Accounting Students Land Jobs with Prestigious Companies

Given the country's tight-fisted job market, three University of Southern Mississippi business students have discovered that it pays to have a professor with connections.

Master's of professional accountancy students Analise Counts, Chase DeVries and Celeste McDonald have secured full-time positions with prestigious accounting companies. Counts and DeVries will relocate to New York City in entry level audit positions with PricewaterhouseCoopers and Deloitte LLP respectively. McDonald has an entry level audit position locked up in the New Orleans office of Postlethwaite & Netterville.

Southern Miss accounting professor Michael Dugan, who helped arrange the job placements, said assisting students outside the classroom is part of his mission as an educator.

“In my nearly 30 years as an accounting professor, I have helped hundreds of students find jobs in their fields of study,” said Dugan. “To me, being an effective teacher involves two primary components – what you do technically in the classroom and what you do outside the classroom to show caring and concern for your students.”

Dr. Skip Hughes, chair of the School of Accountancy at Southern Miss, noted that assisting students with job placement upon graduation has always been a “school priority and is actively supported by all accounting faculty and career services.”

McDonald graduated this summer and is scheduled to begin her new job this month. Counts and DeVries are set to graduate in December and start work in January.

“All of these students are very bright, articulate and hard-working with great interpersonal skills,” said Dugan. “They will be outstanding additions to each of the accounting firms they are about to join.”