A few weeks back, we provided you a daily recap (Day 1, Day 2, Day 3) of our Summer Intern Capstone Conference, accompanied by a number of (amateur) photos taken by your's truly. We did have a professional photographer there too who was much more skilled and had a much better camera than I. He put together a great slideshow designed to help us relive this great event once again, check it out below.
RSM
Thursday, July 30, 2009
Friday, July 24, 2009
Happy 1st Birthday to Success Starts Here!!!
A year ago this week, Success starts here was officially launched. 12 months and over 100 posts later, we are thrilled with what we've accomplished to date. Since last October, we have averaged over 1000 visits/month, and I believe that we will only see even bigger numbers over the next 12 months. We have some new features planned and are always looking for opportunities to provide you even more interesting and relevant content. Do you have any thoughts or ideas on how we can make Success starts here even better? Please share any of those thoughts or ideas as we want to make sure that your experience here is educational and engaging.
I'd like to thank the following people for being active contributors to this blog over the past year, Ken, BJ, Jay, Rachel, Todd, Dave, Dan, LoriAnn, Rick, Ryan, Tiffany, Karin, Brittney, Monica, Trina, Guy, Sharon, Karen, Emily, Darla, Phil, Maren, Jessica and Courtney. In the coming weeks and months you can expect to hear from even more of our people regarding what the employee experience at McGladrey is all about.
Thanks again for stopping by. If you like what you have seen here, please share Success starts here with your friends. And of course, we hope to see you here again soon.
Monday, July 20, 2009
Pathways Extern Event - Minneapolis, MN
There are Pathways Extern events happening all across the firm this summer, and just last week another fun and education event happened up in Minnesota.
On July 15, the Minneapolis Pathways program ventured out on a boat cruise around Lake Minnetonka. We had over 60 people attending, including students from 12 different universities and employees at all levels of the company. Lake Minnetonka is an expansive and scenic lake located southwest of Minneapolis. Our Pathways participants were able to enjoy the beautiful scenery and great food while getting to hear more about McGladrey through talking to our current employees (see pictures below). Both employees and Pathways participants described this event as a great success!
The boat cruise was the third of four events hosted by the Pathways program. The Minneapolis program also hosts two office visits and a trip to a Saint Paul Saint’s baseball game. We have about 25 participants and 12 universities represented. As mentioned before here, our Pathways program is a great way for college students to learn more about the benefits of working at McGladrey, about starting a career as a public accountant-and have fun in the process!
Special thanks to Jessica Lisman and Courtney Menas from our Minneapolis office for contributing to this post.
On July 15, the Minneapolis Pathways program ventured out on a boat cruise around Lake Minnetonka. We had over 60 people attending, including students from 12 different universities and employees at all levels of the company. Lake Minnetonka is an expansive and scenic lake located southwest of Minneapolis. Our Pathways participants were able to enjoy the beautiful scenery and great food while getting to hear more about McGladrey through talking to our current employees (see pictures below). Both employees and Pathways participants described this event as a great success!
The boat cruise was the third of four events hosted by the Pathways program. The Minneapolis program also hosts two office visits and a trip to a Saint Paul Saint’s baseball game. We have about 25 participants and 12 universities represented. As mentioned before here, our Pathways program is a great way for college students to learn more about the benefits of working at McGladrey, about starting a career as a public accountant-and have fun in the process!
Special thanks to Jessica Lisman and Courtney Menas from our Minneapolis office for contributing to this post.
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Pathways Extern Event - Stamford, CT
Last July, we told you about our Pathways program and a particular event that we hosted in our Gaithersburg, MD office. Once again this summer, many of our offices hosted sophomore accounting students at a series of networking events designed to give these students a view into what a career at McGladrey is all about.
Last Friday, our Stamford, CT office hosted 5 Pathways students from 4 Universities (UCONN, Fairfield, Quinnipiac, and American) for lunch and a job shadowing event. Lunch was held at a local well known outdoor boat dock style restaurant called Paradise Grille, where Pathways participants and Associates where able to network and enjoy some fish and chips (see pictures below).
Upon the program participants return they were able to experience a three hour job shadowing program, where they learned the structure of audit files, assessing risk through evaluations of internal controls and how we design testing, as a result some of our participants along with their assigned associates were able to prepare a non statistical sample as part of our accounts receivable testing. Sr. Associate Brian D. said that this experience “was a valuable glimpse into the day to day activities the firm conducts”. Pathways Participant Marie H. said that "...the job shadowing experience solidified my choice in the Accounting profession. I learned about which qualities are vital in being a successful member and valuable asset to a team where everyone has the same main goal, which is to provide timely and high quality service to the client."
Our Pathways program offers a valuable opportunity to meet with McGladrey early on in your college career, which can often help to land a Winter or Summer Internship with the firm. To learn more about our Pathways program, be sure to stop by and see us when we are on your campus this Fall.
Special thanks to Maren Mercado, HR Generalist, for contributing to this blog post.
Last Friday, our Stamford, CT office hosted 5 Pathways students from 4 Universities (UCONN, Fairfield, Quinnipiac, and American) for lunch and a job shadowing event. Lunch was held at a local well known outdoor boat dock style restaurant called Paradise Grille, where Pathways participants and Associates where able to network and enjoy some fish and chips (see pictures below).
Upon the program participants return they were able to experience a three hour job shadowing program, where they learned the structure of audit files, assessing risk through evaluations of internal controls and how we design testing, as a result some of our participants along with their assigned associates were able to prepare a non statistical sample as part of our accounts receivable testing. Sr. Associate Brian D. said that this experience “was a valuable glimpse into the day to day activities the firm conducts”. Pathways Participant Marie H. said that "...the job shadowing experience solidified my choice in the Accounting profession. I learned about which qualities are vital in being a successful member and valuable asset to a team where everyone has the same main goal, which is to provide timely and high quality service to the client."
