Thank you! Oh and go cardsJust waving from KY and tossing out a friendly, C-A-T-S
Nonadvice as we are happy here in the Bluegrass state. Good luck on finishing a job and settling somewhere
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Moving to/for Disney
- Thread starter loucards15
- Start date
I had heard that about UCF and that's really intriguing. Something I will look into. Yeah I guess west is probably the way to go if you want to stay with Disney. All good things to think about!
You’re young.. pick any spot on a map and move. Seriously.
However, don’t work for minimum wage. Start sending resumes now before you move.. look for housing options and get rates on car insurance etc., have a plan and go for it!
I love the enthusiasm! That has been my line of thinking. I'm at a point in my life where I can risk going for it. A plan is something I need to work on though haha
Frank the Tank
Well-Known Member
I don’t know anything about moving to Orlando, although I’d second the opinions of several people here that it’s easiest to make that type of move when you’re young.
However, I can empathize quite a bit with your overall career situation as someone that hires, works with and mentors a lot of recent business major grads. Just looking at what you’ve described, I would highly, highly, HIGHLY recommend taking an accounting job first out of school.
I understand that you may not love accounting (and as a finance major that took a lot of accounting classes and eventually went to law school and took tax law classes there, it wasn’t my favorite, either), but just know that accounting skills are a massive benefit to any type of job that you want in the future, especially management, even if you don’t end up being an accountant for a career.
Spending a couple of years at the beginning of your career showing that you have a thorough understanding of accounting is honestly way more impressive for your long-term resume because when you spend that time building your accounting skills (especially in an audit role), you will end up understanding how an entire business works with every function (going from management to sales to back office to front office to HR to legal).
Every company in every industry knows this, which is why they all hire people that have spent a couple of years in a Big Four accounting firm en masse. I only worked at a Big Four firm for 2 years out of school and it wasn’t even an accounting role (it was a tax law-oriented position), left there nearly 15 years ago... and I *still* get headhunters calling *me* to offer jobs to this day simply because that stint was on my resume.
Note that I don’t work in an accounting function at all as a corporate lawyer, but I can definitely say that my knowledge of accounting helped me in every job that I’ve had because (a) it’s tangible and (b) people who rise into management all need to eventually understand accounting well, so if you have that from the get go, you’re way ahead of the game.
That’s beside the pay issue where if you’re going to live in not-so-cheap Orlando with the intent of spending a lot of money on entertainment at places like Disney, the reality is that an accounting salary with clear advancement is way more likely to support that lifestyle than a minimum wage job with little advancement potential.
Sorry if I went a bit long on this - I just have just seen a lot of people your age come and go over the years with similar career questions. To be clear, I would never advocate anyone spending a career in a job that you’re not happy in. However, by the same token, virtually every job coming out of college is going to involve a lot of grunt work and won’t necessarily be glamourous. The people that I’ve seen have success over my career are the ones that are able to come out of those grunt work years with substantive and quantifiable skills that they’re able to point to and then they have a ton of options on the table. Accounting skills are probably as quantifiable as a skill as you can get outside of the computer science/engineering space, so it make sense to hone those for a couple of years. You may very well end up not wanting to do it for a career... and that’s OK and very common. However, you’ll come out of it with the background that many companies look for in substantive work that isn’t considered accounting at all (but they’ll want you because everyone needs people that understand accounting - that’s a big time differentiator).
Whatever you choose to do, good luck!
However, I can empathize quite a bit with your overall career situation as someone that hires, works with and mentors a lot of recent business major grads. Just looking at what you’ve described, I would highly, highly, HIGHLY recommend taking an accounting job first out of school.
I understand that you may not love accounting (and as a finance major that took a lot of accounting classes and eventually went to law school and took tax law classes there, it wasn’t my favorite, either), but just know that accounting skills are a massive benefit to any type of job that you want in the future, especially management, even if you don’t end up being an accountant for a career.
Spending a couple of years at the beginning of your career showing that you have a thorough understanding of accounting is honestly way more impressive for your long-term resume because when you spend that time building your accounting skills (especially in an audit role), you will end up understanding how an entire business works with every function (going from management to sales to back office to front office to HR to legal).
Every company in every industry knows this, which is why they all hire people that have spent a couple of years in a Big Four accounting firm en masse. I only worked at a Big Four firm for 2 years out of school and it wasn’t even an accounting role (it was a tax law-oriented position), left there nearly 15 years ago... and I *still* get headhunters calling *me* to offer jobs to this day simply because that stint was on my resume.
Note that I don’t work in an accounting function at all as a corporate lawyer, but I can definitely say that my knowledge of accounting helped me in every job that I’ve had because (a) it’s tangible and (b) people who rise into management all need to eventually understand accounting well, so if you have that from the get go, you’re way ahead of the game.
That’s beside the pay issue where if you’re going to live in not-so-cheap Orlando with the intent of spending a lot of money on entertainment at places like Disney, the reality is that an accounting salary with clear advancement is way more likely to support that lifestyle than a minimum wage job with little advancement potential.
