Pros
Tax Specialists have an unlimited supply of the best learning resources available at their disposal throughout the tax season and for only a $20 dollar fee, the rest of the year as well. A great feature that I utilized was the research tool that tax professionals could utilize, which incorporated the assistance of a 3rd party team who would provide 2 or more valuable sources such as court rulings, attorney or general's notices to support solutions to tax questions they would answer. The coolest part about the feature is that the research tools / assistant were all free and tax professionals could even get incentive pay if the research utilized led to the completion of a tax return.
Cons
The push to make sales goals and quotas is difficult to reach for a first year tax professional, and by being "shadowed" by a more experienced professional leaves the client that the rookie is servicing to feel as he or she is receiving sub par service. Gaining confidence from a client when someone is standing over you is nearly impossible. I remember that during my first year, I even had one professional tell where and how I should stack my clients tax documents on my desk as I worked through them, and another who made sure to tell me how high my seat be adjusted. Rookies: be ready to be pushed around and ignore it with grace or else. Also, if you should decide the bathroom is in need of some TLC, you'd better wait until someone does it first to be sure a rotation is in place rather than it being your assigned duty for the season. Trust me, this can easily and indirectly happen. No one will clean up, because they will assume and expect you to do it. After your first year, you can expect to shine your expertise upon your clients and earn their confidence. However, if you expect to enlist the assistance of a more "senior'" associate in the office, kiss your clients goodbye- you've just empowered them and hopefully not in front of your client. If not, hopefully that associate doesn't go behind your back to "follow-up" or finish your return without you. If so, that associate will more than likely not agree with anything you are trying to do, or question you as to why you have done everything you've done in front of your client. This will cause your client to lose confidence in you as well. You won't receive any retention that way. If you think you can handle the tip of the iceberg that I just wrote novel about, then go ahead and try your luck earning a bonus. It's next to impossible, and the only way you'll ever receive more than the measly little pay your getting for your efforts. My tip for the bonus though, is clock out as soon as you last client leaves, so you can rest assure that you are only on the clock during the times your are earning the company money and you will be fine. I you have down time, then you are lowering your hourly salary and you'd better be making yourself some appointments. It can be done, but it will take a cut-throat attitude or a lot of loyal friends and family to get you started off on the right foot. Good luck!