Blog Archive

Friday, July 30, 2010

Podcast: New Associates Finish Their First Busy Season

Last November and this April, you had the opportunity to hear from three of our new associates regarding their experiences so far at McGladrey. Kelly, Nathan and Zach finished up their first busy season a couple months ago, and they are back again to share with you what their busy experience season was like and what was ahead of them for this summer.

Thanks again to Kelly, Nathan and Zach for enlightening us their experiences as they have launched their career here at McGladrey!

Kelly G. - Tax Associate from Boston, MA

Nathan B. - Audit Associate from Elkhart, IN

Zach W. - Consulting Associate from Des Moines, IA

Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Happy 2nd Blogaversary!!!

Two years ago, a new concept was launched - a blog about what it was like to work at McGladrey. Well, not a completely new concept, other companies like Microsoft and Sodexo had similar blogs in place already, but certainly novel for our industry. The goal from the beginning was to peel back the 'top layer' and provide a deeper view into our company, proving you, the reader, with more detailed information than you could get from any other source about our jobs, our culture, our perks, and our people.

Since we launched the blog on July 24, 2008, we've had just under 24,000 visitors from all 50 states and many countries around the world. Our Facebook page, which carries a feed of our blog posts, averages 3000-4000 visitors a month, providing even greater exposure to the content of Success starts here. There have been over 180 posts on topics including our community service initiatives, our internship program, our locations, our jobs and the the numerous awards that we have received. We've had contributions from our interns, our managers and our recruiters. We've offered you content via video, podcast and even screenplay. It's been a great couple years at Success starts here, and we look forward to an even more exciting year ahead with even more contributors and more exciting content to come.

We thank all of you for taking the time to visit our site to learn more about McGladrey and what it's like to work here. We have alot of great stories here at McGladrey, and it's our pleasure to bring them to you as often as we can. To celebrate our 2nd anniversary, here's some of my favorite posts/topics from the last year (in no particular order):
  • Capstone Recaps - For the first time at this year's Summer Intern Capstone Conference, three McGladrey Interns provided their perspectives of their experiences at this great event: Day 1, Day 2, Day 3

  • Intern Orientations - I was fortunate to attend our fun and informative new intern orientations in New York and Vienna, VA this summer.

  • A New Day at McGladrey - The firm celebrated a new brand with local celebrations and a giant cake!

  • New Associate Podcast Series - 3 McGladrey Associates described for us their first days at the firm and what their first busy season was like.

  • C.E. speaks at VT - McGladrey's President, C.E. Andrews, spoke at his alma mater about the importance of business ethics.

  • The right expectations about work-life flexibility - McGladrey's work-life expert Teresa Hopke provides her perspective on McGladrey's culture of flexibility.

  • A Holiday Party Alternative - The Mid-Atlantic McGladrey offices celebrate the holidays by giving back.

  • My Shawshank Redemption - Former McGladrey Intern and soon to be McGladrey Associate, Rachel, shares her experiences balancing a Masters program, studying for the CPA exam, and life in general (in screenplay format!)

  • Polls!!! - We need to get these going again, but for a few months last year we had some great participation in several monthly polls that we ran.

  • Interns raise money for the MDA - McGladrey interns take a unique approach for raising funds for the Muscular Dystrophy Association.

Friday, July 23, 2010

Great News and Views in Boston and Baltimore

It's been a big week here at McGladrey, complete with a major acquisition and two new offices. On Wednesday, it was announced that McGladrey had completed it's acquisition of Boston's Caturano & Company. The new combined Boston operation will be the fifth largest accounting, tax and business consulting firm in New England with approximately 500 employees. The local offices will consolidate to be based out of the Caturano building in Charlestown, complete with beautiful views of Boston Harbor and the USS Constitution. This office will now also be the third largest in the firm. A new, larger operation like this will certainly offer numerous opportunities going forward. Please check back often (or create a Job Agent) to explore career opportunities in Boston.

Speaking of harbor views, the new McGladrey Baltimore office officially opened this week. And let me tell you, what a view it is! Located in the new Legg Mason building in the Inner Harbor, McGladrey resides on two floors of this high rise, offering amazing views, close proximity to shopping, the National Aquarium, and hundreds of restaurants in Harborplace, Fells Point, and Little Italy. As a frequent visitor to Baltimore myself, I can't wait to get down to the new office to check it out. We'll include pictures of the new office in our Facebook Office Views Photo Album for sure.

In the meantime, the Baltimore has several openings in it's Tax operation. To learn more and submit your resume, click on the job titles below.


Tax Senior Associate - Baltimore, MD

Tax Manager - Baltimore, MD

Tax Director - Baltimore, MD

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Ask BJ - Making the most of Job Agents


A frequent question that we see from candidates while searching our career site for jobs is:

"What happens if I don't see a job that matches what I am looking for? how do I go about submitting a resume?"

I addressed this in a prior post, but not only is it worth mentioning again, but we also have recently made some enhancements to our process, so we wanted to make sure we relay the most up-to-date information on to you.

To help ensure that candidates do not get 'lost' in the resume database and that they are directed on to the most appropriate recruiter for a response, we need to have a resume submitted to a specific job. If you are not able to find a specific job to apply to, a 'job agent' can be created. With the job agent function, our Career Site will email you once a job match is found.


