June 21, 2010
Hello
Everyone! Welcome to my blog. As a little introduction, my name is
Colette and I am going to be a senior at The College of New Jersey in
the Fall. I am majoring in accountancy, and I have a minor in Women and
Gender Studies. Throughout my college career so far, and even since
freshmen year, I was set on succeeding. At TCNJ, we had an
accounting freshmen seminar in which accounting firms - large, medium,
small - you name it - came to present to give accounting students a
taste of who they are and what a career in accounting entails. From the
very beginning, professors and career counselors stressed that
internships are the best way to get your foot in the door, and I
understood how competitive it was to get one, but nonetheless I was
determined. During my first semester at TCNJ, I went to Career Services
and got my resume critiqued, attended the fall career fair and shook as
many hands and sent "nice to meet you" emails to all the individuals I
met. Two intermediate classes, many club meetings, several leadership
conferences, tons of interviews, and lots of hours in the library
later, I am now at the internship-phase of my college career, I can
finally speak first-hand!
Today was my first day as an EY intern in the tax practice! For the New York area
EY interns, they are first welcomed to the firm through a program
called "WTEY" (Welcome to Ernst & Young). This 2 day training takes
place in the US headquarters in the New York City office, right in the heart of Times Square! Extremely exciting location. To be honest, I slept very little this past evening. I set 3 alarms each on their highest volume, and I
was still petrified that I would sleep through them and be late for my
train, which would mean I would be late for my very first day of
work..which wouldn't mean good things. Yes, all these things
were running through my head.
Alas, I woke up with my
first alarm, was early for the train, and with a relatively small
amount of anxiety, enjoyed the sweet sounds of Justin Bieber on my
train ride. An hour later, as I walked out of Penn Station, I saw the
huge neon sign reading "Ernst & Young" and my nerves translated
into extreme excitement.
I joined the hustle and
bustle of commuters outside of Penn Station to their designated work,
and believe it or not, I felt like I fit in with my business
professional wear on. I did wonder if they could tell I was an intern,
but that was just a silly passing thought.
Huge balloons welcomed the
tax interns in the building and as I walked into the building, I was
greeted with smiles by all the EY campus recruiters with whom I have
been acquainted. Knowing that I was the only one from TCNJ in the tax
practice as an intern, it was comforting to see people that I
recognized and be greeted with such warmth.
After I finished
administrative and legal requirements, I looked around the room and
found that I wasn't alone. There were 54 other tax interns and I found
that I actually knew more than I thought. Some I had met from EY's
Summer Leadership Program, an externship program for incoming juniors,
and some I had actually recognized from EY's Discover Tax Leadership
Conference, my first college leadership program which I attended in the
Winter of 2009. Discover Tax had actually become one of the main
reasons why I chose tax. And it was unbelievable to see some of the
friends I made at the leadership conference right there, a year and a
half later!
Today, I learned a lot about
the firm and technology; but the most important thing I learned was
that the 54 of us, as cheesy as this may sound, are all in the same
boat. I realized that the silly anxiety that I had was not something
that I only felt. As I began to talk to my fellow EY tax interns, I
learned that everyone had a degree of nervousness. We might be from
various backgrounds and cultures, and educational institutions, but
we were all there today, experiencing EY for the first
time...everything was all so fresh.
And I look forward to more freshness along the way!
I award today a "great-day" award!
Until next time,
Colette