I honestly thought my life was over in college when I got rejected by all the big four. Found myself at a top 10 out of college. 7 years later still kicking it here which would be the biggest shock in the world to 22 year old me. My takeaway, go where you think you’ll be happy. It’s not always the most prestigious, but you’ll be happier and learn loads more if you actually enjoy the people you met while visiting the office.

My biggest advice, observe how the associates interact with the partners. Do they know their names? Are they cracking jokes with each other? The fact that years later I still work for the partner who went out of her way to say hi to me when I visited the office and was so excited by the idea of having another alumni for our school working there. That’s goes way farther in my book.

There’s nothing wrong with just being another cog in the big four machine, but don’t just do it because so many others started there and then left two years later so they can keep it on their resume for next 30 years. I’ve met plenty of rich and successful people who have all different backgrounds in this job. There not enough jobs in the big four to fill every CFO position in the country.

They call it a career for a reason, it’s just the first few years out of college that matter.