Hello Esteemed GC contributors and commentators:
I feel like I'm at a crossroad at the moment in my career and wanted some input from your POVs. Sorry for the long post!
Facts:
1. I've survived thus far without Big4 on my resume for the better portion of a decade in my accounting career here in New York.
2. I'm currently in a cushy in-house role as a tax manager where people don't get fired and work life balance is amazing with great benefits. The pay is bearable for the next 2-3 years as I've recently joined a year ago.
3. My previous stint was at a public accounting firm for about 5 years- I've got a very generalist background involving domestic and international compliance, provision work, and foreign statutory filings and foreign indirect taxes (courtesy of my current role). .
Discussion and Questions:
1. I feel everyone "successful" and at the senior manager+ roles all seem to have a "pop" around 30-40 years old or within the first decade and half of their career.
2. From an objective perspective, I can stay at the current position as a lifer and MAYBE get promoted to director after 10 years. The structure here is very compressed
3. I fear my outlook in the future as I no longer am involved in the provision work or domestic and international realm of things.
4. As i put myself back out in the job market, I find the same regime of hiring people with Big4 on their resume only… And for the senior manager+ roles, their asking for 5+ years of Big4 experience. Starting to feel like I've missing something very "basic" on my resume now and that's the Big4 title. In the past my broad exposure has given me the leg up compared to my other Big4 counterparts.
What do you guys think? now that you got through all that text- at the age of 30 with a wife and kid as a manager… should I consider sucking it up and go in for 5 years so I can come back out into the market and "write my career"? Cause right now I feel like I can't even get my foot in the door at certain interviews.
My mentality of "*&^% em" has deteriorated since I've been passed up for some roles I really wanted to be considered for.