and accounting). Most I can assume is they didn’t recognize the name of my US school and based on that didn’t care that I had good internships or GPA or that it came from a good school.
After I struck out applying to even the hacksawiest of Canadian companies, I wound up getting a job offer in Texas from a Big 4 firm. Starting salary was 10%+ higher than the same position in Canada, so I wasn’t complaining. Getting a company to sponsor a visa is a bit of a game and a lot of luck. Some companies will say right at the start - no work visas will be offered for this position. Others don’t say anything and when you tell them, they don’t care and will do it, or will say eh, no thanks. Big 4 is normally pretty willing because a) they’re desperate for new people and b) they are big and profitable enough to absorb the cost. My ex-firm had an immigration law firm on retainer and HR people dedicated solely to managing international employees, so it wasn’t a big deal. Literally all I did was supply copies of things and sign papers and it was done. If you’re an accountant it’s super easy to come to the US because you qualify for a TN visa which doesn’t require the same level of employer hassle and isn’t subject to quota limits like the H1B is. Once you enter on a TN, it’s pretty easy to convert to an H1B.
My hint is to look for companies that are always desperate for people and companies that have a significant presence in the US, but are headquartered abroad. The latter will typically have a lot of visa experience. My current company fits that bill and when I told them I needed my visa transferred to them, HR was like, “no big deal. As soon as you sign your offer we’ll get the lawyers on it.” You don’t need to be a real technical person, I mean I just have a fair bit of finance experience for somebody my age and my work experience applied to the position.
^ It now would be easier for you to find jobs back home if you want to after gaining the experience you did.
double
^ Canadians are highly sceptical of US degrees other than top schools. There are just too many schools to really have a perception of what’s good or not. Out in western Canada I could easily see a Calgary or Alberta degree getting ranked ahead of Wisconsin or Chicago for local firms hiring entry level. There was a Booth MBA guy at my last firm and guys were asking him if it was an online program or how it compares with the local MBA school (which isn’t top 200 worldwide). Booth has zero respect. People here honestly know shit about schools outside of Canada. Which may have been krazykanuck’s problem.
^ If someone doesn’t know Booth, then he/she deserves zero respect.
Here is the Top 10 undergrad finance programs in Canada according to Linkedin:
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Waterloo
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Queen’s
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U of T
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Western and Wilfred Laurier
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York
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Ryerson
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Mcgill
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Concordia
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McMaster
I’m not even top 10 in Canada, likely not even top 20 I’d guess based on this. I’m actually suprised at WLU’s rank. And Waterloo at #1?? Ivey is definitely much higher regarded IMO. Also surprised at Ryerson. Over UBC Sauder? Nope.
This likely reflects regionalism.
Out here, I’d say:
1 - Ivey
2 - Rotman
3 - Queens
4 - McGill
5 - Sauder
Then Alberta/Calgary and the rest are meh, whatever, all the same.
You tout McGill a lot around here. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a fine institution but mostly renown for its medicine and law programs.
I thought top four would be 1. Ivey, 1. Queens, 2. Rotman and 3. Schulich. I know that Waterloo has a good double degree (BBA, Math) program with Laurier but I’m surprised they are first. Surprised at Ryerson being so high as well.
Geo, can I take a guess at what school you went to? Brock? Guelph-Humber?
I’m not going to say specifically, but not that hacksaw. Guelph-Humber? Come on. I actually went to a couple schools in undergrad, one more hacksaw than another. All in the west. Though now that I’ve been in the business nearly 10 years, school doesn’t really play into things anymore. It can be a leg up for entry level jobs, but eventually your hacksawness fades to irrelevance. I still maintain that going to a lesser ranked school in a top job market is probably better than a higher ranked school in a poor job market. When I was in school, companies were literally lined up taking whoever wanted to work at $70k/year entry level and they’d pay for your school. Anyone that wanted a job got it. The Big4 couldnt even match the salaries so they resorted to just aggressively pushing the advantages of the CA > CMA. Most people working in Big4 in western Canada were imported from Toronto as they couldn’t really recruit here. My engineering friends got even better offers. I know at least three guys that hit six figures the day they graduated. Now, times have changed and the economy isn’t as robust anymore, but I wouldn’t have had my entry opportunities if I had gone to Rotman (which I had an offer to and declined for my hacksaw school). So I don’t regret my hacksaw education.
I don’t dispute that, but the name has good brand value everywhere. People know McGill. Lots don’t know Wilfred Laurier. FT - As a local, what do you think of HEC Montreal?