How To Break Into The Accounting And Consulting Industry—Before You’re Even A Junior was originally published on WayUp.
The junior-year internship is an essential
stepping stone between accounting student and fully employed accounting
professional, but getting that internship has become more competitive than
ever.
One great way to secure that offer for
yourself—and way ahead of time—is to attend a summer early-identification
session with a prestigious firm.
Here’s how an early-ID event like the Breakthrough Program at CohnReznick—a national leader in accounting, tax, and consulting and Top 10 Most Prestigious Firms list honoree—can help you get a jumpstart on your career, before you even enter your junior year.
The First Step: Secure An Invitation And Prepare For The Event
Before you can begin the process of securing
your internship, you have to secure an invitation to an early-ID event. You can
apply online through a career platform like WayUp or meet a CohnReznick
Recruiter at an on-campus career fair.
Last year, between May and July, CohnReznick
held events in Atlanta; Baltimore; Boston; Bethesda, MD; Hartford, CT; New
York; San Diego; Roseland, NJ; Long Island; Los Angeles; Chicago; and Woodland
Hills, CA—so there are plenty of options depending on where you live.
Once that’s done, you’ll need to prepare for
the event itself. So, prepare some answers for basic accounting career questions and do your
homework on the firm’s history and values.
Network With Senior Leaders, Learn About The Industry, And Get An Internship Offer
The actual Breakthrough Program event is made
up of various learning, networking, and working opportunities. You’ll hear from
senior leaders at the firm—possibly including the CEO—about the state of the
industry, lessons they wish they knew early on in their career, and the values
that make the firm what it is.
You’ll also have the opportunity to put your
skills and knowledge to work in business case scenarios and activities designed
to bring out your best qualities. These are important tests both of your
accounting acumen and your ability to work with others in a collaborative and
respectful way–a key tenet of CohnReznick’s values.
Finally, through fun networking events and
outings like baseball games, escape rooms and rooftop dinners, you’ll meet
leaders, current CohnReznick employees, and people who may become peers in the
CohnReznick internship program (or maybe just friends!).
If you listened well, worked hard, and made a
good impression throughout the two-day event, you should receive an internship
offer for the following winter or summer within a few days.
The Early-ID Advantage
Besides the obvious professional advantage of
meeting senior leaders at a firm before even starting your internship, one of
the biggest advantages of securing your offer before the school year begins is
that you’ll be free to focus on your studies and personal development.
While your peers are stressing about the
dozens of internship applications they have to submit, you’ll be squared away
and able to focus on the content of your actual accounting classes. Plus, with
some of that extra time, you can learn about and practice with accounting
technologies, like data visualization and wrangling tools. These
technologies are used in most top-tier accounting firms and are hard to get
experience with while you’re still in school.
And, of course, you can relax until it’s time to bring it at your internship. How’s that for an advantage?
Interested in getting your own head start? Apply for an invitation to a Breakthrough Program event at CohnReznick on WayUp!
The post How To Break Into The Accounting And Consulting Industry—Before You’re Even A Junior appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.
