Hello. Lurking GC reader; first time poster.
I am 6 months into auditing for a very small firm of 10 tax preparers, 5 auditors, and 2 partners. So I really only have 5 coworkers. And I am losing my mind to boredom. I expected it to be much more mature then my college job, but the environment is making me have second thoughts about working on my CPA.
It is not a super professional office. I go to work in polos and we are jeans on Friday. There are friendly conversations and jokes, but they are the very safe and dry variety. It’s just weather and families and working talk. Everyone else in the office is 37+ and I’m 26. I am pretty sure no one else on this auditing team does anything outside of working. When not in the field I have my own office, but that means I don’t have anyone in immediate proximity to chat with while working. So any time chatting about non-work stuff is not working and not billable.
I don’t mind the work itself. If I have fun coworkers I can mail confirmations and refoot PDFs all day.
The saving grace is that I have met two clients so far who are super cool and have gotten drinks after work with. Both of whom said I have way more personality then the other guys in this firm.
For context, my college job was in the cash office for a theme park. I was there for five years and left as manager of the office. And it was so much more casual. We got our work done, but we talked about silly crap all like we were in a sitcom or hosting a radio show. We also cursed like sailors and shot rubber bands at each other. It was definitely a locker room environment. I actually am starting to regret leaving. The pay was crap, but I am starting to wish I stayed since I enjoyed my job.
I know that this is the real world and a job like that will never come back. But surely there are offices out there that much more social and casual and not stereotypical accounting offices. I can’t stand sitting by myself in a room starting at a computer screen. I want to talk about sports and comedians, with some light swearing. So what percentages of jobs in this field are super professional and what percentage are much more casual? Any suggestions on how to find one?