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While reading the online WSJ this morning, I found a blog posting about networking made by Dawn Jordan, who is a former operations VP at Bank of America, and currently unemployed due to a laid-off. 

She mentions that at the networking events she recently attended, the majority of people she had met were unemployed, so she thought it less possible to meet with prospective employers to land a job.  But one day, she realized that networking with fellow unemployed folks can be as beneficial as meeting with prospective employers, because those fellow unemployed can give her the advice that they learned their own job search experience and share their network of connections with her.

Her posting was interesting enough for me to rethink how I've been doing my own networking effort, and to think twice about the real purpose of networking.  I had thought that networking is a stressful, yet effective activity to land a job I want; meeting prospective employers, introducing myself to strangers, and trying to get a connection to get job interviews.  I had probably done this most of my time at any networking event.  It took my sprit to approach to strangers and try to carry a decent conversation with a person who I barely know.  And at the end of the day, with business cards in my hand, I'd suddenly exhausted and wondering how many of these names actually help me get a job interview, despite the fact I spent hours to network.

After reading Dawn's posting, I realized that the networking doesn't need to be like this.  Yes, it is a place where you can get connected with prospective employers hoping you can get a job at one of them, but it is also a place where you can get to know people, chat, share ideas, help others, and sometimes reconnect with.  By thinking this way, I guess I can relax more, and enjoy meeting people in these events. 

One other thing I use for my networking is the online networking community, Linkedin.  I was introduced to this network by a classmate when I started the MSA program almost two years ago.  My network has been growing since then (it is still small, though), and I enjoy using this tool.  It is amazing how I can get connected (or reconnected) with people through this network community.  Some of my classmates from previous semesters are regular users.  One of them announced that she recently passed the CPA exam through a message sent to us through Linkedin and invited us to get together to celebrate the achievements each of us made since we had left the semester a year ago.  How nice is this?  The online networking may not produce the exact same effect as face-to-face networking can do, but it should be possible to get connected with new people.  It is also a great place to "reconnect" with people.  I use this online networking community primarily to reconnect with people I want to keep in touch with. 

If you have experience that online networking is as good as the face-to-face networking, or if you have advice as to new ways to use it, please share your thoughts in the comment section. 

As one of those MSA students graduating soon and has started the CPA exam prep, I would like to add some comments to Susan's recent blog about CPA exam prep.  I think what Susan said about the CPA exam prep in her blog is really true.  The prep requires a lot of commitment.  I would say that the degree of commitment is as large as accomplishing the MSA program, in terms of time commitment, the amount of effort to put in, sacrifices, etc..

I chose Becker CPA Review and Final Review (these are two separate materials) as my primary study source, and I am currently working on the auditing section.  I like Becker's CPA Review Course, because their lectures are just great (I picked DVDs for lectures, but a choice of online or in-class lectures is available too).  They tell you little tricks how to memorize important concepts in easy-and-quick ways, they tell you what you should take notes on in the review course textbook, which paragraphs you should highlight, etc (you may think "I am not a 8th grader", but those notes and highlights help a lot when you review the book later).  The lectures are well condensed, and are an extract of the textbook.  The lecturer also tells you which area you really need to focus on for the exam.  Knowing what are more likely on the exam help me put more time in those areas.  So overall, I am happy with using these materials as my primary source.

At the same time, while studying Becker materials, I go back to my class notes and A514 textbook quite often.  My class notes and A514 textbook help me better understand what are explained in the CPA Review materials.  Because CPA prep materials contain a lot of information in such a condensed manner, they sometimes just jump to the points without explaining well the process to get there.  Of course, these CPA prep materials are for a CPA exam preparation, and not for teaching us from scratch, so from that viewpoint, they do excellent job.  But occasionally, I simply don't get a good picture by just reading these materials, and then, my class notes and A514 textbook help fill the gaps.  Sometimes, a little more explanation helps understand (or refresh my memory -- I should have known this stuff already, right?) the ideas/concepts behind the answers.  While studying CPA prep materials for auditing, I realized how well A514 class (which I took last fall) prepared me for another round of study.  The way we learned in class, the way Prof. Johnson explained, and the way we were tested on the exams (A514 exams covered, in a greater portion, questions that were actually on the CPA exams -- taken mainly from Gleim's EQE and CPA Review)... those were richer and more in-depth than the ones I can get from typical CPA prep materials.  Also the class textbook takes good amount of time to explain the engagements other than auditing (ex. attestation), which was the area I went back to my notes the most.  So my suggestion, take good class notes and don't sell the textbook!

