Skills needed for IT Consultancy jobs.

wd40

Hi All,

I am trying to get an IT Audit job, so I studied for and passed the CISA exam.

A few weeks back I saw an opening in one of the Big 4 for a consultancy job, I applied and was told that I will be contacted soon but I may not have the skills required.

Are there any "easy" entry level certifications for this?, I want to show that I have the drive to learn.

Thanks.

Mide

Back in my college days, IT consultancy jobs were the coveted positions for MIS/CIS majors. If you got into one of these firms your career took off from there since their internal training supposedly was top notch. I've known people who have gotten in, but it was always through their University's career services center. And the Big 4 usually recruit at specific schools. I've not heard of people with general experience "making it into" these firms after they have started their careers on the outside. Congratz on the CISA, but yeah if you want to be taken seriously by these firms "after" you've been working, you'll probably need to go back to school as an accounting major and test for the CPA.

wd40

Thanks Mide.

As you said, I am too old to start with the Big 4 hence I thought that passing the CISA exam will help a little bit.

I think CPA would be difficult as I have no accounting background, I think I can pass the exams but I don't want to be one of those CPA's that don't know the difference between debit and credit.

I am thinking about a less demanding CIA, But I will need to get an Audit job first.

wtrwlkr

Can anyone list the "big 4"?

wd40

Wikipedia can

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Four_(audit_firms)

Deloitte, PwC, EY & KPMG.

How big depends on where you live, for example globally Deloitte maybe the largest but in my country EY has a bigger market share.

wtrwlkr

Ah, yes. I should've consulted the interwebs before I asked. Deloitte is the only firm I've heard of in my job search.

636-555-3226

Best I can tell you is that Cloud/O365/Azure/AWS consultants are insanely hot in my area now.

pinkydapimp

Generally speaking, consultants have a wide base of knowledge and experience, and then specialize in an area. I think this is why its often difficult to get into these roles as most have lots of experience which helps them in their role. My suggestion, just get more experience in a customer facing role, ideally one that deals with fortune 500 companies. then maybe that will be your way in.

soccarplayer29

The big four and other account firms are constantly hiring Financial and IT Auditors. I usually see job postings asking for 2+ year experience with CISA for for the "Experienced" or "Senior" IT Auditor positions. But the "Staff" (read: Entry) level might list CISA as preferred but not as a requirement.

I think your best bet it to reach out to your network and see if you know anyone there that could refer you to one of those staff level positions. Also recruiters on linkedin typically search for people who have "CISA" keyword on their profile and will reach out to you---but given you don't have the IT audit experience I'm guessing that while you've passed the CISA exam you don't have the experience to go through the application process yet.

wd40

Thanks Guys,

I don't want to go for technical certifications at the moment, I am trying to get an entry level position.
Getting into a large company would be more difficult than getting into the Big 4.

I already updated my linkedin profile with "Passed CISA exam June 2015"

I was thinking will ITIL / COBIT / CAPM help or are there any others that will be better to get.