Next step: Interviews

Wow, so I guess it’s been a while since I’ve blogged! Surprise, surprise. Maybe that speaks to how busy recruiting season is. Or maybe it just means I’m bad at keeping up with my blog. Sorry! I know my blogger counterparts are much better at keeping up with this than I am!

In this entry, I’m going to talk a bit about the interview process during recruitment. For those of you who aren’t familiar with recruitment, several accounting firms of local, national and global size travel to UT’s campus during the spring to interview MPA students for potential internships. First, we as students must submit our resumes to the firms in which we are interested (this is done through OCR, a McCombs Web site). After the resume submission period is over, the firms sort through all of the resumes and select the students whom they want to interview. We find out whether or not we are selected through the same Web site, and, if we are selected, we then have the opportunity to sign up for an interview time. This whole process happened before spring break in March.

Fast-forward two weeks. For the first time in my life, I’m in panic mode on a Friday at 4 in the afternoon. I’m looking at my schedule for the following week: Continue reading Next step: Interviews

Teamwork and the MPA

A reader identified as C.P. asked two good questions in the comment section of my last post. The comment date was April 1, but I can’t see how the questions could be part of some elaborate April Fools’ Day joke, so I’m happy to respond.

Questions: How often does one have the opportunity to work in teams in the MPA program? How important is teamwork to the MPA curriculum?

One of the most important skills recruiters look for in new hires is the ability to work well with others. My own pre-MPA work experience taught me why that is the case. When people work well together–when they collaborate effectively to accomplish a common goal–their work output improves in terms of quality and quantity. They also find more satisfaction in their work. At least, that’s how it was for us (my coworkers and me).

From my perspective, it seems that the faculty and staff of the MPA program clearly recognize the importance of teamwork, and for the most part, do a good job of incorporating group projects into the curriculum. Most of my classes have required significant group collaboration for team projects and assignments, and I’ve had good experiences with those groups.

I asked a few classmates to see if they agreed with my assessment. One of them, Brian Morgan, thinks professors should make a more concerted effort to teach the importance of collaboration rather than just assuming we’ll figure it out ourselves as we work together on team projects. I think some students could benefit from that approach, especially if professors were able to communicate how group projects in school compare to teamwork in your average job setting. Then again, I think most of us have learned by now the importance of collaboration, so in my opinion, doing more than assigning interesting group projects would be just icing on the cake. Some people like icing, and some people scrape it off (like yours truly). Continue reading Teamwork and the MPA

I’ll be back…oh wait, I AM!

Well…jeez. It had been a while since I have been on here. My apologies for the long absence, I guess with my internship over and a very basic spring break in good ol’ Nebraska, not much had really happened. BUT…I am happy to say that I have returned to the mother ship ( UT ).

Now that my internship is over, I am pretty much a year out from graduating. Wow, how fast four years has passed. I won’t be cliché and say it feels like just yesterday when I first walked the steps of the tower…but instead I would say it feels like just last month.

O, how glad am I to be back… the feeling of sunshine on my face, the utter bliss I am in when I am walking to class, and the continuous noise from the West Mall is like music to my ears. I guess some may be wondering what the life is like for those of us on our little “mini–mester. “ Continue reading I’ll be back…oh wait, I AM!

Questions and Answers – Classes

When I visited campus last year as a prospective student, two MPA students were kind enough to answer the many questions I had for them. I wanted to know their experiences with classes, their career aspirations and MPA tracks, their experiences with recruiting season, their perceptions of MPA students and professors, and just about everything I could think to inquire about.

In an effort to be similarly helpful to prospective and incoming students, I invite you to submit your questions by e-mailing (mpablogger[at]gmail.com) or leaving a comment. I’ll do my best to answer as many of your questions as possible, and will make sure to get input from other students if I don’t have a good answer myself. I’ve also been asked by prospective students to post on this blog more frequently. You got it.

To get us started, here are a few Questions and Answers about MPA classes: Continue reading Questions and Answers – Classes

Internship Lunch Series #2: The First Engagement

I hope everyone has enjoyed the first Lunch Series post. After the first week of training in Dallas, all the interns flew back to their respective home offices and began the first official week of work. PwC gave all the interns the opportunity to rotate between two groups during the ten-week internship, and I was fortunate enough to be paired with my top two choices: Federal and International Tax Services (ITS).

I started my internship at the Houston office with the Federal group. The first week was filled with online training on independence, ethics, Circular 230, firm values etc. and mini projects from various managers. However, my official project started on the following week, and I moved down to a conference room (auditor-style!) with my teammates. Some of the other interns asked me if I liked being in such proximity with my teammates five days a week, and I really liked it. For me, it was easy access to ask seniors questions, to learn about my coworkers, and to interact with them almost effortlessly because we were all in a room together.

I’ve also learned a lot about partnership returns (to which I have not had the academic exposure) and depletion schedules (which is more specific to oil and gas accounting). Even though I am usually the type who likes to figure things out for herself, I have learned that the most efficient and effective way to learn is to ask questions. The unique aspect about my first engagement at PwC is that quite a few of the past interns have stayed on the engagement as full-time hires, so they truly understand the confusion an intern could have. I am fortunate in many ways to start my internship with a close-knit group who is very welcoming to interns (even deeply confused ones like me!), which encourages me to enter into my rotation at ITS starting this Monday.

Below is a picture from our intern event on the opening day of the Houston Rodeo. The concert headliner was Rascal Flatts!!
Houston Rodeo: Rascal Flatts

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