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It was 8th August, 2014. The Judgment
Day for every CA student giving his attempt in May’2014. Tension, fear,
excitement… There was a gush of lot of emotions flowing through. The
next 40 years of life were to be written on the ICAI’s opinion of our
intellect to be announced that very day. The world had come to a
standstill and the only thing one had prayed for to every single God
known to mankind for the past few months was winning our last battle
with the Institute. It was around noon the results were out. Group 1
pass. Group 2 pass!!! The Gods were listening and had been kind. All the
hardwork, sacrifice and sweat for getting those 2 letters in front of
our name had paid off! Shouting my lungs out, really felt like my
ultimate goal had been achieved and money would just be pouring from all
sides.
As the celebrations ended an important
question popped up. What after the CA degree? The pass percentage being
so low, most of our time post exam till results are out is gone by
planning for what better we can do for the next attempt rather than
planning what to do if we pass! There are plentiful who have faced this
question. With degree in pocket what now? Those who haven’t faced such a
question consider yourself to be among the gifted few who get their
calling early enough to choose your flight to glory! My advice for
others, please start planning.
My “shanpatti” as we call it of being a
1st attempt qualified CA was soon bogged down. Soon I realized passing
the exam was nowhere close to any end. It was just 1 phase of our career
that is over with a tougher phase just knocking doors. The Job Search
phase. In the Exam phase you atleast have clarity that 8 books are to be
studied. The same is not the case with the Job Search phase. Contacting
our long lost relatives with well placed jobs for their guidance,
forwards resumes to friends, friends of friends, friends of friends of
friends, uploading resume’s on all possible websites buzzing job
openings. Job openings and pay packages were the talk of town. Campus
placements and other interviews that I gave soon made me realize that I
am not the only one whose prayers have been answered. There were about
500 more in Mumbai campus alone. All competing with me for an
opportunity to work with their favorite employer. Looking at the
selection criteria’s for opportunities to appear for an interview a
thing I noticed is that the corporate world divides all the pass-outs
among 3 categories. The Rankers, The 1st Attempt cleared and Others. All
the 3 categories are on 3 different planets.
The CA curriculum is staggeringly wide.
The 8 subjects that we study are 8 different specializations in
themselves. To top this there various categories of employers ranging
from Banks, other Corporate sector companies, CA firms or self
employment by choosing to practice on our own. Now keep multiplying all
the combinations. Choosing 1 path is a daunting task. Some even face the
additional burden of taking a decision for further studies. Passion for
work, money, further studies and even your Articleship experience must
all boil down to 1 choice. It’s not easy. You might have tough time
convincing people we can do more than just audit and tax if you do not
have any prior experience in any choosing such nontraditional career
paths like a career in investment banking, advisory or going into an
industry. But having said that, it is not impossible.
Again there might be a big trade-off
between Package v/s Passion. The jobs that interest you may be rare, low
paying, it may not be with your preferred employer, but the job
description fits your liking. At the opposite side high paying jobs now
might not interest you. Though when asked casually many of us would
choose passion over package. However it is easier said than done. When
you hear your friends getting starting packages like an 8 lacs per annum
or 10 lacs per annum, you really have a strong desire to change your
passion. Rejecting interview calls from Big 4’s just as you not
interested in profiles is a brave call. Thankfully my articleship
experience opened doors for an advisory profile I desired. The pay is
not a 8 or 10 lacs but I still have a long way to go to worry about that
and more importantly I will be doing something I like. As they say,
just love whatever you do, paisa toh jakh maarke piche aayega. I would
like to quote some lines from Warren Buffet here. It says “Games are won
by players who focus on the playing field, not by those whose eyes are
glued to the scoreboard.”
So, I have choosen passion over money, what have you?
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