Internship Week: Your Roadmap to a Public Accounting Internship featuring CBIZ

0:04All right, fantastic. Well, welcome everyone and thank you so much for joining us today. My name is Ezra and I am with the career and professional development team here at WGU and today's session is part of WGU's internship week. Um, and frankly, it's one of my favorite times. Um, but it is a series that we've designed to help um, our students explore internship opportunities, hear directly from employers like you will today, and gain insights that can really help you navigate the search process with confidence. And I'm really grateful to have Carly here with us from CBiz, who's going to talk to us about navigating the public accounting internship process. Uh,

0:44before we dive in, just a couple of quick notes. Um, please stay muted during the session just so we can keep the audio clear for everyone. Um, feel free to use the chat throughout the session. If a question comes to mind, feel free to pop it in there. I'm going to monitor that chat and we'll have some time for Q&A at the end. And as I mentioned, the session's being recorded. Um, so we'll be able to share that recording out if you ever want to go back to any parts of the presentation. Um, and like I said, this is one of many sessions that we'll have um, this week. I'm

1:15going to drop the link to our website. Um, if you are curious, if this is your first internship week session, but you want to explore more, uh, you can do that and check out what else is coming up. So, I think with all of that out of the way, I'm going to hand it over to you, Carly, to get us going. All right, great. And then just to confirm, can everyone see the slide that I am sharing? Get a thumbs up. Fantastic. Well, hi everyone and welcome to the session kind of focused on internships and specifically breaking into public accounting. So, your guide through

1:48campus recruiting. To start it off, I thought I'd introduce myself. So, my name is Kari Azar. I am one of the campus recruiters here at CBiz. I am working from home this morning, but I actually am based out of our Indianapolis office. Uh, so I have worked here for going on nine years next month and I have done the same thing for those nine years. So definitely have some experience recruiting the best of the best. I certainly hope I recruit specifically for our Illinois, Michigan, and Indiana locations. But as I will show you here coming up, CBiz has several different locations throughout the US. So, some quick facts about us because who doesn't like to brag about the place

2:32you work at? We are the seventh largest accounting firm here in the US and we really prioritize serving the middle market. What that can mean for you is that it is our goal to provide you uh more experience and exposure to a variety of different types of industries. Uh instead of maybe being pigeonholed into something super specific at the start um or you know when you work on such large clients it can limit what you can do for them uh because the team's so large. But here at CBiz, we really try to balance that as something else that's very unique to us. If you feel like

3:11investing in the stock market, well, you can find us there. Um, so we are publicly traded, which is pretty unique for a public accounting firm. So, just a little added, you know, benefit. You can profit even more off of the place that you're working from. But going into a little bit more so of where we're located, that does visually show you where our major markets are, but we have over a hundred and I think 140 locations throughout the US. So we have several different spots. I saw where a lot of you are from and we have a lot of offices in those different locations. Um, but just

3:49something to keep in mind, we do not necessarily hire new associates in every location. So, campus recruiting has specific goals for specific offices at times, but you will always know that because it's posted online. And I always say the online website, careers, that's Bible, right? You're going to find the info you need in there. And you know that that's your accurate information in case you're wondering. We try to keep that up to date as much as we can. But as far as what we do, we have several different service lines. So obviously we're focusing today more so on the accounting side, but here at CBiz, we do beyond just accounting. We also have a benefits and insurance

4:32team as well as a technology group that's growing. I will say about 80% of our work is centered and focused around our financial service sector. So that's going to be that accounting um or audit rather tax and advisory. So that's where we're seeing a majority of the hiring right now. Um but we do have some hires for our BNI as well as our technology team that continues to grow. I will

5:03now click off of our commercial. Uh so let's get into what we are going to discuss today. So we're going to chat a little bit about what the recruiting timeline can kind of look like. You know, how do we post and fill internships? You know, the importance of those internships, how can you stand out in your profile? And then we'll discuss, you know, how does networking, interviews, offers, how does that all play a role in your potential positions? Please keep in mind that while the information I'm sharing can be seiz specific, I have a lot of friends uh that are my competitors because you got to keep your friends close and your competitors closer. So, I do know

5:40that several other public accounting firms kind of follow the same rule of thumb uh that we're going to discuss today. So, I'll try to just give you some general tips and tricks as well. Um because I'm sharing so got screens going on. I won't be able to necessarily see the chat. Um but if I do see a question pop up, I will try to answer it while I'm talking. If not, uh feel free.

6:04Someone can interrupt me. That is absolutely okay. Or we can wait till the end. I am good either way. But feel free to me if you would like. So kind of starting off the recruiting timeline. This is what I really see I get the most questions on from candidates is when should I have been looking for this internship or you might find yourself maybe you attend a ver let's say it's a virtual career fair right or maybe you go to an inerson career or some event and you're looking for a position you say oh my gosh how is that already filled it's for this it's months from now well in accounting

6:41unfortunately we recruit years from now and um I would be happy to say that that's changing, but we will see. A little a little birdie told me KPMG is going to start having a tighter recruiting timeline, which might push their competitors to do the same. But that being said, there's got to have a lot of dominoes need to fall for that to be successful. So fingers crossed that this timeline becomes a little shorter and not so far out. But we will see. For now though, kind of some good rules of thumb kind of freshman year or at the start, right? early on, what can you be doing if you are just now getting involved in public accounting? So, obviously, you're going

7:23to focus on your grades, right? You're exploring accounting as your major if you have not yet already declared joining different clubs or associations, right? So, um, if there are any ways that you can try to have those extra touch points with organizations that provide you opportunities to get in front of different companies outside of maybe just the classic typical quote unquote career fair, right? So, get involved really early is very important. attending events early on, whether that's in person or virtual. Um, you want to attend as soon as possible, even if you're not looking for anything at the start. So, even if it's just simply, you know, I I want to put my

