Tai Ho Lee came to the United States from Seoul, South Korea in 2002, determined to learn English through an ESL program. Two years later, he entered CSU Dominguez Hills with similar determination to graduate, land a job with a Big Four accounting firm, and better campus’ Accounting Society along the way.

Tai (pronounced “tay”) achieved all of that within the last few months. He graduated in May with a 3.8 in-major grade-point average and received a job offer from Ernst and Young, where he will start next month in the audit department. As president of the Accounting Society, he also led the organization to some unprecedented achievements that will pave the way for the Big Four to look at CSUDH accounting students with newfound respect.

He began by contacting all of the firms, requesting recruiters come speak at Accounting Society meetings and continuing to follow up when he did not hear back from them. Essentially, he began recruiting the recruiters. Then, he contacted the presidents of other accounting organizations at nearby universities and asked if he could attend their “Meet the Firms” events. Once there, he surprised the representatives by introducing himself and asking them to come to CSUDH. That led both Ernst and Young and KPMG to send representatives to campus. Lee then was able to secure an office tour for the Accounting Society members at KPMG. Lee saw this final event as his crowning moment since office visits are usually reserved for the most prestigious groups. It was the first office visit for CSUDH at a Big Four firm.

“The big companies know UCLA and USC, but they don’t know CSUDH as well so we haven’t been included in things like office visits. But we saw networking as one of the biggest components of the Accounting Society, so we worked really hard to be included,” said Lee. “I hope our success last year will lead to bigger and better things for the Accounting Society this coming year and well into the future.”

Undoubtedly, the representatives from Ernst & Young were impressed by Lee’s determination, offering him a full-time position before graduation in May. It’s a determination he exhibited by learning English and then completing his degree on his own, and one that he expects to continue in his new position with the goal of making partner in the firm.