And yes, I do have notebooks, folders, and binders full of pages and pages of notes, too...

For many international students, getting a job isn't easy.  As an international student, I have also struggled to get a job I want.  But there are ways to increase a chance to get a job.  From my experience, "Informational Interviews" (remember X420?) can be one of them.  Our positions, as international students, in the job market are unique and how we position ourselves in the job market is key to landing a job we want. This requires extensive research, and that's why information interviews are so helpful.  Below, let me share my experience about "informational interviews".      

From 2001 to 2006, I worked for a mid-size Japanese subsidiary of an automotive parts manufacturer in Columbus, IN as a Japanese-speaking sales staff.  From one of my business acquintances at this company and through my job, I learned that there were better job opportunities in the professional services industry that targets its business to the Japanese-owned companies in the Midwest.  Being an undergrad finance major (I was also a student of IUPUI at that time), I had begun doing "informational interviews" with people in banking/brokerage firms, had a couple of job interviews, and eventually had gotten a job at an insurance brokerage firm.  However, after staying with this job for a rather short period of time, I decided to pursue my career in accounting profession for a better utilization of the professional skills and my bilingual skill.  For this reason, I came back to IUPUI as a MSA student to acquire such professional skills - accounting education and CPA preparation.  

By starting over the "informational interview" process, this time with accounting professionals, I came to the conclusion that there is an even better job market in this field (compared to my previous research in banking/brokerage firms) for someone who has  bilingual skills.  More importantly for my getting-a-job-I-want purpose, through the continued process of informational interviews, I was able to build my career plan, with my confidence, that I feel is my passion.  After getting through the accounting recruiting season last fall, I accepted an offer from one of the international accounting firms.  I am very happy.        

As we know, informational interviews are very helpful means to get a job we want.  Through this process, not only doing job research, we also learn how to shape our own career plans.  From my experience, I believe that the passion and well-demonstrated career plan make the candidate stand out from the crowd at the interview.  I've heard a partner of a local accounting firm make a similar comment about getting business (as a firm).  So I guess these things - passion and a well-demonstrated plan  - work well when talking to people.  As an international student, I've also learned a couple of useful things that helped me increase a chance of getting a job I want.  I am going to share these with you below, hoping they are useful to you too;  

1)    Do informational interviews (this is important!) - You learn a lot about the job/job market/how to network.  Also, it improves interview skill/communication skill at the real job interview.  We may not have enough real job interviews to practice, so practice at the informational interviews.
2)    Read WSJ - This helps build professional and sophisticated vocabularies.  I also recommend reading any career planning books to be familiarized with good vocabularies for job interviews (remember, English is NOT our primary language.  We have to work a lot in this area!).
3)    Utilize professors' office hours - Professors are full of resources, and the office hours are good research/networking opportunities.  Try your vocabularies gained through reading by chatting with professors about the recent news from WSJ.  
4)    Build a good story that tells your passion and career plan - Repeating the informational interviews will help you do this.  Get used to express your opinion in English in a persuasive manner as we do in our mother language.  
5)    Learn good presentation skills to demonstrate your abilities.  Sometimes, expressing/demonstrating your ability/capability in the US has quite different form from the one we are accustomed in our own country.  Watching good TV/DVD programs help build a good presentation skill (also increases vocabularies and a listening skill).  I enjoyed watching the presidential debates for this purpose.    
6)    Tell your story by "communicating" with the interviewer - Practice in front of the mirror to improve your communication skill, or do interview practice with another person.  Record your interview practice to check your progress.  Pay extra attention to your conversational skills (ex. articulation, accent, word pronunciations, grammar, formal conversational skill, etc - again, English is NOT our primary language.  Try to reduce possible interviewer's distractions).
7)    Be confident and positive (this improves your non-verbal skills).  We are good and competitive as the other non-international students are, and demonstrate so in a positive manner.  Always look for opportunities (any opportunities!) and be appreciative, if they are given, as they may open another door for you!