8:08name out there. I'm not qualified to look for something. When it's your first year in school, we will not interview you. I do not deem you as qualified to tell me you even know you want to study accounting. You've taken no accounting courses, right? Um, so typically at that freshman level, we're not hosting interviews, but that's your opportunity to explore summer leadership programs. A lot of different companies offer uh summer programs or we call them um I don't know why I just blanked on what it is. It's like a pipeline event. So, what we're trying to do is provide you an opportunity to get to know us. We'd like to get to know you without there there

8:49being this pressure of we're going to interview you. Keep in mind, everything's an interview all the time. You are always being interviewed. Every interaction. Okay. So, getting into that second year or that sophomore year, this is where you might start filling out some applications. This is where we typically see the majority of our candidates beginning to interview for potential internships. Now discussing public accounting internships. I know that a lot of times with

9:19our schedule, everyone wants summer. Candidates want summer and zero companies truly want summer. Every recruiter I talked to, if we could eliminate summer internship programs, we would. Why is that? Because the work is just not as heavy during the summer. which means for you as well that you might be getting an experience that's not super realistic to what you would be doing as an associate. So, I challenge all of you to continue to look at your schedule and ask yourself, can I

9:50make my schedule work to do a spring internship? That's between January to about midappril. That's busy season, right? Tax on the tax side specifically, but audit audit also has their peak seasons as well, right? You are going to find so many more opportunities available to you in the spring than you will in the summer. Summer internships are great though. Okay, here's what I mean by that. If you can't get a spring, well then get a summer. Don't feel like Carly said, "Summer isn't as good. I'll just do nothing." No, absolutely not. Right? But what I'm telling you is put an emphasis on if you can make it work. The spring will best prepare you to know if you're

10:33cut out for public accounting and there will be more opportunities for you. that sophomore year, second year is when you might be interviewing for internships that following year or even two years out. So, for instance, I will go on campus this year. I will meet someone who says, "Hey, I'm a sophomore, Carly." I'll go, "Awesome. Are you interested in a spring internship in 2028?" That's far out, right? That's a long time. But once again, unless our buddies over there at KPMG make it a little shorter, I'm not bringing a knife to a gunfight, right? I got to be competitive, too. Um, but we find that is when we deem you as starting to be qualified to look for those internships. And

11:17that's why sometimes when you're reaching out to companies and you're saying, "Why are they already filled?" Those were filled a season ago, maybe even a year ago. So do not, I cannot emphasize enough, do not expect that in the spring, so between the months of ju January through May, that you will find a summer internship available for you to start in June. Those spots are long gone. They are filled. Um, honestly, they're probably filled the spring prior. So this is why you need to be really proactive in your approach. Um, every once in a while, you know, new positions open maybe in the fall for that uh for that summer, but just kind of emphasizing you got

12:00to look ahead. So, in that junior year, your third year, this is where you might be completing one of your internships. Sometimes it's nice to complete it in your third year because you've at least gone through some of those core accounting courses, intermediate, managerial, and that's where you feel best prepared to be successful within your internship. But in your junior year, if you felt you didn't interview then your sophomore year, this is when you're looking for those internship opportunities for your senior year then. Um, so we do have students who complete internships with us the same year that they plan to graduate. Here's all I will say to you. Internships definitely make

12:43you more competitive because your hope is that you get an offer from an internship, right? You at least hope that they make you an offer as a senior. Keep in mind though, doing an internship does not guarantee that you get an offer. So just be prepared. If you have to continue to apply, I emphasize, do not accept an offer with another firm and then intern somewhere else after and not tell that company about it. That's just my little TED talk to you. We hate that. It's like playing dirty. It's wasting everyone's time, right? Here's how I would do it. Let's say you have multiple internships. Here's what I would ask you to do. I would ask you to tell that other

13:29company you'd like an offer extension. The worst thing you can do for your reputation is to reneg on an offer. I absolutely understand that your priority is yourself as it should be. Your priority should also be the reputation you keep among firms because like I mentioned I had a lot of friends. I text my friends at Forvis at Crow at local competitors. I say hey I saw this candidate interned at your place. tell me what's going on and we and we share details. So, just be mindful of it. Is better to say, "Can I let you know later?" and ask for an extension and be upfront with everyone than try to play the behind the scenes game and then you get yourself in an

14:11awkward position and you might burn a bridge that you might need to cross over at a later point. So, if you are continuing to interview for other positions and full-time roles, tell them that you need an extension to see if your current internship will end with an offer itself, right? And that way, you as a candidate can choose the best path for you with all of the knowledge

14:34in front of you. So, then starting that year one, that's when you would start as a staff associate. The goal for all of you, now I saw we are from a lot of different areas. The credit hours required for you to have your CPA have changed in several different states. Do your research. Be part of your CPA society. If you are not plugged in with your local CPA society, you are doing yourself

15:03a major disservice. That CPA society is going to keep you up to date with laws that are changing. They have contacts with different companies. They might even host events, right? You should try to get linked up to them. Um, so our goal is that you are passing your CPA exam. Honestly, before you start would be great. So spend that last summer between senior year and starting or those few months to try to pass some of those or pass it within your first year. One, none of you want to be balancing studying again and full-time work. Many of you might be doing that now, right? You might be in school and you're working full-time. How's that going? Right? It's probably