When creating your job agent, complete the fields shown below and then 'confirm' your entries.


  • Job Agent Name (something you pick, a title to remember what you have created)Keyword (if desired)
  • Frequency (NEW - you can now tell our career site how often you want to receive alerts)
  • Expiration Date (NEW - you can tell our career site when to disable this alert)
  • Job Category
  • State
  • City
  • Position Level

Note - you can always modify or delete an existing job agent or create a new one. You can create and save up to 3 separate job agents on the Career Site.




Friday, July 9, 2010

Podcast: New Parent Coach Program

Among the many great work-life benefits that we offer to our employees are a number of benefits specifically geared towards new parents, including our child care resource and referral program, adoption benefits of $5,000 subsidy per adopted child, 6 weeks annual paid adoption leave, 3 weeks paid new father leave, 6-8 weeks maternity leave (through short-term disability), and a new parent coach program.

The new parent coach program helps McGladrey employees learn more about how to balance work and parenting, and the expectations that go along with being a new parent while being a productive worker. In the linked Podcast below, Lauren Brunell, a Campus Recruiter from our Chicago office shares her experience taking advantage of this incredibly useful resource.

Click here to listen to the podcast

Friday, July 2, 2010

McGladrey 2010 Summer Intern Capstone Conference- Day 3

Another Capstone Conference has come and gone, another 2/12 days of learning, networking, sharing and fun. Christina Rossetti, an intern from our Stamford, CT office and a student at Boston College, shares with us her experience of Day 3 of the conference (from 30,000 feet!):

Sitting in seat 5B and soaring 30,000 feet above Illinois, I can truly begin to reminisce about my final day in St. Charles. Sitting here on my flight surrounded by the interns from McGladrey’s Connecticut and New York offices, it is hard to believe that the Capstone Conference has come and gone so quickly. Today started with another great breakfast in the Q Tower, where waffles, fresh fruit, and scrambled eggs got me energized for the day ahead. As I made my way to the St. Charles Amphitheatre with the rest of my Connecticut crew, I passed eager groups waiting to perform their skits. My own nerves were beginning to ignite as I took my seat in the large room, remembering that I too would be presenting later that morning. Wow, six more hilarious and creative presentations. Before my nerves could get to me again, I saw Ken Bansemer walk down to stage.

I remembered Ken from his shenanigans at the Blackjack table the night before and wondered what to expect from his speech, which was titled, “Success is Easy… It’s Failing That’s Hard.” Now, failure is a concept I usually prefer not to think about, but Ken explained the importance of both failing and embracing change in life. Ken lightened the mood when he shared videos of his piano recitals, where he struggled with some of his songs (an experience I can certainly relate to when I think back to my own piano recitals). We spent time talking about goal setting, and Ken had us write one goal on a sheet of paper and put it into a self-addressed envelope. He explained that he would mail us this letter about a year from now, just as a reminder that we should never give up on our dreams. My personal goal is to run the Boston Marathon, and I feel much more ready to accomplish this now that I know I must share, plan, commit, act, and learn in order to succeed.

Already feeling motivated, our next activity magnified the feeling of inspiration. We paired up and began putting together blankets for the Salvation Army by trimming and tying together fleece fabrics. I was glad that McGladrey gave the interns at the conference an opportunity to give back to the community, because helping others definitely seems to be one of McGladrey’s values. This activity soon wrapped up and before I knew it I was in front of the entire conference ready to act out the skit that my group and I had been practicing. Thankfully, with a crowd of smiling faces in front of me, the skit went by smoothly and I calmly sat back and watched the last six teams present, including the McGladrey Mythbusters and a great Steve Erwin impersonator.

After our last lunch at the Q Center, we heard from our final speaker, Rory Vaden, who shared some great stories that really got me thinking about how I can be successful later in life. Rory explained that success is about doing the things other people do not want to do. Metaphorically, we must remember to take the stairs when everyone around us takes the escalator. The main thing I realized after listening to both speakers today was the importance of stepping out of my comfort zone and taking some risks. After Rory’s inspiring words, we concluded the conference with awards for the best presentations and a raffle… Man, I really wanted that I-Pod Touch. We also watched video footage from the entire conference, where we could all relive our experiences working in our teams, listening to speakers, and gambling at Casino night.

As the plane begins its descent into LaGuardia, I realize it is time for me to say goodbye to my new friends sitting around me. I know I’ll see my Stamford gang next week, but what about the rest of the interns I met at Capstone? What will we all bring with us as we return to our internships? I know that I am leaving with a much greater understanding of myself. Not only do I know my Kolbe score is a 7-7-3-3, I also feel ready to make short- and long-term goals for my future. More importantly, I have learned the importance of working as a team and embracing each other’s differences. The Capstone Conference was a great way to kickoff my internship and future career in public accounting…thank you McGladrey!


Thanks again Christina, and thanks again as well to Ryan Donaghy and Morgane Dion for sharing their Capstone experiences as well. You can view pictures from Day 3 below, and we'll have more to come in future posts. Capstone is one of the true highlights of the summer intern experience at McGladrey. If you are a student and are interested experiencing a future Capstone Conference yourself, be sure to see us on campus this Fall to explore Summer Internship opportunities with us.

McGladrey 2010 Summer Intern Capstone Conference- Day 3