Need advice

[rentalbliss]

I am curently going back to school to finish my bachelors in business administration and accounting. With all the layoffs happening and the economy in freefall, what do you guys see for the future of this industry and job market? I will not be finished for about 2-3 years and would love some advice on the job prospects if any. I currently stay home with 3 children so I will not be losing any income. Thanks in advance for any replies.

[hesotriflin]

I graduated with a business degree (Finance and Info sys) from UW in 2005. At that time I remember feeling like the he job market was still recovering in the Seattle area from the dot com bust. Companies were just starting to ramp up on hiring again. Interviews were hard to come by unless you had a really strong GPA, internship experience, etc. The dot com bust wasn't as bad as the situation today, so if you think that it took about 4 years for this area to recover from that, I think it will take a lot longer for this area to recover from the current situation we are in. In 2-3 years time I think job prospects will be very hard to come by and you may not be able to benefit from it. Of course in 2-3 years we might have some sort of 21st century 'New Deal' from uncle sam and the federal govt goes on some crazy hiring binge.

[rose-colored-coolaid]

I think the real payoff in business degrees comes after you earn an MBA. Prior to that, we are graduating a lot of business students, and the idea is that most of these people will start their own businesses.

[Civil Servant]

The accounting credential will serve you far better than the (undergrad) business administration one. It sounds to me like you're thinking of a double major (?) -- my advice would be to chuck the latter one in favor of doing something specific and quantitative to distinguish yourself among all the other accountants who will hit the market at the same time as you do; "business administration" at the undergrad level doesn't necessarily give a potential employer any useful information about what you're capable of and can even sound like a dodge. Or even pick up a non-squishy minor like econ or quant finance or math that demonstrates initiative and will give you the ability to see accounting issues in a broader perspective. Getting some internship experience doing shipping or government or military accounting might be a good idea (these workforces skew older and there will be lots of retirements in the coming years) -- if that appeals, look into getting a cheapo student membership in the Association of Government Accountants and any other organizations that will look good on your resume, and attend meetings and schmooze like crazy. You should definitely be looking to take the CPA exams right as you're graduating, and investigate other professional credentials as well (CGFM? CFA?) that you might want to pick up later on -- it's great to talk about these plans at job interviews or to have started on them independently. There will be jobs out there in a few years, but the key thing is going to be setting yourself apart from what will be lots and lots of other applicants. So start buckling down now and you'll be in a very good position.