15:45not ideal, but you're doing it. But aren't you trying to do that so that you never have to do that again? Right? So, let's start studying early. Set yourself up for success. And most, if not all, firms have a bonus for you passing. And the highest amount of that bonus is usually within that first year that it's an even higher tiered bonus. Um, so would it be extremely difficult for graduates with no internship experience to land a job after school? Uh, no. Would it be extremely difficult? I wouldn't say extremely. Is it more challenging? Potentially. But it's all, and as we'll go into here later on, it's all about how you tell the story, right? Why were we

16:28unable to have an internship? Well, I was working part-time and putting myself through school. Well, that's experience in itself, right? And we'll get to that. So, good question. going on to kind of how firms post and fill positions. So typically we are hiring a year ahead of that start date as I mentioned even two years in advance oftent times. So I know that the link to CBiz careers was posted in the chat. If you look right now at our postings you might say well Carly you're talking a lot about opportunities and I don't see any. Well that's because we're not posting those yet. We're not in a position to host interviews for campus recruiting. Our season really starts end of August

17:12and then then we're off, right? With the majority of hiring usually taking place in the month of September. So, best practice, put it on your calendar. August 20th, August 25th, August 30th, start looking up all of those different companies to see what jobs are being posted. Applications, they're reviewed on a rolling basis. That just means that some companies like mine for instance, I don't wait for a specific date to look at applications when I'm in season. So in season meaning like September, let's say. Sometimes I'm reviewing applications like every other day just to try to keep up with the influx of candidates. So apply early. It is beneficial for you to do

17:58so. We'll get back to you. Um, if however you're like, "Man, I applied two weeks ago and I haven't heard back." There might be reasons for that. Um, I can promise you at CBiz, we're not going to ghost you. If we have ghosted you, then something in our system has gone wrong that you did not get the email. Um, because I promise that that is we are not in the business of not getting back to our candidates. And even if we can't give you a decision quick, we try our best to communicate with you that we do not have um a decision made or can move to the next steps. Like we talked about,

18:36internship slots can close, you know, a lot earlier than what the deadline might say online. So online, we might say, "Hey, we're going to leave this position open until X date." We might close that position if we find stellar candidates and we feel we had such a high increase of applicants that we have to shut the application down because we need to review it, right? It gets overwhelming. I don't need 500 applicants for two interns. The math doesn't make sense. So, at some point, a recruiter might say, "Hey, I got to shut this requisition down. We already have enough applicants to go through." That's why have a sense of urgency in applying to make sure you don't miss

19:17out on an opportunity because of timing. Things move really fast within public accounting. So, how does the pipeline work overall? Well, firms recruit interns to fill future full-time associate seats. I don't want this to be scary. If you are like, man, I do not have an internship. I can't do an internship, so I'm not going to find a job. But it's also my job to be informative and to say that companies have preference to interns. I reserve full-time spots in anticipation of filling them with our interns. When I then see that we either can't fill with our interns because the math doesn't work out and I might know that in advance or maybe our interns didn't do a good job. Um,

20:05right? Or maybe something doesn't work out. Then I might open up roles. So you might see new roles that get posted in April because April is when our interns are gone and maybe we had declines or we didn't fill it and we say okay well we need to find someone now and it can be before you graduate or in May. So those positions do open. Uh we also it just depends on the number of candidates that we're looking for. You know if I need to fill 15 associates I only have 10 interns coming. Well, then I can I know, right? I know for sure I need five more and then I'll recruit for that

20:38in advance. But that's just shows the importance of internships. It's getting your foot in the door for an extended interview and you will have preferential treatment that if you do a great job, they want to give you an offer if they have one available. That's why we try not to overhire just off campus. So then our interns are sitting there and they don't have anything. um stand out as a candidate but hasn't had many opportunities to connect with a recruiter in person. I think I will get to that um during later portions of our presentation. Um so kind of going into right standing out as well being part of those early identification programs. So, even

21:19if you're not looking for a position right now, um you can look online. There are so many companies. It's not that I want to give any other companies an advertisement, but hey, I play fair. Um Crow Crow just posted that they're doing webinars. Ciz, we do webinars. We post these things on LinkedIn. We're providing you opportunities. So, if you said, "Hey, I haven't been able to get in front of a recruiter." If you attend those webinars and online events, who do you think's in the list of the attendees? Present. That's me, right? And so then all of a sudden I'm like, oh, Joe from Massachusetts is interested in a position in Chicago. Well, I never would have met Joe,

22:00but Joe showed up to one of these webinars and he filled out the entire um opportunity on what he's looking for because you kind of have to register for those events. So follow companies on LinkedIn. do your due diligence, do some stalking, and follow their recruiters. Their recruiters will post opportunities as well. Um, attend those info sessions, like we mentioned, career fairs, all of those types of events. That's what really feeds um the pipeline. But once again, there are plenty of larger companies that aren't present on every single campus anyways and that

22:36they do host several things online to be able to host opportunities that have a national reach. And then once again, strong interns often convert to full-time roles. It's never a guarantee. Every year looks different. hiring numbers can look different, but that's all to say that you have a better opportunity if you are an intern and you do a great job. Moving on, kind of building your profile. So, you know, this is talking about meet the firms, but you can view this as, you know, even before you're applying, right? So, on paper, what do you need to have? U GPA GPA requirements, I'd say a majority require a 3.0. Some require a 3.2. Um, but 3.0 is usually a standard target for

23:27your GPA. I encourage you put that on your resume. If it is not on your resume, we think you are hiding your GPA. Um, and we think you are hiding it because it's bad and we will ask you. It's part of what we have to know during our process. Um, so putting information like, hey, it's a 3.0, I know it's a 3-1 on your resume. Makes it easier for us recruiters to go through your application and already view you eligible to move on to that next that next step. For a WGU that does not score with a GPA, I would explain that within your resume. So, I would try to make a note of that on your

