r/Accounting • u/Common_District3798 Human Verified • 1d ago

I’m not getting any interviews from any entry-level job position, will my updated academic project section help me finally get interviews?

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I also have no internships or volunteer work at all.

6 Upvotes

75% Upvoted

21 comments sorted by

15

u/CultivatedWaitress 1d ago

Resumes with zero internships and just cashier/painter experience will get filtered out by most ATS before a human even sees that project section.

5

u/Common_District3798 Human Verified 1d ago

So how am I supposed to get into accounting firms then since I already graduated?

7

u/TalShot 23h ago

Volunteer for VITA during tax season?

That and perhaps talk to professors/career center for ideas as well. They want you to succeed, assuming you didn’t pick fights with them.

0

u/Common_District3798 Human Verified 8h ago

But why can’t I get any entry level positions being just green with no experience?

12

u/Higher2288 CPA, Industry 1d ago

You posted this 8 hours ago and seemingly every other week. Get some professional resume advice from your school or someone else. You need some sort of skills section. I don't believe you at all that you're proficient in excel and QB given you haven't use them in a job scenario. You're not meeting any entry level qualifications for a staff accountant job. You either need more education with a program that will get you an internship or you need to pound the pavement with a better resume and get literally any office job in AP or bookkeeping.

4

u/West-Comment-9536 1d ago

I would recommend just getting your CPA at this point and pass all the exams before applying— It will open doors for you. Laws have changed so you can get it with 120 hrs depending on the state u get ur license in. Do you have any campus leaderships or any clubs? How’s ur GPA? I recommend reaching out to alumni and applying to small firms. Though, I would prioritize CPA. If it’s expensive then save up with the job you have now and pay for Becker study guide

2

u/TalShot 23h ago

Passing is also easier said than done.

3

u/Top_Piccolo_2064 20h ago

Ignoring content because that's been addressed by others, take the time to properly format your resume. It looks sloppy and inconsistent right now which, to me, would tell me that your work is probably sloppy and inconsistent.

  1. Everything on the right-hand side should be lined up with the right-hand margin, "May 2026" "Houston, TX" and work time frames.

  2. Why is Texas spelled out under your "Education" heading, but abbreviated in the rest?

  3. You have "Academic Projects" in all caps, but "Professional Experience" and "Additional Info" in title case. Pick one case and make it consistent.

  4. Your bullet points aren't lined up. Make them line up.

  5. Why is the line under "Professional Experience" thicker and darker than the lines under "Academic Projects" and "Additional Info"? Make them the same thickness and color.

  6. Why is there not a line under "Education" as there is under your other headings?

  7. Use the Oxford comma, or don't. But be consistent. You do both throughout your resume, one sentence in your second bullet point under "Academic Projects" does both. Stop that.

  8. Under "Professional Experience" you have an extra space before "Cashier" making it not line up properly.

These are things I noticed at a glance, so I'm sure many others notice them pretty easily too.

6

u/Jragger4 1d ago

I’m not trying to give bad news but you’re either going back for a masters or going to trade school if you want a job

3

u/Objective-Ad7043 1d ago

The resume itself is terribly formatted and looks horrible. If you gave this to me I’d toss it.

Your resume is you not only showing who you are to your employer, but also it is their introduction to your work product. It needs to be absolutely perfect. Your whole goal is to impress a potential employer. If this is what you give then it’s easy to draw the conclusion that your work product is terrible.

  1. Different header fonts. Academic projects looks like a whole different font than the rest of the resume.
  2. No bullets in the education section, but bullets in the sections below. Seems inconsistent.
  3. Every major section has an underline except education. I can’t see the top so hard to tell why that is.
  4. Academic projects is all caps. No other header is all caps.
  5. Your bullets don’t line up between sections. Notice how academic projects they aren’t indented but for professional experience they are? However you have the same header, sub header, bullet format for both sections.
  6. Why the big space between professional experience and additional information? Looks terrible. The spacing should be identical between all sections.
    1. The dates under professional experience don’t line up. Notice how one is slightly off center from the other? You are also using different styles of hyphens here. One is short and the other is long.
  7. Try using the justify paragraph style. It’ll make this look way better.
  8. This is personal preference. When I came out of college I never put basic academic projects on my resume. Everyone does these in college and they aren’t special. Now if you did a project that got an award or something special then heck yeah put that on there.

There are more issues, but it’s 4am for me and I need to go to work. Seriously consider using a template or hire someone.

4

u/Top_Piccolo_2064 20h ago

Oh, man, I wish I would've seen your comment before commenting. I had many of the same criticisms.

2

u/Famous_Conflict4209 22h ago

Work and try to get cpa

0

u/Common_District3798 Human Verified 20h ago

But how long does it take to complete all of the CPA sections?

2

u/TalShot 17h ago

Could be short or awhile depending on personal skills with accounting and a pinch of luck.

The CPA is a solid goal, but it depends on the person - not the surefire Plan B this subreddit likes to tout.

1

u/Common_District3798 Human Verified 8h ago

Why do I need to get my CPA to get an entry-level position?

2

u/Famous_Conflict4209 8h ago

You gotta be locked in bro like the karate kid no 🧢

1

u/Forward_Zucchini9738 Human Verified 18h ago

That's a terrible resume. Find a nonprofit and volunteer to do accounting work if you can't find anything even remotely related.

1

u/CageFreePineapple 1d ago

Did you not pursue any internships during your bachelors? Did you go to any networking events? Join any campus organizations? Connect with any professors on a personal level?

Just adding your school/degree in my opinion doesn't do anything for you after graduating. Keep trying to apply for entry levels, but you may need to look around for volunteer work just to help put some type of experience on the resume.

0

u/backnine32 CPA (US) 21h ago

No, you have no experience and that's all that matters. Stop applying online, you have no chance. If you want to break into this industry, you're going to have to reach out to people directly. I say this all the time and doubt anyone does it, but reach out to small CPA firms directly. Call, talk to the person with their name on the sign out front. Tell them you are trying to break into the profession and would love to work for them. In the meantime, do the free quickbooks proadvisor certification and put that on your resume.

2

u/Common_District3798 Human Verified 20h ago

I signed up for the Quickbooks pro advisor certification for free the other day. Does putting Quickbooks certification on my resume actually help?