Big 4 etc. without a degree

CodeDuello

I want to apply for a place on a graduate programme this year but I don't have a university degree. I have a supervisory management diploma and the CIMA Certificate in Business Accounting. I will have the P1, P4 and P7 CIMA papers completed by November hopefully. I have seven years experience as a production supervisor for a manufacturing firm.

Would the big 4 and other accountancy firms consider an application from someone with my background, or is it a case of honours degree graduates only?

MrMatisse

I dont think a big four firm would consider your application. There will be two many business and accountancy 1st's and 2:1's trying to get in this year. Still worth a try though.

Richie75

No chance to be honest. I'd recommend qualifying through CIMA or ACCA through industry. In prior years you may have had a chance but in the current market, it will be all 1.1 degrees and they will intially filter out applications based on leaving cert points.

pauldoo

The filtering out on LC points is a joke, fairly irrelevent after 4 years of college

Fruiti

pauldoo wrote: »

The filtering out on LC points is a joke, fairly irrelevent after 4 years of college

unfortunately its a fact - this year applications were filtered by computer based on LC points before a human even saw them!!

Running Bing

Fruiti wrote: »

unfortunately its a fact - this year applications were filtered by computer based on LC points before a human even saw them!!

How strict was the filtering?


I can see the sense in using leaving cert points tbh....if you have 1000 applicants, all solid 2:1 students, for 200-300 places you need something to distinguish them but at the same time its harsh filtering by computer before a human ever see's their application.


One of the things that sticks out to me is people participating in various access programmes in universities. This means if a person is from a certain designated school (usually inner city schools with poor record of uni admittance), is the first of the family to go to uni and meets certain other conditions they can get a reduction in necessary points for a course. So lets say somebody avails of this and does excellent in college where there is a level playing field they will not even be considered. Seems pretty unfair to me.


I dont buy the argument by people though when they say things like "I didnt work for the leaving but I got a 2:1/1 in college and thats all that should matter". Why should such people be chosen over those who got a 2:1/1 in college and worked for the leaving?

Fruiti

Candidates were allocated a % score based on LC points & penultimate college degree results. The people scoring less than 75% were not screened by managers. However, at that point, someone with 75% could be chosen based on other outstanding criteria like work experience etc while someone on 90% may not be. Then once you're in the interview, it's back to square 1 and everyone starts from zero again, i.e. your interview performance is not affected by your academic rating.

I agree with you - with a scarcity of jobs around, employers should be allowed to use whatever criteria they want for selecting candidates. If that means they want someone with 550 points, a 1.1, great work experience, a great personality and lots of extracurricular interests and people like that are applying for jobs then why wouldn't they be chosen!

Newaglish

Apparently there is a much higher correlation between LC and prof. exam pass rates than between college and prof. exam pass rates.

I wouldn't be surprised to be honest, I know a rake of people that can barely spell their own name and still got a 2.1 in college.

Climber

I know a rake of people that can barely spell their own name and still got a 2.1 in college

That's interesting. Slighlty off the topic, but, do people think that because of the fact that 'anyone can get a degree', a degree as a currency used in the jobs market is loosing it's value?.

I mean, the LC was damn hard. College was a walk in the park/waste of time/piss up etc. and now my ACCA exams are damn hard!. I think the Governments policy on education has been a disaster, which is 'everybody should go to college and get a Degree so Ireland can become a knowledge based economy.

The truth is, that for the past 15 - 20 years the majority of 3rd level orgs. have been giving away degrees like smarties. The result is that a degree is virtually worthless.

Running Bing

Climber wrote: »

That's interesting. Slighlty off the topic, but, do people think that because of the fact that 'anyone can get a degree', a degree as a currency used in the jobs market is loosing it's value?.

I mean, the LC was damn hard. College was a walk in the park/waste of time/piss up etc. and now my ACCA exams are damn hard!. I think the Governments policy on education has been a disaster, which is 'everybody should go to college and get a Degree so Ireland can become a knowledge based economy.

The truth is, that for the past 15 - 20 years the majority of 3rd level orgs. have been giving away degrees like smarties. The result is that a degree is virtually worthless.

I found college a lot harder than leaving cert tbh.

I dont think degree's are worthless but you just need to differentiate yourself from others more. I think people in this country seriously underestimate extra-currics, awards, work experience and stuff like that. A lot of people think Good leaving+Good degree=Good job but the sad fact is I graduated with about 200 people with that so you have to stand out from the crowd.

The attitude in England and the US is completely different and students there recognise the importance of stuff outside of results. Maybe that comes from the leaving cert/college entry being so results focused in this country where nothing else matters.

The way I always looked at it was a good leaving and a good degree (2:1 from a good college) are the minimum entry requirements. Thats what gets them to look at your CV....the rest is about selling yourself and what you have done.

If anybody disagree's with me how often did you spend in interviews talking about results as opposed to achievements/work experience?

Cyrus

CodeDuello wrote: »

I want to apply for a place on a graduate programme this year but I don't have a university degree. I have a supervisory management diploma and the CIMA Certificate in Business Accounting. I will have the P1, P4 and P7 CIMA papers completed by November hopefully. I have seven years experience as a production supervisor for a manufacturing firm.

Would the big 4 and other accountancy firms consider an application from someone with my background, or is it a case of honours degree graduates only?

hi,

id look outside the big4 to be honest,

also its very rare for anyone in the big 4 to do cima exams

aassddff

CodeDuello wrote: »

I want to apply for a place on a graduate programme this year but I don't have a university degree. I have a supervisory management diploma and the CIMA Certificate in Business Accounting. I will have the P1, P4 and P7 CIMA papers completed by November hopefully. I have seven years experience as a production supervisor for a manufacturing firm.

Would the big 4 and other accountancy firms consider an application from someone with my background, or is it a case of honours degree graduates only?

CIMA is an excellent accountancy qualification but CIMA members tend to be found mainly in industry. If you are thinking of staying in industry CIMA is probably the way to go, if you are interested in moving into practice or unsure then you should look at ACCA or CPA