Sorry if I went a bit long on this - I just have just seen a lot of people your age come and go over the years with similar career questions. To be clear, I would never advocate anyone spending a career in a job that you’re not happy in. However, by the same token, virtually every job coming out of college is going to involve a lot of grunt work and won’t necessarily be glamourous. The people that I’ve seen have success over my career are the ones that are able to come out of those grunt work years with substantive and quantifiable skills that they’re able to point to and then they have a ton of options on the table. Accounting skills are probably as quantifiable as a skill as you can get outside of the computer science/engineering space, so it make sense to hone those for a couple of years. You may very well end up not wanting to do it for a career... and that’s OK and very common. However, you’ll come out of it with the background that many companies look for in substantive work that isn’t considered accounting at all (but they’ll want you because everyone needs people that understand accounting - that’s a big time differentiator).
Whatever you choose to do, good luck!
There are a lot of good and bad points in moving somewhere for the first time. The main thing is to do a bunch of research and have a plan.
21stamps
Well-Known Member
That’s the beauty of youth. You can take more risks than you’ll be able to in 10 years from now. If you want it, go for it. There’s plenty of planning that you can do via the internet and phone. If you have money saved up, it allows you even more flexibility. Just don’t waste your 20s being broke making minimum wage.. that isn’t worth the move. Start researching where you want to work, research what it costs to live and also to do the things you enjoy, decide how much you need to make, and start making contacts.. join a networking group or similar. Maybe go spend 2 weeks in the area looking for where you want to live and talking to locals in that specific area.
One huge bonus of living in Florida- cheap airfare to pretty much anywhere.. especially most places in the Caribbean and Central America.
This. Excellent career advice.
As a fellow finance major, I'm in agreement about those extra accounting classes. But it made us more attractive to prospective employers than those with fewer accounting credits. The tax law classes I took, it was fairly evident which students had no knowledge of accounting.
OP, students graduating from our B-school with a BS in accounting were making in the low 40s as a starting salary with one of the Big 4. Orlando is a major financial services sector. SunTrust's regional treasury management center is in Orlando. If you really want to move to the Orlando area, banking is a 2nd option with your degree.
Good luck.
Cmdr_Crimson
Well-Known Member
This has been brought up a few times...But, just incase....
Thank you! That was very thoughtful and probably the best advice I've received since graduating. I probably should give accounting a shot before I even really know if I like it or not. I guess I'm just a tad anxious but I know it'll all unfold naturally. I'm actually doing some governmental audit work now at my current job and you really do get to see how an organization ticks. It'll be very useful down the road. Thank you again I really appreciate it
Working as a CM can be a fun and rewarding experience. If you really want to do this you need to look at the whole picture. People think that CM's have it made working at WDW. It's still a job! You don't go wondering around the park when your on break and take in a few attractions. The hiring process has the potential to take months. Although you can get it started without being here. The cost of living is higher the closer you live. Living further away subjects you to more commuter traffic . Don't look at this job through tourist eyes , visiting and working are two different worlds. I'm not trying to discourage you just want you to take a look at all of it. You can visit the park on your time off as a guest, but after working there day after day that may not be so appealing after a while. Only you can decide, what works for you. Disney does offer many opportunities for young people and they will help with education. Good luck with your decision.
POLY LOVER
Well-Known Member
You can't help but be aggressive. You are just a nasty person with issues, seek help.
lazyboy97o
Well-Known Member
In your case, I only meant the problem of your anxiety and uncertainty about your next steps as a recent graduate. In general, don’t be so hung up on Disney. The idea of getting a job at one company and staying for 20 years is just not the norm anymore, even if Disney does still push that image. There are jobs related to your degree at Disney, but also at Universal, SeaWorld, Merlin, Ripley’s and the other little places nearby and hotels and all of their various business partners and not just in Orlando too. There’s a whole big world of hospitality and amusement and you don’t need to undervalue your hard work at school in order to get jump into it.
Said the person who incessantly fires up threads bemoaning the current WDW. All righty....
Cmdr_Crimson
Well-Known Member
Working at any Theme Park it's pretty much like that...After awhile you feel all happy seeing things and knowing stuff about you never knew..I had this feeling when I worked at Six Flags Great America but, then after the few years It felt different...Even to this day the feelings I have going back after persuing better pastures the feeling is gone...The best way to describe that was this scene from The Itchy & Scratchy land Episode...
POLY LOVER
Well-Known Member
Some people just see what they want to see and pick on people.
And some can't stand their own reflection. What's your point, caller?
I'm guessing this is an autocorrect...Just waving from KY and tossing out a friendly, C-A-T-S
Nonadvice as we are happy here in the Bluegrass state. Good luck on finishing a job and settling somewhere
OneofThree
Well-Known Member
Do yourself a huge favor -forget the "business management" garbage and pursue your CPA certification. Specialization is key in this economy, and will pay dividends in terms of both compensation and flexibility.
signed- someone older holding both of those degrees.
If he wants to remain in accounting, that is the path to take.
Yes. I am taking CPA review courses as a part of my graduate program. Hopefully I can begin testing for that by next fall. Thanks!