According to the Wall Street Journal, more than 300,000 accountants quit their jobs between 2019 and 2021. The website Going Concern calculated nearly 8,000 layoffs in 2023 among Big Four and mid-tier firms. Whether expected or not, many accounting professionals have found themselves on the job hunt in recent years.

Jerry Maginnis, CPA, retired KPMG partner, is the accounting executive in residence at Rowan University. Over the years, he has provided career counseling and mentoring to hundreds of students and early-career professionals. Now he has used that experience to write a book, Advice for a Successful Career in the Accounting Profession: How to Make Your Assets Greatly Exceed Your Liabilities.

“Most accountants will change jobs seven or eight times over their career. I’ve seen people do it well and not so well,” Maginnis says. “It is such an important topic that I devoted a whole chapter to it in my book.”

“Navigating Career Transitions: Strategies for Success,” an article recently published in the fall 2024 issue of NewsAccount, offers strategies for moving forward with a job search, whether the transition is due to a layoff, acquisition, bankruptcy, or even employer concerns about performance. 

Something Great Could Be Ahead

Angela Roberts, CPA, managing director of Aclivity, an executive recruiting, staffing, and consulting firm, acknowledges that while a layoff is shocking, it’s also a great place to be in terms of reflecting on your career. 

“Many CPAs transition out of public accounting, chasing titles and higher salaries; they just keep landing. They rarely stop to consider, ‘What do I really want to do with this knowledge,’” she says. “This is a great time to pause, reflect, and decide what you really want to do.”

Roberts suggests considering what you are good at and what you like doing, but just as important, consider what you do not like to do, and then take that off your resume. “Remove the tasks that you dislike and do not want to do again. People hire you for what you have done before, and you do not want to come up in a key word search for those positions,” she advises.

You might find that there’s something better coming down the road, Maginnis says, whether that’s improved job satisfaction or a higher salary.

Setting Your Course, Maintaining Focus

When you’re ready to move forward with your job search, here are some first steps to get yourself going in the right direction:

• Update your resume, highlighting your accomplishments.
• Update your LinkedIn profile. Toggle on the “Open to” tab to “Finding a new job,” and use the “About Me” section to add important details about yourself and the role you’re seeking. Align your resume and LinkedIn profile and update them to reflect what you want to do.
• Create and save job searches on LinkedIn and Google.
• Re-engage your personal and professional networks.

Maginnis notes that part of your success will come from being proactive in your job search process.

“When I think back to people who were seeking their next opportunity, certain individuals stand out,” he says. “You could tell who was on top of it.”

Maginnis observed that those who reached out energetically to set up meetings, were prepared with questions, knew what they were looking for, and were up to date on their skills experienced success more quickly. 

“They crisply communicated what they were looking for, and then, very importantly, they followed up and shared their progress,” he says. “They were very focused and treated it like a full-time job.”

For strategies and tips on effectively working with recruiters, leveraging your professional network, and exploring other employment avenues, click here to read the full article, “Navigating Career Transitions: Strategies for Success,” in the fall 2024 issue of NewsAccount.