CADETSHIPS 2012 Discussion Thread

[seremify007]

Just kicking off the 2012 cadetships discussion with the official discussion thread.

Useful info: http://www.charteredaccountants.com....adetships.aspx

Some background info: http://www.charteredaccountants.com....chool-students

Most importantly, NSW Cadetship Evening is Wednesday 18 May in Darling Harbour. Refer to: http://www.charteredaccountants.com....etship-Evening

[ExitOnly]

I'm thinking about applying. I have a few questions though:

How demanding is a business cadetship really?

Is it hard to balance work and study?

Will it use all the free time that you would have had otherwise? (i.e. less social life?)

Thanks in advance.

[Azure]

I think Seremify007 is our resident expert in accounting, so he'd be better suited to answer your question. I'll do my best to answer your questions though when I get home.

Just quickly though, is anyone planning on attending this?

[seremify007]

Sorry guys been busy with CA exams and all- surprised none of the other cadets/ex-cadets on here have responded.

I'm thinking about applying. I have a few questions though:

How demanding is a business cadetship really?

It's demanding. Takes a lot of time and at the end of the day it's a FULL TIME JOB. Can't stress this point enough. Imagine what you are doing now for school- that is, 8:30am to 3pm every day. Now stretch that to 5pm or 6pm. And remove your school holidays. That's what a full time job is and I know I'm probably not selling it very well here but I think a lot of people who sign up for cadetships forget this key point.

Also keep in mind you'll have uni on top of this.

Is it hard to balance work and study?

Depends on you as a person. One of the reasons they ask you about extra curricular involvement is to gauge how well you cope with multiple pressures on you at the same time. I personally didn't find it too bad because I was disciplined in my approach of working during the week, going out on Friday nights and Saturday, but buckling down on Sunday to study. As a cadet you're only doing a half load at uni anyway (i.e. 2 subjects per semester) which makes it a lot easier, and most of the firms nowadays give you a full 7.5 hours off (i.e. 1 day of work) per week during semester to attend uni/study/etc so essentially you only have to work 4 days a week but you get 5 days of pay. Pretty decent IMO.

Will it use all the free time that you would have had otherwise? (i.e. less social life?)

To a degree your socialising time will be cut down because you have a full time job. Yes you'll have a reduced study burden since 2 subjects is definitely a LOT easier than 4 (largely because when exam time rolls around you only have 2 things to worry about rather than 4 in a short space of time), but at the end of the day, a large chunk of your week will be committed to working rather than free time. That being said, if you balance your time out and are disciplined, you can have fun during the week (I used to go gym after work on days where I didn't have night class) and I went out on Fridays and Saturdays... but you need to balance it yourself. Noone will help you do this.

I know this post sounds very negative but I'm trying to hit the point hard here because there's a lot of people who do apply and don't realise what they're getting themselves into. Your friends at least initially will probably start to become a bit distant to you because you work every day whilst they are chillaxing, playing sport, going to movies, etc... but realistically a lot of them will end up working part time at Maccas or something which means they wont be so free to hang out anyway, and once the first year of Commerce has gone by, suddenly everyone becomes interested in every society to bulk up their CV and get themselves an internship or failing that, a grad job.

Regardless of all of the above though, if you're interested in the field which the cadetship is for (presumably accounting?) then go for it. It's a great way to get a foot in the door, you'll learn plenty and better yet, you get paid and don't need to worry about grad jobs later on. Or even if you don't like it, you've got great experience on your CV which will help you move onto other jobs.

Hope this helps.

[Azure]

Been busy with uni and completely forgot about this thread - my apologies.

It's demanding. Takes a lot of time and at the end of the day it's a FULL TIME JOB. Can't stress this point enough. Imagine what you are doing now for school- that is, 8:30am to 3pm every day. Now stretch that to 5pm or 6pm. And remove your school holidays. That's what a full time job is and I know I'm probably not selling it very well here but I think a lot of people who sign up for cadetships forget this key point.

This is probably the best point made in the previous post. People tend to forget that a cadetship is really full time employment and as a result, there will be demands placed upon you by your employer. It is designed to be challenging and that's why it's usually offered to the best.

[seremify007]

Don't forget guys, the cadetship information evening is on tomorrow night in Sydney (Wednesday 18 May) at they Sydney Convention Centre.

URL: http://www.charteredaccountants.com....etship-Evening

[seremify007]

It was really nice meeting some of you guys at the evening tonight. I'm impressed at the people who figured out who I was I don't think there's ever been an ICAA function over the past few years where someone didn't go "hey are you that sir-emm-iffy dude from bos?"!

ps. For those who are wondering, I actually came up with the word back in high school days (year 8 or 9 I think?) and it was originally pronounced sir-emm-if-aye, but maybe due to my poor spelling, everyone pronounces it as per the above. Don't ask what it means- I'll need to check old MSN chat logs from back in the day to remember but it was a nice verb from memory and it had a positive meaning

[Sindarin]

Hey guys! I have an interview with a mid tier firm on Monday, and am pretty nervous as to what to expect.
I've researched the firm and there really isn't that much info about their cadet program, or their selection process.
Any tips or advice would be greatly appreciated!

[seremify007]

Without knowing which firm, what interview stage you're upto or which area of the business you have applied for, any tips we give would be generic tips (and the same as what you'd get by googling interview tips!)

