No return offer after internship - feeling like giving up
I didn’t get a full time offer after my audit internship at a big 4. It’s a smaller office, and I don’t go to school near the location, so I assume the recruiters prioritized interns attending nearby universities over my university which is in another state. I got good performance reviews and made good connections while I was there, but ultimately I was told I didn’t get an offer because there isn’t enough business demand.
There are obviously not many jobs right now because recruitment is not in full swing, and so I’m left trying not to expect the worst when there is nothing happening in the job market. I doom scroll and see everyone talk about ai and offshoring and the economy being bad and I genuinely wonder if I’ll ever be able to get a job. I’m at a top business school, I’m in grad school, I have a good gpa, and have internship experience at a big 4, but I’m starting to wonder if it doesn’t even matter.
It’s also hard not to internalize this and feel like my life has no direction or purpose if I can’t even get a job at a B4 after being at such a good school where literally everyone gets a job at a B4. I’m trying not to compare myself but I’m the only person I know at my school going through this, though I know from professors and career advisors that hiring is down quite a bit and several interns haven’t been getting offers (this year being the first time this is happening on such a large scale according to them).
Not to be dramatic but I think I might have a break down if I can’t get a job. And it’s not like working public accounting is a dream job anyways. I’m starting to fear that they’re gonna replace everything entry level with AI and I’ll just be stuck waiting tables forever with my education meaning nothing. That’s certainly how people make it sound especially on Reddit, but also people on Reddit are super pessimistic in general. If I had known an accounting degree would become useless I would’ve majored in something much more enjoyable lol