PWC

For most of you this is going to be a pretty boring post, so feel free to skip it. I just wanted to write this up for our personal records. Ryan is in the accounting program at BYU and because it's always ranked in the top 3 for accounting schools there is some serious recruiting happening for the BYU students. When Ryan first got into the program we kept hearing how competitive it is to get into one of the Big 4 accounting firms in SLC. Because BYU is in Utah we heard the competition is really tough for the few spots available in SLC. So last year we were traveling a lot to visit other markets to see where we would be willing to go so Ryan could have a public accounting experience. Denver was probably the top on our list, followed by Houston.

Once Ryan started interviewing however, we started getting the feeling that he could make it into a SLC office. He was getting a lot of positive feedback and last summer did 3 summer leadership programs with EY, PWC, and KPMG (3 of the Big 4). He was also sent by KPMG to their national summer leadership program in LA. After all the good vibes we were getting and because I got pregnant we decided that we really wanted to stay in Utah so we were going to try for a SLC office and hope that he could get in.

The firms really made Ryan's life extremely busy in October when they started inviting him to all these dinners, events, office visits, etc. It seemed like everyone was trying to win him over. But none of them were recruiting quite as hard as KPMG. They were calling him constantly, having partners take him for lunches, and emailing him like crazy.

We were so excited and thrilled when Ryan was extended offers from ALL three of the firms he interviewed with. All of them! We were just hoping to get into at least one SLC market, but obviously they all saw how great Ryan is and wanted him. (Sorrying for all the bragging, but it makes a wife proud.) KPMG was definitely the firm that wanted Ryan the most. We were invited to a restaurant up at Sundance one night where they wined and dined us with many of the partners. They weren't even trying to hide the fact that they wanted to win Ryan over and I have to admit it was hard not to let them win me over because I loved that they loved my husband too! They were having another event that weekend but we told them were weren't going to make it because we had already booked plans for our anniversary plans that weekend. So what did they do?... They gave Ryan a giant basket full of anniversary things like sparkling cider, cookies, gum, crackers, etc, and even a few baby items for our little girl. Hahaha, they were pulling out all the stops.

Ryan had promised all the firms that he would let them know our answer early the next week. So we spent a lot of time on our anniversary get away talking about the pros and cons of each office. We really couldn't go wrong though, seeing at they are all HUGE, international, great companies. Mostly we were just trying to figure out which office was the best fit for Ryan. It was really hard not to want to go where he was the most wanted- KPMG. But the more Ryan thought it through the more he felt that he would be happier at PWC. PWC is the largest of the big 4 when you compare the companies worldwide. However, it's probably the smallest of the 3 companies in the SLC market. But with lots of praying and fasting (well, at least Ryan fasted) he decided to go with PWC. We couldn't be more thrilled. Ryan will start his internship this summer and then as long as he gets through his Masters program he will have a permanent job offer at PWC. So basically the next 5-10 years of our lives have now been planned out, kinda love that there's no more big decisions for the next little while.

Moral of the story- I'm super blessed to have such a successful and hard working husband. He's been working so hard in school to make this all possible and I know he'll continue to work like crazy so he'll have success in his future career. I'm excited to see where this road will take us.
(If you made it all the way to the end, bless you.)