[Azure]

Without knowing which firm, what interview stage you're upto or which area of the business you have applied for, any tips we give would be generic tips (and the same as what you'd get by googling interview tips!)

Pretty much this.

Also slightly off topic - Seremify have you finished your CA yet?

[Fighting4LastPl]

If you have decided on a career in accounting already, then apply for the cadetships at the big 4 firms. This will eliminate the time lag between graduation and a full time job but more importantly, the experience u get would be invaluable.

[seremify007]

Pretty much this.

Also slightly off topic - Seremify have you finished your CA yet?

Responded > http://community.boredofstudies.org/...w-and-improved)

[mattopirotta]

Hi guys,

First of all a big thanks to all of you for all the work you guys do on this forum. All the info on this thread and others like i have really helped my in deciding what I want to do next year. The thing I wanted to ask about is the choice of University when pairing study with a cadetship. I have bee awarded a UWS Scholarship and because of where I live (about 50km west of Sydney) I am more than likely going to take in up. Will this count against be in the application process. I know for example the PwC dosen't accept those from UWS but fo the others have any stigma against it? If it matters if thinking of doing the Business and Commerce (Advanced Buiness Leadership) Course and aiming for an ATAR of 95.

Thanks in advance.

[Azure]

To be very honest with you, some people have a bias against UWS, although I'm unsure as to how this will directly translate in your application for a cadership. It's just how the world works unfortunately.

If you do get your desired ATAR, I would strongly recommend you explore some of the other universities. UNSW, USYD, Macquarie and UTS are all well regarded.

[mattopirotta]

Thanks Azure for your response. I know what you mean about ecploring other options but as I'm sure you can understand its going to be hard for be to turn down a $20k headstart in paying off my degree. I guess that I'll just talk to the firms if I get an interview and see what they say on the issue

Thanks anyway

[seremify007]

Hi guys,

First of all a big thanks to all of you for all the work you guys do on this forum. All the info on this thread and others like i have really helped my in deciding what I want to do next year. The thing I wanted to ask about is the choice of University when pairing study with a cadetship. I have bee awarded a UWS Scholarship and because of where I live (about 50km west of Sydney) I am more than likely going to take in up. Will this count against be in the application process. I know for example the PwC dosen't accept those from UWS but fo the others have any stigma against it? If it matters if thinking of doing the Business and Commerce (Advanced Buiness Leadership) Course and aiming for an ATAR of 95.

Thanks in advance.

Historically I know that PwC is willing to negotiate if you have a specific reason for wanting to study at a particular university. At the end of the day it comes down to a combination of;
a) what offers flexibility for the cadetship (less of an issue now that you guys get 7.5 hours/1 day off per week)
b) what is eligible for the CA program (i.e. is it recognised by the institute).

I know someone from a few years ago who got into UWS and also justified it because he lived near there. If I were in your position, I'd apply for all the firms, and then if you receive an offer, raise it as a question and see how flexible they are.

[mattopirotta]

Thanks seremify,

I'll definitely be applying everywhere possible and see what happens. I posted a similar question to this on PwC's Facebook page and they said something similar to you which is in total contrast to what they said at the Cadetship Evening. I’ll just see what happens and worse comes to worse I’ll just use it to get interview experience (if I get that far that is).

Thanks again.

[Azure]

Wow $20k definitely sounds quite amazing.

I wish you the very best of luck!

[mattopirotta]

Thanks Azure,

I'll keep you updated as to how I goin securing a cadetship. Who knows I may end up working with one of you guys

Thanks

[sifnotme]

sigh =( is it normal not to receive any reply from the firms for a long time. Coz i saw on the other thread that some1 got offered a KPMG interview and some were already doing tests haha.. =( havent heard anything yet. do they normally contact you after the deadline or even before for the other firms... i just hope it is not a rejection letter =(

[twistedrebel]

sigh =( is it normal not to receive any reply from the firms for a long time. Coz i saw on the other thread that some1 got offered a KPMG interview and some were already doing tests haha.. =( havent heard anything yet. do they normally contact you after the deadline or even before for the other firms... i just hope it is not a rejection letter =(

rejecting letter already

[Azure]

sigh =( is it normal not to receive any reply from the firms for a long time. Coz i saw on the other thread that some1 got offered a KPMG interview and some were already doing tests haha.. =( havent heard anything yet. do they normally contact you after the deadline or even before for the other firms... i just hope it is not a rejection letter =(

Sometimes firms can take forever to reply and you may be lucky enough to eventually get a rejection letter (and closure). More than often however, a lot of firms simply won't get back to you all together (happens more with mid tier firms).

[sifnotme]

Sometimes firms can take forever to reply and you may be lucky enough to eventually get a rejection letter (and closure). More than often however, a lot of firms simply won't get back to you all together (happens more with mid tier firms).

lucky enough to a rejection letter.... i wouldnt think that would need that much luck.... nor do i want it..

[Azure]

Lots of firms tend to be quite rude and neglect to send anything out. Those who get some sort of closure are the lucky ones, especially when it's a rejection. At least you have an idea as to where you stand, rather than agonizing over an outcome which never arrives.

[seremify007]

I suppose on the other hand a firm wouldn't want to send a rejection letter if someone was in the "2nd round offers" kind of stage. Not all firms have this sort of recruitment strategy but I can imagine at least some of the smaller players would rely on this technique to ensure they get enough people through the door.