Bobby Bollinger
Accounting – Geneva College
Coming in for the first day of my internship was bittersweet. I was excited to start my journey into my accounting career and to live and work in Pittsburgh, but I was also extremely nervous because I had no idea what to expect. The nerves quickly went away after meeting the staff at GYF. Everyone here is very friendly, welcoming, and fun to work with. It is a very family-like atmosphere and it made the experience that much better!
Internships here at GYF differ from the typical idea of an internship. Normally an interns job description is perceived to be printing and scanning documents, getting coffee, and other sorts of busy work but as an intern at GYF you are treated the same as a first year full time staff member would be treated. You are able to go out on engagements with clients and be involved in detailed accounting work. Learning this at the start of my internship was intimidating. Fortunately the staff here understands that you aren’t going to know what you are doing, so they go into extensive detail on how everything works until you are able to complete the work on your own.
I could not have had a better experience. My GYF internship went above and beyond my expectations, and I couldn’t be more excited to start my career when I graduate.
Getting an internship is extremely important and beneficial in many ways. First, it gets your foot in the door of a company in your field, which can be huge for networking and could even land you a full time job by the end of your time as an intern. Also, it gives you experience that you can’t get from studying or going to class. Being able to work in the professional world even before graduation will give you an edge on someone who didn’t have that experience and it also lets you see exactly what the day in the life of an accountant is like.
I firmly believe that GYF has prepared me well for the public accounting world, and it will be awesome to see where my career path takes me. With this internship under my belt I am confident that public accounting is what I want to do.
Read Bobby’s article, A College Student’s Guide to Becoming an Accountant
