"It's the Most Wonderful Time, of the Year..." by Staff Accountant, Rachael Creger

I bet you sang the title, didn’t you? No… I’m not talking about Christmas (116 days away – but who’s counting?) I’m talking about the real “Most Wonderful Time of the Year” – internship recruiting season! And it is finally upon us!

Today kicks off Recruiting Season, and all of us at Monroe Shine could not be more excited! This is one of my favorite times of the year; I love getting to visit schools (especially UofL) and helping Mallary with recruiting. I can’t believe that is was 3 years ago that I met Mallary & Butch at the UofL Accounting Social, and this afternoon I’ll be attending that same event alongside them!

A close second to Recruiting Season, is Tax Season… A lot of people outside of our field think that public accountants are just so busy during Tax Season, and then sit around doing nothing the rest of the year… And I’ll be honest, up until a few years ago – that was kind of my impression too. It wasn’t until I started talking to more accountants and learning more about their careers that I really began to see the bigger picture.

When we’re not running around like chickens with our heads cut off on April 14^th, we’re still really busy! The rest of the year is filled with audits, internal control assessments, and returns that were on extension; as well as fun little things like bookkeeping, and payroll or sales tax returns. Although no matter what the rest of the year holds – I still love tax season… :)

Something about the longer to-do lists, and the extra hustle in everything really makes me thrive. Knowing that after I finish my current task, I’ve got a bunch more to do, makes me work a bit harder. I think everyone in the firm thrives off the organized chaos – there is so much going on, and everyone is working on such a variety of things, but somehow at the end of the day (or end of tax season) we all make it work.

My two tax seasons with Monroe Shine have been two completely different experiences; neither one was better than the other. I think both really helped me grow as an accountant and as a person. During my first tax season, I was working a nice 40 hour week (we don’t like to overload our interns), and I wasn’t taking any classes. I was a junior at UofL, and quit my old part-time job so I could really focus on my internship. This first tax season internship was for school credit through UofL – which is something that you should definitely explore taking advantage of when you’re getting ready to do your internship! I remember feeling super clueless at first, but eventually figuring a lot out and gaining so much knowledge along the way.

My second tax season was a completely different beast. I was taking 15 credit hours, spread between online classes, an 8 a.m. and some night classes. In the beginning of the semester I was working about 35 hours around my school schedule. But after the March 15^th deadline rolled around and we all started to focus on our big April 18^th deadline, (it was a Monday this year – so weird), then my schedule ramped up to about 45 hours a week. Juggling school and a full-time internship was very difficult at times, there were many mornings when making it to my 8 am class was difficult because I was up late studying after my night class. And there were so many afternoons where I would’ve rather stayed at the office then gone back to campus for class… But somehow I survived, tax season was conquered – and my LAST SEMESTER of school was complete!

However you decide to juggle school and interning, is up to you… But my best advice would be that for your first internship, keep your course load as light as possible. Take as few classes as possible and maybe try an online class so you have some more flexibility in your schedule. We have had part-time interns before, so if you really want to intern but can’t take a semester off (like I did) or take a lighter course schedule, a lot of firms are willing to work around that! And then maybe if you do a second tax season internship like I did, you’ll better be able to assess whether or not you can handle a schedule like that. Every student/intern is unique, and at the end of the day – your future employer wants what’s best for their interns!

"If i knew then what i know now." by Staff Accountant, Rachael Creger

Thanks for tuning back in for my second post of this year’s series. Sadly, I haven’t been able to think of a witty title like last year’s Declassified Internship Recruiting Guide...  but then again, I don’t think anything could top last year’s posts.

 

This year I’ve decided to take a bit more of a focus on the post-recruiting life. I’ve been with Monroe Shine now for about 20 months. I started in January 2015 as a tax season intern, continued through the summer and fall as a part-time intern, and then a second tax season as an intern. I’ve been lucky enough to have the opportunity to continue my career with Monroe Shine as a Staff Accountant. It has been a bit of a change but all great ones!

 

One thing that has been so different from one tax season to the next is developing confidence in my knowledge and skills. This is something that I know will just continue to grow with time, and is something I know you all will attain one day. I remember my first tax season feeling so clueless and asking so many questions. Even by the end of tax season, I felt like I had learned a lot, but I didn’t really grasp just how much information I had actually learned.

 

It wasn’t until my second tax season rolled around that I realized I actually knew some stuff... In January we got two new tax season interns in the Louisville office, and just like I was a year earlier, they had many questions. Most days, I would answer a question and think to myself “how did I know that?” or “where did that come from?”

 

This has been one of my favorite things about gaining so much knowledge and experience in my short time with Monroe Shine. I think that interning can be so beneficial not only as a learning experience, but as a great way to get your foot into the door with a company you see yourself having a potential future with.  Even months after tax season has ended, I still continue to surprise myself with the knowledge I have gained.  What I know now, has barely scratched the surface of what I will learn in a lifetime in this profession; I’ve probably learned a tenth of a percent in the last 15 months, of what I’ll learn in the next 40 years – and I’m so excited for this journey.

"Is it really recruiting season, again?" by Staff Accountant, Rachael Creger

Wow! Time really does fly when you’re having fun. I cannot believe that another recruiting season is upon us, and in a just few short months it will be another tax season with more new faces! This fall will be my fourth recruitment season, but only my second on this side of the fence. I had so much fun writing last year’s Declassified Internship Recruiting Survival Guide, and was so excited to be asked to write another series of blog posts again this year.

 A year ago, I was just starting my senior year at the University of Louisville and was so excited to be continuing to intern with Monroe Shine. Way back in the fall of 2013, I met Butch and Mallary at UofL’s Accounting Social, and now – for the second year – I get to attend this amazing event alongside them.

A lot has changed in the last year, for both myself and for Monroe Shine. This past tax season was my second, and it was a completely different experience (more on that in a later post)... In May, I graduated from UofL with my Bachelor’s of Science in Business Administration, and began my career as a Staff Accountant with Monroe Shine. And just a few short weeks later, we moved to our new beautiful office located at 500 N. Hurstbourne Parkway. It was a stressful few days leading up to the move, but we all love this new space so much. And our cubicle area for staff and interns has more than doubled in size!
 

As I mentioned earlier, I am so excited to get to write more blog posts. Be sure to check out last year’s series by clicking on 2015 over on the right-hand side. Last year my focus was on giving the inside scoop and good advice based on my experience, this year’s focus is leaning more towards my personal experience at Monroe Shine and the wonderful transition from intern to full-time staff that I know each and every one of you will get to make someday soon! Stay tuned, and I can’t wait to meet all of y’all at various recruiting events this year!