It’s never too late to chase after your dream job

Not sure what is next after school? Marks are not very high? Just coasting by? These were the phrases that described me at the end of my third year of university.

A few of my friends were starting to get serious about summer internships and post-university careers, but I had no clue where I was heading. I knew that my marks as they stood would not get me into any top jobs and my fallback of, “I will probably do grad school”, was beginning to sound less and less convincing.

At the end of first year I told myself I would pick it up in second year and that frosh was an adjustment year. At the end of second year I told myself I would pick it up for third year and that only the last two years of marks counted for anything. At the end of third year I was out of excuses. But I was also very afraid. Was it too late to turn myself around? I had gone to a few recruiting sessions at the beginning of the year and applied to tons of summer office jobs (including at Deloitte) but never heard back from any. I ended up working at the mall and at a golf course, afraid that no one would take my work experience seriously.

In fourth year I finally shook myself awake and pulled up my marks. But it was too little too late. Graduation rolled around and it looked like I would be back at the mall. All of the office jobs I had applied to turned me down (yes that included rejection number two from Deloitte). I was at a crossroads.

I decided to sacrifice a year’s worth of freedom and tuition and go back to school for a fifth year. I boosted up my marks even further and put some extra-curricular and volunteer activities on my resume. On top of that I had a blast being back at school. I was lucky enough to get a government job in accounting after graduation and felt amazing. However I missed out on my goal of getting into Deloitte (yes, that’s right, rejection number three came in). But, I was proud that I had been able to turn things around and I was not going to limit myself, or rest on the work that I had finally done. I continued to persevere for my goal.

Even though I had graduated, in September, I went back to campus recruiting and finally managed to get an interview with Deloitte. Fast forward to present day and I might be a couple years older than the average new graduate hire at Deloitte but I have gained valuable life experienced and know that I can attain any goal I set for myself. Moral of the story, it’s never too late to turn things around.

Aqil graduated from the University of Western Ontario with an Honors Bachelor of Management and Organizational Studies, Political Science Minor. He is currently a staff accountant in our Audit practice.