24:06resume. Um, that way the recruiter understands. Um, perfect. There we go. 3.0. We answered our own question. Um, just awesome. Thanks, Bethany. We're so so like you can, so I'm not going to go into it further. Um, but just don't be surprised. A recruiter will always ask. Uh, so be ready to have that story if you if you have a situation. Um, or you're getting your masters, etc. Different things. Just be ready to kind of talk through what those grades are. All right. Um,

24:38taking those intermediate. How do you I have a finance 2020, but I want to go back. two degrees. Um, yeah, that's awesome. Definitely go back for another degree to be CPA eligible and make sure that it's in accounting. A lot of positions require you if you don't have your undergrad in accounting, then your master's needs to be in accounting. So, just make sure you understand that you can put your overall GPA from your bachelor's, but if it's been years, right, there's a big difference. You can just put your master's program. I know not all programs like

25:10you have really a GPA for that. We understand. I'm just letting you know if you can put a GPA. It just eliminates a step for us having to check in, but we understand it's different if you're within a second degree or master's program. Okay. Planning for the 150 credit hours. I will say that if your state requires you to have 150 credit hours to be eligible for the CPA exam, anticipate that companies 100% want you to have 150 credit hours probably before you start with them. Why is that? Once again, how many things are we going to balance? Going to school, full-time job, and then

25:57we also need to study for the CPA exam. Now we're adding another level and something's got to give. And I can promise you any company you work for, I don't care how you're doing in that class. If you're like, Carly, I have homework. Well, the client needs you and we're paying you now. Okay? So that's why a lot of times we want to hire you after you've completed those courses. That being said, sometimes with different M's programs, you're like, "Hey, it's online or it's one class a week." Those are open to discussions, right? But we're we're trying to do this for you. I promise it's in your best interest to not have to balance several things. Something has to give. Okay. Um,

26:35so let's kind of move on. Beyond the resume, I see a lot of good questions coming in. I will pop those open here at the end. Um, because I think there's too many for me to try to read and keep going. So beyond the resume, take on leadership roles if you can, whether that's in clubs or associations or leadership roles within your current and place of employment or kind of being able to show that journey of having more leadership roles. I know we talked about on your resume, what if I don't have internships? Do you have part-time jobs? Volunteer work. If you don't, go do something. Go get out. Make it a goal of yours. Go volunteer. I'm I'm kind of one of those

27:10people that if I didn't post it on LinkedIn, did I even do it? If you didn't put it on your resume, did you even do it? No. So, go out and do some stuff, right? Make it a goal of yours. Say, I'm gonna have a power week. I'm going to go volunteer here, right? Um, whatever you can do. You can explain anything on your resume to a position. For instance, I once had a candidate explain to me how them working at Subway would make them a great accountant. Now, I can tell you, I don't quite remember what they said. I remember I was hungry. Um, but I was bought in. I was like,

27:41"Wow, this candidate was ready to talk about that." I never would have thought you could connected those. But I walked away from that interview and for years now I continue to use that as an example. You can make anything show you have transferable skills. Sharpen those communication skills. Show genuine interest. That means asking questions. It's really important to be inquisitive, to have great follow-up skills. Stay active on LinkedIn. I know that LinkedIn sometimes is divisive. I have plenty of people who say, "Oh, I don't want to [clears throat] be on LinkedIn. I hate that." Well, tough. It's just something that you have to do if you want to stay

28:19competitive. Uh, not having a LinkedIn to me seems really weird and really odd as a candidate who's looking for a job. So, if you have one though, please be active. What does that mean? Just like things, right? You can comment on some posts. Um, have a headsh shot. If you don't have a picture, I'd rather you not have a LinkedIn, honestly. um you need a full profile there, right? But that is an online version of your resume. It helps you. So I want to give you tips on how you can stand out, right? Engage. You get you get more information sometimes on companies LinkedIn than you can on

28:53their website. That's where you get up-to-date news articles as well. Get in front of recruiters. So for instance, how do you get in front of recruiters if maybe you can't attend an in-person event? Attend those virtual events. We usually get your information after and that might be a good way that opens the door for us to be able to maybe host a brief chat. Um, now I I know that some of us love to reach out on LinkedIn. I think that's great. I mean, I'm not I'm never going to tell you to not reach out to a recruiter on LinkedIn. However, be mindful that the way we

29:26really want to communicate with you is via email. Um, I look on my LinkedIn, but I also get a lot of spam just like you do as well. And recruiters want to make sure you are qualified before we have that conversation, right? So, we're don't be upset if the first thing you're saying is like, "Hey, I'd love to have a coffee chat with you." I'm gonna be like, "Oh, let's hold our horses. Can I have your resume? What are you looking for?" I might not even be the right person. And and I don't want to waste your time either, right? It's not just about my about your time. So, have qualified information

29:57before you before you jump the gun. let's get to know each other a little bit more and then see if it makes sense to further that conversation. Research firms before you attend any events um or have any discussions with them. Have a confident introduction. So that's that elevator pitch. Super easy to come up with an elevator pitch for sure. Ask thoughtful questions when you are engaging with a recruiter during an interview as we'll say. And send a thank you note and connect online. So after you meet them is always a great opportunity. Connect them on LinkedIn. You can send a little note and say, "Hey, great meeting you at such and such event or enjoyed your presentation online at,

