Internship Series: IV. The Decision

—and no, I’m not taking my talents to South Beach. Most people that know me know that I pursue my goals with a very fiery passion, so I think it came to a lot of folks’ surprise that, after I had received a full-time employment offer, I deliberated for a couple of weeks before making up my mind instead of just diving head-first into the deep end of the pool. This final installment of my Internship Series is placed here to calm present MPAs, future MPAs, and really anyone who is confronted with the decision of having to pick one opportunity after another. It is not uncommon or unusual to lay all your options on the table before making a decision, even if it is one you were somewhat sure you were going to make anyway.

As my usual tradition, I’m going to start with some tidbits:

Kemba & Charl

It seems like eons since the last installment of this series. Since I’ve been gone, Kemba Walker & Co. took UConn to its third National Championship over Butler. (It broke my heart to see Butler go down in a nasty shooting performance like that, but if you examine the record—as in my last blog—you’ll see that my money would have been on UConn anyways.) Days later, Charl Schwartzel won the Masters after Pandemonium reigned the last day, seeing a free-for-all on the Leaderboard. Congratulations to Connecticut and Mr. Schwartzel.

Tweet This!

In an article in Fortune Magazine, it seems that Google, Facebook, and Microsoft had offered to buy Twitter last fall. Microsoft changed its mind, Facebook offered $2B, and Google offered $10B. It is interesting to consider the implications of this now from a business perspective, as the article reports stalled growth in the company—which is probably due to the decline in members who are actually active. With a leveling off and no more buyout offers on the table, it will be interesting to see what the social media behemoth’s next move will be.

Keeping it short today, here were my feelings before accepting a full-time offer:

The Decision

My policy on my blog has always been to be as candid as I could when it came to my opinions on issues, so here it goes. The reality is that I am still only a 22-year-old guy; I run with a lot of raw emotion and see everything in a very novel light. When I received my offer, I was emotionally ecstatic; I am sure my smile revealed my coffee-stained teeth from a mile away. I had just received a full-time offer from a major world player in the public accounting industry, so this was very much a dream come true.

Cognitive Dissonance

A couple days later, I began to think that maybe this was not the best option for me. Why? I mean this was the dream job, right? Suddenly, I started seeing my career in the Advisory or Consulting side of things. Then I saw Paul, the beastly investment banker. And then I saw Paul, private equity extraordinaire. I saw Paul—ahem, Senator Nabhan. I saw Paul, Oscar winner for best musical score. I could go on and on. What my best move, now, seemed very uncertain. Would accepting a role as an auditor actually limit my potential? Oh my…

Counsel

I proceeded asking for advice. If you haven’t heard this before, here it is: make sure you always have someone from whom can seek good neutral counsel. After talking with several of my advisors, I realized the following that ultimately led to my decision:

(1) Experience—If there was anything I learned on my internship, it’s that I don’t have a lot of experience. It’s very unlikely that anyone is going to hire me for a million dollars right now because, well, I don’t know much.

(2) Accounting—I do like it. If you’ve talked to me for more than five seconds, you know you’ll be swimming in GAAP before long. Why would I turn down an offer for something I actually kind of like?

(3) Connecting the Dots—This is an opportunity to really complete the MPA program; that is, I am going into a field where I can now complement the theories with the real world application. This relates back to my first point: I can’t really say I’m a good auditor until I get some good real world experience.

(4) Noble—Honestly, auditing is a noble profession. Things may not always run so smoothly, but what an auditor is there to do is to help capital markets function so that people can exercise a given level of freedom in their decision making. For someone who loves the concept of freedom as much as I do, this is really cool.

(5) Not a Marriage—Let me explain. I’m only 22 years old, and I’ve had three months of limited auditing experience. It may seem like I’m committing for the rest of my life, but, as one friend told me, if I realize that I don’t like auditing after all, I don’t have to do it. This is refreshing to hear just because accepting an offer may seem like a lifetime commitment when, in fact, it’s not. Whether it’s my first job or my last job is still completely up to me. That frame of mind put a lot less pressure on me. *sigh of relief*

Final Thoughts

There is no right or wrong answer when making an employment decision. You have to make a choice that balances what makes you happy with what you need to progress as a professional and with what you need to eat. Regarding a scenario that really slapped me in the face, I would recommend collecting all the facts and waiting a day or so to try to make a decision with a level head (not when you’re on an emotional high or low). Will you face opportunity costs? Absolutely. Talk with people you trust to get advice, and remember that you are the person who has to live with your decision. And always remember that it’ll be okay.

By the way, Happy Tax Day.

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