My internship experience at Schneider Downs was much different than I expected.
When I started the summer before my senior year of college, I was nervous that I didn’t yet have the skill set needed to work in tax accounting. Although I’d majored in accounting and minored in finance, I had always heard that working knowledge is much different than what you learn in school. But Schneider Downs didn’t expect an intern to know everything. They trained us well and paired us with buddies to help us through all our questions, while giving us an immediate friend.
I also expected most accountants to be introverted, but the people at SD were so friendly. They never missed a chance to stop by to see how we were doing and help us learn. I have to admit I was a bit intimidated by all the managers and shareholders at first, but they all encouraged us to ask questions and genuinely wanted to help us grow. They’d also talk to us about life and what they did to get where they were today. They didn’t just care simply about what work we did, but about our lives outside the office as well. They remembered when we had something going on and would ask about it. I didn’t just feel like a number. People knew my name and cared about how I was doing.
One thing that stands out to me about the firm is the makeup of the client base. I knew going into the internship that we served primarily midsized clients, but I didn’t really know what that meant. Turns out I was going to be working with businesses I interacted with on a day-to-day basis. It made me feel like I was actually making a difference in the community I lived.
Something I didn’t expect from the internship was making so many new friends. My intern class was so fun to work with. We were all in the same boat and had similar questions and were going through the same learning curves. We’d spent so many hours together working, at lunches, or hanging out apart from work that I was so sad at the end of the summer to say goodbye to everyone. Now I’m happy to say that many of us have come back to the firm full-time and I get to see everyone again.
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