Create Your Own Internship

This is my flagship blog for The Aspiring CPA, and I thank all of you who have found me. I hope you find something encouraging, creative, and useful that will help you to advance your accounting career and invest in yourself.

Given the current economic environment, many firms and companies are not only cutting back on full-time hires, but they are also paring down internship programs. Yet you are constantly told by professors, recruiters, and academic advisors that internship experience is the best thing to have on your resume before graduation.

So how do you get internship experience if no one is hiring interns?

Here are a few things you could do to gain the equivalent experience of an internship:

1. Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA). VITA is a program run by the IRS to offer income tax preparation assistance to low-income, elderly, disabled, and limited English speaking people. Volunteers are provided with training materials and optional classroom preparation, and must pass a short open-book examination before being certified to participate. Local VITA centers will then assign volunteers to clients. Even if you are not looking for a career in taxation, participating in VITA provides you with invaluable client service and accounting research experience. Your time and energy commitment will also illustrate your enthusiasm for the field of accounting. For additional information on the VITA program, visit www.vita-volunteers.org.
2. Nominate yourself for a position of fiscal responsibility within an organization. Whether it be with a student, community, social, or religious organization, holding a position of leadership and fiscal responsibility (such as Treasurer) will give you hands-on experience with cash management, internal controls, and checks and balances. Even if it is a small organization with only a few hundred dollars in the bank, you can always highlight your problem solving skills during an interview by discussing how you tailored your organization's accounting processes to the size and scope of the entity. When I was interviewing for jobs as a senior accounting major, almost every interviewer specifically asked whether or not I had held any student leadership positions. Such experiences are considered to be indicative of future ambitious leaders in the profession.
3. Offer your bookkeeping services to small churches or non-profits. What bookkeeping services do I have to offer as an accounting student? you may ask. Even if the only thing you've ever balanced is your own checkbook, that may be more accounting experience than many small organizations have. When I was in college, I took a non-paid "internship" with the church I occassionally attended, helping them to deposit contributions, pay bills, and record transactions. Even though the accounting and transactions were fairly straight forward, the experience was my first chance setting up a chart of accounts, using accounting software, and truly understanding the concept of segregation of duties. I learned a lot from that endeavor, which I was able to leverage during job interviews.
4. Make your own externship. Externships have recently increased in popularity among large employers, but still remain highly competitive. These are job-shadowing programs that typically last a few days, and offer students a chance to speak with professionals in the field, ask questions, and see what life is like for accounting professionals. Even if you are unable to secure an externship, you can always make your own by contacting local CPA firms and other small businesses. Your local Chamber of Commerce may be able to connect you with business owners who would be willing to offer their time to discuss their business. The important thing to extract from an externship is an understanding of the needs and functioning of the business environment. This background information will be extremely effective in communicating your professional maturity to potential employers.

While the "internship" experiences mentioned above cannot offer you a pay check, the short-term lack of wages is worth the long-term investment in your career. These experiences will give you a greater understanding of the professional world you are hoping to enter upon graduation, and will exemplify your ambition, enthusiasm, and intelligence to future recruiters and employers. If the current economy has made formal internships hard to come by, take advantage of the challenge and create your own internship experience.