30:34you know, on X, Y, and Z topic. Look forward to discussing more inside the interview process. What can you anticipate? Behavioral interviews, technical interviews for sure. Please be prepared for those behavioral questions. They are coming at you. I know we love and hate them. So, what can help you prepare for those?" Have a few stories kind of in your mind, a few scenarios. Think of like basic questions we'll probably ask, right? Tell me about a time that you faced a challenge and how did you overcome it? Tell me about a time that you received negative feedback. How did you take it and what did you do? Right? So, make sure that you have a few different

31:14stories to tell. Uh sometimes we can get a little burnt out when you're saying the same, you know, sometimes we have sport um students who might play a sport and everything goes back to them and the football team. And hey, that's great. Those make for great stories, but we want to see that you

31:28have a few other scenarios to pull from. So, just try to think through some of those in advance. Try to emphasize throughout your comments that teamwork, leadership, um, and and once again, you're trying to show genuine interest in the position. So, tie it back to what the description in the position says. What are the skills that they're looking for? Highlight those in every qu every answer. though we might not ask you how did you display leadership. Your answer should show me how you displayed leadership and I'm not even asking that. How do I know you work well with a team? I might not ask you a question has to do with the team but did you describe within an

32:05answer that was like oh they kind of showed that they have some teamwork skills there right? Um so really try to play play into the job description and posting practice out loud the day before. You know what? Go on chat GPT and look up and say I am I am interviewing for X position. Give me 10 questions. Five are behavioral, five or more technical. Print them out. Have your friend, your significant other, someone literally sit in front of you and ask you or do a virtual call because it might probably will be a virtual interview a lot of times. Practice. I know it seems silly,

32:41but you're gonna one up the candidate that never practiced and they're a little nervous beforehand. And then have someone else answer, you know, how did I do, right? If it's virtual, you want to say, did I, you know, am I looking? I don't know if you guys can still see me. I think you can. Um, am I looking over here? Like, let for instance, I know that my camera is in this screen. My presentation's in this screen. Can you imagine how crazy I look if I presented to you guys this whole time? You guys would be making fun of me in the chat. The chat you have separately obviously

33:15not with me in it. Come on. But I'm purposely looking at you to be engaging. That's So do those things. Practice with people because they'll catch little things. They'll be like, "Man, Carly, you kept fidgeting or you never showed your hands and it was super awkward or we could tell you were reading something." Right? Um, there are all these different things you don't know if you don't practice. For technical questions, I will say for interviews, we're not going to really ask you deep technical questions. It's our job to train you. However, what you should do is focus on maybe Excel skills. Here's how I utilize Excel. I have experience in Excel. That's the number

33:57one thing that I'm looking for intern candidates specifically to know how to do. everything else. You can't know every system. Every accounting firm is changing their systems all the time, right? We'll train you on that. But tell us stories in how you ask questions. You want to learn more um that just be eager and understand basic concepts, right, within accounting or understand tax versus audit. And if you don't know, if you don't know which way you want to go, it's okay to say that I don't know. But from what I know, I think I might lean this way. we'll do some research so that you have an educational answer to that. So, keep in mind culture plays a good role just as skills. So,

34:38we're looking for someone who can be a great communicator. Uh I always think it's funny when people are like, "How do I show on my resume that I'm good at communication?" Like, you don't. You have to communicate to show me you're good at communication. The interview process tells me a lot more about your skills, how you reply to my emails, how you follow up, your timeliness. that tells me everything I need to know sometimes that your resume might look great, but I'm like, "Oo, we fell a little short throughout that process." So, um, and lastly, really think of those questions you want to ask them. A red flag for every recruiter and every interviewer

35:12is if we ask you at the end of a discussion, do you have any questions for me? And you say, you know, I think you answered them during it. Wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong. Right. You should have like five an five questions just sitting in the back burner that you're like no matter what and maybe we did I understand that you're like no I literally was going to ask that and you already talked about I don't care overprepare so many questions that it's impossible that you don't have at least two questions that you can ask at the end of that interview at minimum. Okay, you really want to make sure you have questions otherwise I just think you don't really you're not

35:51that invested. I it's just a red flag for better or for worse, right? It's kind of like if you talk to someone the whole conversation and at the end you're like they never asked anything about me. It's like if you never asked anything about the firm, how do why do you want to be here? Right? You should this is your opportunity to interview us. You need to make sure we're a good fit, too, right? So, just keep that in mind. Moving on, making your resume stand out like we talked about kind of leading with that GPA. Relevant coursework can be really helpful as well. um quantify results

36:23from a job, internship or any roles that you have ever held. If you need help on how to create quantified bullet points, chat GPT, I am very pro use AI. AI is your fan uh your friend. However, AI should never create your whole resume. No, no, no, no. And AI is not always right. I catch it a lot of times making mistakes. I'm like, are you serious? This was so simple. and then I'll tell it to edit something and edit something else and it's like what in the world just happened,

36:51right? Um, but if you don't quite know how to word that bullet point or quantify it, put it in. Keep in mind though, a resume doesn't necessarily have language specific to a person. But we don't need any crazy words that I know if you close your eyes, could you spell the word? If you can't spell

37:08it, you probably shouldn't use it because it's probably not in your vernacular. There you go. Vernacular. No one says that your vocabulary, right? So make sure that you are putting the appropriate things on your resume. Even if you are using AI, highlight leaderships in any of your groups as well and tailor your application for different firms and offices. Um if you feel like, hey, this role is more on this industry, right? It's private, it's not public, then kind of tailor what you want on your resume as well. I did see a quick question about cover letter. Um, unless a company requires you to have a cover letter and unless you have something very unique to say or a

37:48situation you want to explain, do not apply with a cover letter. It's one additional thing that one, I'm not looking at it and two, you might have errors in it and then it did more harm than good. So, uh, cover letters more and more less people are requiring them. We don't have the time to go through a cover letter as well. Okay. Uh if you want to send one, you'd probably write it to the

