Sell Yourself: Mid-career CPAs tackle job search challenges.

• Author: Ross, Sharon
• Position: Cover Story

Perception is reality.

For the experienced CPA, that can mean the difference between landing a key position or getting stuck in job-search oblivion. Today, many CPAs find that to switch industries or land a new job after a lengthy stay with one company, they must overcome misperceptions about themselves--that they are not adaptable, command too high a salary and aren't trainable.

Add a slow economy too the mix, and mid-career CPAs face a test as challenging as CPA licensure.

UP AGAINST A WALL

"I had never been up against anything like this," says David Shealor, CPA, a manager at Leslie Accountancy LLP in Los Angeles who reentered the job market five years ago after an extended illness. Initially, he received no response to the nearly 100 resumes he sent to firms. Despite his 30 years of combined experience in public practice and private industry, solid CPA credentials and an MBA from Pepperdine University, he was turned away from jobs.

"I wasn't even able to get in the door. I went from being able to just write my own ticket to not being able to even get an interview," Shealor recalls, adding that he thinks his age and lack of current experience didn't help. "Being 50 years old was like the kiss of death."

Gary Bachrach, a CPA in Culver City, says he has contended with similar obstacles, but thinks there are other reasons why there have been few job offers. "I'm sure age is a factor," he says. "It may just be a perception, but I was told not to put the years I was in school or when I worked for Coopers & Lybrand, particularly in a soft market. But the main factor is a lack of good jobs. It's a buyer's market."

EMPLOYERS HAVE THE UPPER HAND

When Bachrach was out of a job in the early 1990s after spending seven years in manufacturing accounting, he found consulting work with relative ease and eventually made a transition to the high-tech industry. But when the dot-coM bubble burst, he was laid off. Consulting work has been scarce during the past year and the competition fierce for open positions. When he interviewed for a position in January, he had to compete with more than 300 other applicants.

"Right now employers can be very specific about what they're looking for," says Rita Steel, director of western operations for Menlo Park-based Robert Half International. "A couple of years ago, there was such low unemployment that it was much easier to switch industries.

"Now, if you have a tech background and want to get into manufacturing cost accounting, you're not going to be at the top of the list. Employers are going to look at all the candidates with manufacturing experience.

Aggravating the recession's impact is a limited number of open mid to senior-level accounting positions and a greater need for staff accountants with two-to-three years of solid accounting experience. "There are fewer positions at the higher end," says Steel.

The U.S. Department of Labor projects that although growth in accounting will be "about as fast as the average for all occupations...