Emily Stein
Accounting & Business Management – Grove City College
When I first decided to go into accounting, I wanted nothing more than to work at a big firm. However, I quickly began to sing a different tune, and I started to expand my internship search as I headed into my sophomore and junior years.
Soon after deciding to pursue more options, I found GYF. I visited their table at Grove City’s Career Fair, and immediately knew this firm was a place I wanted to work. I was welcomed by three people who told me about the firm and their internship process. But, what surprised me most about that interaction was how it ended: with directions for where to find other accounting firms at the Career Fair. I never anticipated that a firm would acknowledge there might be other options for me, let alone help me find them.
That interaction was just a taste of what my internship would be like this summer at GYF. In everything I did, I was given detailed instructions about how a process or project worked, and how to perform the task that was asked of me. But, that was not the only guidance provided by the professionals working with me at the firm. I was given insight, wisdom and advice on the many choices I will be making over the next few years.
Every day, I felt that I not only learned about the technical side of accounting,
but I also learned about what my future might hold, and what options I had to pursue.
There is no doubt that everyone at GYF was concerned about the quality of the work that I was performing. The work done at this firm is truly excellent, and that is evident the minute you walk in the door. But beyond the end work product, everyone was equally as concerned about me learning from my internship experience, and deciding if the path I am going down is right for me.
Countless professionals told me about their experiences when they were my age – how they succeeded and how they failed, and what they wished they would have known then. Staff, seniors, managers and partners all took time to talk with me and share their wisdom. I was never treated like just an intern, but like a valued individual and member of a bigger team. No one ever looked down on me, but rather, they treated me as someone they could help to succeed.
So that’s my advice for other students evaluating accounting firms where they might take an internship or permanent job. Is the firm only going to teach you the technical skills, or will they help you navigate the rocky waters that we are traveling at this stage in our lives? Are they going to treat you as a team member, or just another worker coming through the door?
I met countless intelligent, kind, wise and genuine people in my time here, and they helped me learn things I never thought I would learn at an internship. I couldn’t be happier I stumbled upon that GYF table one day at the career fair and never looked back.