38:12recruiter because it means you're explaining a crazy situation as you are sending your resume. So within the interview, how can you win? Like we talked about preparing those stories that highlights key points throughout. Practice those questions out loud. Practice answering them. Review your accounting concepts or review your knowledge of accounting in the industry. How the industry is moving. do your research and ask those thoughtful questions. Thoughtful questions do not mean questions you could answer by spending five minutes on the company's website. That is not a thoughtful question. So, do some due diligence uh so that you have thoughtful questions to ask and always send thank you. So, a thank you email um is always really helpful. And what I would

39:00encourage you to do, the last question in your interview, I repeat, if you've been asleep during all of this presentation, you take away nothing, the last question in your interview should be, "What are the next steps in this process? And when can I expect to hear from you?" What does that tell you? It tells you when you can follow up. If I say, "Hey, you know what? Um, Abby, you are going to hear from me in two weeks." and you don't hear from me in one week. Should you be freaking out? No, I said two weeks. It's all good. It's three weeks. Should you be freaking

39:37out? Well, yeah, you can reach out. Then you say, "Hey, Carly, checking back in. Hope you're doing well. Just want to check." You now know you're not being annoying. We gave you an expectation. We are putting your mind at ease. And then you can also balance if you have other offers, you have other interviews. You want to know what the timeline and the process look like, right? So going into kind of those first few months on the job a lot of time for um you know audit tax right during an internship. So we see there's a different whether you're working on financial statements sometimes you're actually visiting and going out to clients on the tax side maybe less

40:13uh client visits right but it's more of preparing reviewing returns. Every company does stuff a little different depending on what their current market um you know whether it's the middle market, right? Or if you are getting really specific at a much larger company as well. You might be expected to even reach out to clients yourself. So that's why communication is so important. If you can't

40:35communicate great to the recruiter, we definitely don't want you communicating to the client, right? So, you need to be great at communicating with your team, with your in charges, letting them know where you're at with different requests, balancing your work. Uh, and really, a lot of programs include training. So, you can expect to be trained during that beginning part of the internship and as a starting associate, but we can't train you on everything, right? We train you with the basics as best we can, but you're going to learn a lot just on the job. Ask questions. That's okay. Ask questions. Admit if you don't know something, but once you get an answer to a question,

41:13be smart enough to know how to apply that answer right to another situation. If it's super similar, you should probably apply that to not have to ask the same question multiple times. You hopefully will get guidance from several different people. You know, every every company in some way, I would hope, has mentorship and, you know, advisors available for you. There are going to be different hour requirements in public accounting. The hours might be longer during busy season. You might have an opportunity to work overtime and get paid for overtime, which is really fun and nice. Um, so just ask those questions. What are the hour expectations within an internship? You

41:55at CBiz at least, you'll get exposure to managing directors early on. Managing directors are what you might think of like partners, right? We might be the seventh largest company or um seventh largest public accounting firm here in the US and you as an intern will have interactions with managing directors. That's the culture that we strive to have. Um so you'll definitely get exposure to that and then we're going to provide you feedback. I encourage you to also ask for feedback and when you get the feedback don't argue it, accept it, improve and move on. Right? I think the person who spends time giving you feedback, even if it's not positive, it means they cared

42:36enough to give you the information because they want you to improve. If they wanted you to fail, they would have just never said anything about that error, right? Moving into kind of internship is the interview. A lot of hires come out of our internship program. Do not think when you land an internship, your job is done. You are being interviewed every day on that internship. You are being interviewed every interaction that you have. It is a long extended interview whether it's summer or spring. It is an interview. The whole time how you interact with everyone. So treat every single opportunity you have as a chance to build relationships. Usually the intern that

43:17stands out is the intern that went above and beyond trying to get to know other people. They didn't stick to themselves. They didn't not show up to the break room to eat lunch. They didn't put themselves out there and say hi to someone as they walked past in the hallway. They're like, "Oh, you're going to know who I am. I'm just being friendly and nice." Right now, you're not being annoying, knocking on every door and, "Hey, I know you have 40 hours worth of work to do today, but can I chat?" No. Right? We're we're smarter than that. But you're going out of your way to make

43:42sure that you're part of the place that you might want to be. What I'd also like to emphasize during an internship, you might find, I do not know if this will be right for me. You should treat every internship like your goal is to get a job offer at the end and then you can reject it, right? But just get the offer because I ask students point blank when I see that they had a prior internship and now they're applying for full-time. I ask them what happened. I said, "Hey, see you had an internship over there at Forbes. How was it? What did it end? How did it end? Did you receive

44:16an offer? Did you decline the offer? What was the situation?" You want to be prepared, right? You want to be prepared to say, "I did receive an offer, but due to some different changes, you know, or or X, Y, and Z, I decided to look elsewhere, or I have an offer still outstanding and exploring different." It's a little awkward. Like, I didn't receive an offer. Well, be prepared to discuss why, right? Be prepared to tell the story. So, whether you want the job in the future or not, you might not know that now. Go forth pretending that you do. And everything in campus recruiting, it starts early. So early on you're going to build relationships letting an

44:53internship be an interview right or any intern if you can't have that internship that's how students are going to really turn campus recruiting and these little touch points into a career now I am going to look at some of the questions um that you have sent so I'm going to stop sharing my screen when I understand boom stop sharing I have a lot of questions coming in you did I'll give you a minute to take a look at that. I just wanted to two announcements. Um, one is I dropped a link in the chat and I'll attach the actual PDF file in the follow-up email, but WGU grading policy,

