Years ago, I was invited to Thomas Jefferson School of Law by Professor and Assistant Dean William H. Byrnes to speak to his students in the Tax Program in San Diego, CA.  Professor Brynes has since moved on to Texas A&M as the Executive Professor of Law and Associate Dean for Special Projects. What you will learn is that Professor Byrnes was the first person I ever observed start long distance learning programs for university tax education. After being invited by Professor Brynes numerous times to talk to his tax law students about finding a tax job after they graduate (might I add long before any word in the media that universities were not helping their students find jobs after graduation, I am witness that he was absolutely helping his students). He invited me to visit him at the university to talk to his students on several occasions. He invited me there because he knew my training and expertise was finding tax jobs for tax professionals worldwide. My client list and connections include   https://www.taxconnections.com/search_services/clients

The first day Professor Byrnes and I met was in the old Thomas Jefferson School location in Old Town San Diego, CA  in 2007. Professor Byrnes first said, “Thanks for coming to help my tax law students find jobs!” I said, “ My apologies it has taken one year to meet with you in your office and you had to chase me to come here today”. Professor Byrnes said, “ It has taken me three years to get you to come in and talk to my tax students, not one!” We laughed and then we moved on to the business of educating his students on how to find tax jobs.

What I shall never forget was the experience that summer day in 2007 in an old dilapidated building. There I was sitting in a wobbly old chair to the right side of a scholarly, forward thinking tax law Professor sitting in front of a computer that looked like the very first “Lisa” computer that Steve Jobs built. Although it was probably not that one, it sure looked like it! The old computer had loose wires hooked up to another old computer with a video fixture added to the mix of wires and computer equipment. I sat there next to Professor Brynes and experienced my very first distance course with students from Asia, South Africa, Brazil, Europe, U.S. and some other countries. It was fascinating to observe him teaching his tax students online from multiple countries. The experience in this old building with old computers hooked together with loose wires in what appeared to look like an old scientist experiment had me thinking privately… WOW! I have never seen anything like this before. Here is a tax law Professor way ahead of everyone with his teaching ideas; he was making history yet no one really knew about the work he was doing to advance tax education at that time. He then proceeded to connect all his students from multiple worldwide time zones and they appeared before us on an old computer screens. It was a fantastic sight and I felt fortunate to observe how he was making history with technology and bringing tax students worldwide together at that moment in time. When Professor Brynes was done speaking to his class through the computer screen he moved his chair over to the left and I moved my chair in front of the screen to teach his students how to find a tax job.

The reason I tell the story about what happened that day, it is precisely at this time my mind started thinking of innovative solutions to help tax students find employment upon graduation. Tax students work very hard to obtain a great education; they are then booted from the education nest only to struggle in finding a tax job.  My mind juxtaposed what I learned consulting to  Fortune 500 companies and multinational tax clients worldwide; the challenge they faced finding and connecting with the fresh group of new tax graduates each year. Over the years, hundreds of times tax executives of major corporations asked me “Where are the tax graduates? How can we find them?  If I could find an inexperienced tax graduate I would hire them but how do I find them?” The truth is there has always been a “Connectivity Problem” between students graduating from tax university programs and corporate tax management.

If you think students can attend job faires and connect with the hiring managers of a corporate tax department to find a tax job…well, it just does not happen that way! A company’s human resources team sends nontax people out to the university job faires to recruit. Corporate tax executives are simply too busy meeting tax deadlines to attend recruiting faires on campuses. Then people may think “Well, human resources took my application.” No luck there for tax graduates or tax hiring managers either as this is where the big disconnect really occurs! What really happens is these tax resume gets delivered to what I call the big black hole in the corporate universe; it is somewhere in a vast applicant tracking system space that never understands if there is a match or not. What is a tax graduate or any tax executive to do to find each other more effectively? Connectivity is now available because TaxConnections built a solution… https://www.taxconnections.com/membership/tax-professionals .

Companies will save thousands of dollars on advertising and tax graduates can breathe a sigh of relief knowing they will be in front of tax executives looking at them. Each tax graduate is encouraged to go to their virtual tax office and upload 3 examples of their writing into their personal Tax Library. This gives employers a look into tax projects tax graduates have worked on in school. Every prospective employer wants to see how well a person can communicate effectively in writing! Examples of written reports you completed for professors as a student are extraordinarily valuable tools to utilize when you want to get hired. As a new tax graduate with no work history in tax, use all your written projects in university tax programs to promote your body of knowledge (do not place your job at the university pub on your resume as it is not experience that is relevant, until you have the experience of your first 20 hour workday to meet a tax deadline) 🙂

All your hard-won efforts in writing these reports for your professors will go along way to promote your skills to a prospective employer! TaxConnections provides a valuable online Tax Library to upload your written reports to enable corporate tax leaders to see your capabilities and find you easily on www.taxconnections.com!

My interaction with Professor Byrnes that day inspired me to find a solution to connect tax graduates and tax employers around the world.  I invite tax graduates and tax leaders to join TaxConnections and enjoy the many new innovations arising in our exciting community.

BE PART OF THE SOLUTION and JOIN TAXCONNECTIONS TODAY!

https://www.taxconnections.com/membership/tax-professionals

(SPECIAL RATE FOR TAX GRADUATES…MUST HAVE .EDU ADDRESS)

If you would like a complimentary 12 Step Course to Finding A Tax Job go to:

https://www.taxconnections.com/resource_library/job_lessons

 

Keep me posted on your stories by adding to this blog post anytime.

 

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