"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.