45:31we have an actual letter that explains everything that you can add with your unofficial transcripts. I know some firms still ask for those. Um, so you can attach it, you can send it with your resume, whatever, but it explains in very good language what all of our grading means. And yes, 3.0 0 GPA basically um is what you receive when you get your degree. Um the other thing too that I wanted to just address um I know you talked a lot about meet the firms and career fairs and hiring events. I don't know for some of you, especially new folks, we've been doing a few of them every year in the

46:07fall because as Karly mentioned, fall is the big recruiting season. So save the date for October 7th um for our accounting hiring event for WG. it will be virtual. Um, but the other thing too that I will just like highlight highlight highlight is your state CPA societies are absolutely phenomenal and they provide lots of events and opportunities for you to networks and I'm pretty sure most of those memberships are free for students. They also include and feel free to correct me Karly, but CPA review materials and yes um and all of that. So you can you can get to know lots of folks um and take advantage of local events in your area. Um so that's the other plug that I would

46:53like to do there. So question time. All right, I see some questions. You should include every degree that you have on your resume. Even if it's not relevant to accounting, don't take something off just because of that. If you have cert certifications, absolutely include those. those absolutely tell us that you went out of your way to try to learn something more in depth. Include certifications in Excel, etc. Do some research and be like, what certifications can I get as a student right now? Add those to your resume. Um, we have I have two classes left to finish my

47:30masters. I plan to take the CPA exam. I don't want to start working and studying yet. Is that okay? Yes, it is your journey. I want to set you up for success, though. So, the earlier you can start studying, the better. But a lot of companies might cover the cost of your Becker study materials if you sign a full-time offer with them. Um, but so you might wait maybe until you have access to those materials. Um, moving into where do we apply for these internships? So, internships, you need to stock those company websites. Once again, those will be posted more so starting late August, so you can check that out. They will have more up to-date opportunities on that. Do we think

48:14it's best to do one interview at a time and wait to hear back before interviewing at another rather than doing multiple interviews and the same time frame? No. I think you need to do all of them together um as closely next to each other as you can so that you know when all of your offers are at the same time and then can compare them. Um because I might say you have one week or two weeks to get back to me and you might say, "Carly, I want one month." And that's okay. You can ask just like I can tell you that we can't do that and that we have to have our answer and move on. Um

48:47looking at a career pivot catered my resume around strengths along with recent accounting degree, but wanted to hear your input on how I can stand out when looking for entrylevel accounting roles. Once again, certifications, right? attending. Are there any programs that you can attend and say I attended destination CBiz, which was a whole day that we did? Uh maybe in person, you can add those to it. Um I would encourage you even if you do job shadows, right? Maybe do a job shadow at a company that can offer it. Uh so if you're pivoting, include and try to highlight the skills that

49:22you learned at those previous jobs to be able to say these are applicable to a future future role. Um, how are recruiters and public accounting firms viewing WGA in general? Uh, WGU, sorry. What is your opinion? I don't necessarily have an opinion. I've hired someone who graduated from WGU. So, I'd say here's my opinion on every university on the planet. There are great students at every university and there are bad students at every university. And it's my job as a recruiter to be able to filter out between the two. All right. Uh, do you as a recruiter for public accounting value the VA? Yes, love. That's a great way, right? That volunteer in tax. Um, being able to do

50:03that. Absolutely. That's great experience to have. It's showing that you're trying your best to be involved in a program that gives you some version of exposure to to the tax side. Um, how many Okay, we do not have traditional freshman, sophomore, etc. Classifications. How many terms? Which classes? You should have the following classes before you start an internship at minimum. Um, we're looking for whatever those like level two accounting courses should be done or what you'd consider intermediate or managerial. We want those completed before your internship, but you can interview before you have taken some of those courses, but at minimum you need to take that

50:44in those two introductory accounting courses that most universities have. And chime in there. Sorry. for the WGU remember um when you log into your student port portal I believe it counts how many credits you have left so freshman sophomore junior senior is usually by credits too um so you can kind of take a look at how many credits do you left and then you can kind of see where you fall into that um and I would say and I'd love to hear from you Kari you know it I know some of you do kind of power through some of those terms and so I would plan with that in mind, knowing what

51:23you know now about these timelines, right? So, as I think as you're talking to the recruiter, make sure that you're upfront with them about like, hey, I know it says that I'm a sophomore technically, but I'm going to be a senior in three months or whatever the case may be, and I'm exaggerating a little bit. Um, but I I think communication here is key, but Carly, feel free to chime in with Yeah, absolutely. We're really trying to back into it. When are you graduating and when you're done? because within accounting period um every school every accounting student's like I'm a sophomore but I have junior credits tell

51:58me when you're graduating and when you have 150 credit hours if I need 150 back into that right so you should be doing an internship either a full year prior to when you graduate maybe two years prior or the year of in which you graduate as well um would I delay graduation to get an internship or just to graduate and get an entry-level job. Um, I I would look at the I'd look at applications and that'll tell you your answer. If you're looking for a 2026 full-time role right now, there are little to zero posted and available. So, you might want to take additional courses

52:35to be able to um to be able to qualify for other future positions when the pipeline is more open. All right. And then let's see. A common mistake we see interns make during their first few weeks. How can I avoid it? They don't ask questions and they think they know everything and they don't. Ask us the questions early on so you don't look silly when we think that you understood what you were being trained on. Subway example. What stood out from that interview and how they related their position to accounting? What skills do they highlight? You know, I don't quite remember by no attention to detail, timeliness, dealing with customer service. Those were a few that they

