[PHOTO LINK BELOW] Last Sunday evening at Ateres Yeshaya in Lakewood, Agudah PCS held a dinner for students and alumni of its accounting program. The purpose of the dinner was to pay tribute to the students and faculty of the program, and to encourage networking and interaction between current students and alumni. More than 250 people attended the dinner, which featured a number of informative and motivational speeches by administrators, directors and professors at the program. The overwhelming turnout and palpable enthusiasm of the participants are indicative of how successful the program has been so far.

Agudath Israel’s Professional Career Services (PCS) division started its accounting program as an extension of their core mission – to help people obtain successful, sustainable jobs. PCS has been helping members of the Lakewood community find employment for fourteen years. They have had tremendous siyata d’shmaya in their efforts, and the Lakewood office soon expects to cross a historic milestone, placing their 2,000th job, thanks in large part to the efforts of job placement counselors Rabbi Yoel Tolwinski and Mrs. Shoshana Smulowitz. Thirteen years ago PCS announced the formation of a program designed to train individuals in the highly sought-after field of accounting. Working in concert with a local college, the PCS program would award undergraduate degrees in accounting to its participants, allowing them to pursue careers in the field. After a few years, the program sought to heighten the level of education and further distinguish its graduates. They recreated the program, joining with Fairleigh Dickinson University, a highly regarded New Jersey institution, to offer a Masters program in accounting. The program was designed to accommodate the schedules of family men, and to condense the time needed to complete the degree. The appeal of the program was described by a current student, “What takes five years to achieve in another university, you can accomplish here in a year and a half [with a degree from Bais Medrash Govoha or its equivalent]. They are handing it to you on a silver platter.” FDU Professor Robert DeFilippis described the program, “[It] combines excellent students with a solid curriculum, taught by a dedicated, highly effective faculty, which has attained outstanding results.”

Even before joining the program, the knowledge of its availability was an important factor for many. As one attendee remarked, “Just knowing that PCS was there waiting for me when I would have to go make a parnassa reassured me greatly during the important and meaningful years I was sitting and learning in Kollel.”

Since its inception, the program has enjoyed enormous success. The overwhelming majority of the program’s graduates are now employed by businesses in every sector, including some in the leading accounting firms. In Professor DeFilippis’s remarks he reported that the students have performed remarkably well on the CPA exam, with many students receiving some of the highest scores in the United States. Rabbi Gedaliah Weinberger, Chairman of the Board, followed with a status update on the program, describing its phenomenal success. He detailed the high percentage of graduates who have obtained jobs with their degrees, achieving a higher employment rate than most universities. He spoke of employers who were amazed at the level of knowledge of graduates of the program, and illustrated this with a story: “I received an email last week that told me that [a prestigious accounting firm] interviewed 200 people for 12 jobs. Out of the 12 that they hired, three were from PCS. That is truly an amazing statistic.”

PCS Director Daniel Soloff expressed deep pride in the extraordinary success of the program. “If you had told me…when I took on the responsibility of being the Director of PCS that I would be standing here tonight paying tribute to 250 students and alumni…I never would have imagined it in my wildest dreams.”

The main purpose of the dinner was to increase the interaction between current students and employed alumni. Rabbi Weinberger explained the importance of establishing these connections. The efforts of PCS can only go so far, he explained, and at that point the relationships formed between students and alumni can make all the difference. Many of the currently employed graduates of the program owe their jobs to other people who exerted great energy to help them, and they now bear a responsibility to try to do the same for other students. “If you find out about any accounting openings – or any kind of job opening – call PCS. It’s that simple. There is no greater chesed that you can do than helping someone find a parnassa.”

Current student and class president Chaim Cohen described the value of student-alumni networks even for employed graduates: “These days you never know how safe your job is. You need to keep up an active network so you can have somewhere to turn.”

To further this goal of heightened networking, Rabbi Weinberger announced the formation of a mentoring program for students. In his words, “The program is designed to help new students through the education process and help them find a job. Each incoming student will be matched with a mentor, one of our graduates who is already employed. He will act as a ‘big brother’ throughout the student’s career, from when he enters the program, during the education process, through the interview phase, until the student secures his first job, and to guide him adapting to the secular marketplace. This is also part of the edge we need to get everyone employed.”

Rabbi Weinberger also expressed the immense debt of gratitude PCS owed to Executive Board members R’ Shmuel Lefkowitz and R’ Yossi Feldman, whose dedication and involvement are integral to the success of the program, and to Dr. Jonathan Schiff, a professor at FDU , who worked tirelessly and dedicatedly to arrange the program.

The evening was a great success, a fine testament to the enthusiastic students and alumni, the skilled and dedicated faculty, and to the program as a whole, whose extraordinary accomplishments will surely continue for many years to come.

If you know of a quality job please contact:

PCS NY:
718-436-1900 x15
[email protected]

PCS Lakewood:
732-905-9700 x 200
[email protected]

YWN PHOTO LINK: Click on the following link to see photos taken at the event http://www.theyeshivaworld.com/photos.php?albumid=5428545674201663745

(YWN Desk – NYC)