It’s never too late to set new goals. All you need is the drive to do so, and, in the case of a career goal, a firm that believes in you as much as you believe in yourself. That’s what I learned from my lunch with Dave, small business manager here in Wayne. His story really caught my interest as we talked.
So, when Dave went to college, he didn’t major in accounting, or even a business-related field. He earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree. While he was there, he also took courses in classical studies (Latin, archaeology, etc.), which leads you to wonder, how did Dave get to where he is today?
To start with, Dave clearly realized what all cool people eventually do – that if he wanted to stay hip, he’d have to do more than have the ponytail he once had – he’d have to become an accountant.
Okay, so maybe it wasn’t exactly that. However, what did happen is he had a conversation with a guy he was working for after he graduated, and he realized he didn’t really know what he wanted to do with his career. After some suggestion, he decided he would give accounting a shot, and he learned he could go back to school to take the required accounting courses and then sit for the CPA exam.
Dave ended up enjoying the coursework once he began the classes, and he truly set his mind on the end goal: become a CPA and start his career in accounting. It took two years to finish the classes, and then he worked part-time while studying for the exam, which he passed on the first attempt of each of the four parts. After he passed, he began to apply for jobs, but hit a lot of walls in the interview process, from people straight-up saying “no,” to one guy completely bashing him for his suit and the way he styled his hair.
The issue was he needed someone to take a shot on him, since he did not originally go to school for accounting, and had zero work experience in the field. Stephano Slack, though not at first, as initially he didn’t get an offer, ultimately gave him a chance to start part-time, helping out during busy season. They recognized his drive and talent and ended up offering him a full time position. Since then, he’s been trained and he worked his way up, and now he’s a small business manager, which is way more interesting than the glorified bookkeeping some people think small business is. They offer a lot of services to our clients, and I’m excited to see where that department, and where the whole firm, continues to grow. Though, I’m still pretty set on A&A being the best department. However, Dave is pretty cool, despite not being in A&A, because he has an interest in becoming certified in Business Valuations, which is something I am also interested in once I become a CPA.
Before lunch was over, I made sure to ask Dave what he would be, if not an accountant. He said he’d definitely love to just play music all the time (he plays bass) and be in a band with his brother, or work in art restoration or archiving in some capacity. To recap, for those who have been following my posts, so far we have Jing, crazy cat lady; Jay, park ranger; Pat, police officer (which I actually forgot to mention in my last post!); and now Dave, rock and roll star. I’m starting to think that the firm should have a Halloween party this year where we dress up as what we would be if not accountants because these answers are great!
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