53:15had mentioned. um getting a second degree. Should I add my GPA from my previous degree or of just accounting? You can just have your uh accounting degree GPA on there. Um you don't necessarily have to be like also this other degree that has nothing to do with it. This was my GPA there as well. Uh do we hire entry level for the firm's forensic group? Occasionally. I know forensic is kind of that jazzy area that we really want. um if we if we have positions available which we occasionally do obviously we do hire into it but sometimes we hire that more so like you start in

53:49a direction and then you join that team and get more specific later uh we are growing our IT area for sure all positions that are available will be posted online once again start looking in August would we consider a recent graduate for an internship um most likely no we would look and say you already graduated which then legally makes you not qualify to be an intern because you have to be taking courses. Some companies though will still let you do an internship. Um, but it just means you would have had to stand out so much or had a connection that we made an exception and created a

54:26temporary position for you that was not labeled intern so that legally we could hire you. Um, have I hired applicants with an accounting experience? Absolutely I have. especially for internships. I don't look at an internship um application and say where was your experience that's why you have the internship right um so then going into you were talking about reneggging a while back would you be able to talk more about the etiquette regarding accepting declining and asking for extensions on job offers be upfront if you have an offer at another firm I want to know about it makes me want you more [laughter] right we all want if we're like wow that guy down the

55:06street wants them too well now I'm like shouldn't we want them like I think we want them. Be upfront with that. Um, if you ask me for an extension, I will ask you to ask that other firm to work on their timeline as well because it's only fair, right? You try to bring all the firms together. Just be upfront. Say, "Thank you so much. When can I expect you to hear from you by?" "Oh, I'll let you know in three weeks." Carly, I just wanted to be very honest. I do have an offer that is due a week from now. Is there any way I can know sooner? Also, you know, I'll try my best,

55:36but please approach that firm and ask them if you can have a twoe extension. Okay. Um, do I think it's a good idea to send a thank you message after applying to a job to the recruiter? Uh, no, because we haven't necessarily done anything for you. I I think if you've talked to us, yeah, send a thank you message. That's nice. But if you just apply and you're sending a message, not necessarily. I haven't read your application yet, so it's not really doing anything additionally for you. Um, but if we had a coffee chat or, you know, a virtual chat or something, absolutely. And for every interview, you should absolutely thank the recruiter who likely set

56:14that up. And then you can even ask that recruiter for the contact information of your interviewers. There is a position in my area for CBIS for an experienced tax associate. I want to apply for the position. I just don't have the experience for the single busy season, but experience with bookkeeping and as an HR generalist. Is there a possibility I could be considered for the position? Never say never. Once again, every recruiter and every team looks for different skills. It's how you can kind of explain why are those skills transferable? How do we know that you will be prepared to do that work as an experienced tax associate? Um, what are some entry- level jobs

56:51you recommend for recent accounting graduates besides staff accounting? So, you do not have to go necessarily into public accounting. There's plenty of private accounting opportunities just with we say like going industry, right? So you can join different industry any company has some type of accounting that that is happening in the background of it or if you like numbers and you like details or you studied accounting and accounting was not for you. Hey you want to recruit accountants I don't know maybe that's an option right um what what does a workday look like during a busy season? Um, so usually for our interns, we require you to be in person in

57:28the office uh five days a week unless specified otherwise. It's going to be those typical 40hour work week could extend into being longer. Um, we're going to try to give you uh work upfront. Sometimes you might have to seek out work as well. It kind of depends also on the tax and audit side, but we'll try to give you exposure to a variety of different industries. I hold an accounting degree, AR and billing. I've heard that it's easy to get stuck in this role if you stay for longer than two plus years. I just want your advice on this and when to pivot if this is relevant experience at

58:02public accounting firms look like or look at. Once again, any version of accounting or the AR side, any experience can be great experience, right? But starting in public accounting is going to be your best opportunity to get other opportunities. going into public accounting after working maybe in industry that's a little tougher, right? It's a it's a little trickier because scheduling looks different and the work you do as well. How big of a part does GPA play in hiring interns? It plays a role. It's how I can cut off the amount of applicants that I get. I need kind of a base standard to go off of. Um I see a lot more good questions. Here's what I'm gonna tell you because

58:43there's no way I can go through them. I apologize. Um, we will drop in my LinkedIn. You can feel free to LinkedIn message me. I will do my best to answer your question. Thank you. I was about to say time. You were you were busting through. I was trying to roll through them, guys. I was going as fast as I could. No, these were all fantastic questions. Um, and thank you so much, Carly, for addressing most of them. So, for those of you who didn't get your questions answered, I just dropped the links again. There's a link for Kari's uh direct LinkedIn um URL. There's also a link to our CPD survey. Um it just helps us provide and plan future sessions. So please

59:25uh it like it's like two questions. Um please take a moment to fill that out. And then I also dropped a link to our website where you can find lots of resumeé resources, interview prep resources, lots of stuff that Kari um really went over today. Um, but just a huge thank you if we can all do kind of a round of virtual applause for Kari for really a fantastic session. Such good advice. I really recommend like when you get that recording, which you will probably tomorrow morning, uh, go through it again, jot down. Hopefully, you've been taking some notes. Um, but as we get going into

1:00:02the busy accounting recruiting season, whether public accounting is kind of your go-to or not, um, you know, if you are targeting larger firms, even smaller firms, honestly nowaday um, follow the advice, this top-notch advice from someone who's really been doing awesome work here. So, um, again, thank you so much, Carly, and thank you everyone for joining us this afternoon. Um, and remember, save the date for October 7th. You'll see more information coming out

1:00:33um, as we as we plan that event from our team. So, thank you everyone. Thanks. Bye.