Our Pathways program offers a valuable opportunity to meet with McGladrey early on in your college career, which can often help to land a Winter or Summer Internship with the firm. To learn more about our Pathways program, be sure to stop by and see us when we are on your campus this Fall.
Special thanks to Maren Mercado, HR Generalist, for contributing to this blog post.
Monday, July 13, 2009
July Poll: What do you like to do on vacation?
It's the middle of the summer and for many, it's vacation time. My vacation to the beach is coming up soon, I'm counting the days myself right now. Vacations are (or should be at least) all about fun, so let's have some fun with this month's poll. Our July Poll on the top right corner of the screen wants to know, What do you like to do on vacation?. We had almost 90 responses last time, let's see if we can beat that this time around!
Friday, July 10, 2009
Once Again, McGladrey Is One of Chicago's Best
McGladrey's Chicago offices have done it once again, winning the National Association of Business Resources’ list of Chicago’s 101 Best and Brightest Companies to Work For! We have several great offices in the Chicagoland area (including in The Loop and Schaumburg), and this award once again reflects our commitment to our employees as our greatest asset.Interested in working for one of the "Best and Brightest Companies To Work For? We have a couple openings in the Chicago area right now. To learn more and apply, click on the links below.
Tax Manager, Schaumburg, IL
International Tax Director, Chicago, IL
Thursday, July 9, 2009
Career Development - The McGladrey Way
At McGladrey, it's important to us to ensure that our employees feel confident that they can achieve their career objectives with the firm. Over the past year, unprecedented efforts have been made to help define for our employees just what it takes to grow their careers at McGladrey, and what options are available to them.
Earlier this summer, the results of this work began to roll out to our employee population, starting with our Tax Practice. A powerful site on our intranet is already serving as a useful tool our employees and their advisers to help them start to understand better what knowledge, skills and experiences they need to have to get to the next level, and how they can literally map their career progression moving forward. Similar resources will be rolled out to the rest of the firm in the coming months.
The video below will provide you a glimpse into what this initiative is all about. You will hear from Mike Metz (Executive VP, Tax Services), Kimpa Moss (Chief HR Officer and former Tax Services Leader), Teresa Hopke (Director of Talent Management), and others as they describe the importance of career development at McGladrey, and the useful tools that are now available to our employees in the Tax Practice.
Thanks to CareerTV for producing another great video for us.
Earlier this summer, the results of this work began to roll out to our employee population, starting with our Tax Practice. A powerful site on our intranet is already serving as a useful tool our employees and their advisers to help them start to understand better what knowledge, skills and experiences they need to have to get to the next level, and how they can literally map their career progression moving forward. Similar resources will be rolled out to the rest of the firm in the coming months.
The video below will provide you a glimpse into what this initiative is all about. You will hear from Mike Metz (Executive VP, Tax Services), Kimpa Moss (Chief HR Officer and former Tax Services Leader), Teresa Hopke (Director of Talent Management), and others as they describe the importance of career development at McGladrey, and the useful tools that are now available to our employees in the Tax Practice.
Thanks to CareerTV for producing another great video for us.
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
The June Poll Results
I think that we hit a nerve with our June Poll: 89 RESPONSES! Thanks to those of you who took the time to complete this poll, and who once again offered up some interesting, and even somewhat surprising results. In this poll, we asked you what are the top 3 things that you consider when in a job search. Let's review the results:
Salary/benefits (64%) - I'm not surprised that salary/benefits (i.e. Total Compensation) would be ranked at the top, but I have to say that I'm surprised that it was the #1 choice by such a large margin. It's no secret that we could all use for our dollar to stretch more and more all the time. It's also no surprise that a good benefits package is important at a time when it seems that companies have to cut back on what they have been offering. When it comes to this survey though, a new job is clearly All About the Benjamins (and other perks too)...
Work/Life Flexibility (43%) - No surprise that this ranked high either. We all need more time to do more things in today's society, and those organizations that offer good work-life flexibility options are clearly placing themselves ahead of the game with their candidates. Fortunately, McGladrey has several great work-life flexibility options that place us as a leader in our industry.
Career Growth (34%) - It's not just about getting a job, it's about what the future may hold as well. You indicated here that the future, and how an employer can help you achieve your goals, is very important to you. McGladrey is doing some great things in formalizing Career Development plans with their employees. Check back here in the coming weeks for more information on how we are helping our employees understand and take control over their own career growth options.
Nature/Scope of Work (33%) - Now this one really shocked me. This essentially what the job is all about. For me personally, it would of been my number one choice, but that's just me.
Surprisingly, Job Security (30%) comes in tied for 5th in the results. With unemployment at 25 year record highs, layoffs still threatening many organizations, and many people still concerned about their current job stability, I really expected this selection to be ranked much higher.
Also in 5th place, Location (30%). I also thought that I would see this ranked a bit higher. With concerns about work-life flexibility and the environment, I expected that the location of the job would play a much stronger role in one's decision making process. I guess however that when jobs are not as plentiful as they once were, that location can take a back seat when it comes to landing that next ideal job. For those of you who have a strong interest in location, you can check out our McGladrey Location Google Map to see just what type of commute you would have to one of our offices.
The only other selection that surprised me in this poll was Company Reputation (23%). In light of the scandals and challenges that many organizations have experienced over the past year, I really had thought that more people would of had this high on their radar when considering future employers.
Since you only had three choices however, they all couldn't be ranked high. These are interesting and unusual times, which makes me wonder just how different the results might of been if we had run this poll a year ago.
Thanks again to all of you who participated in this poll. Check back in the next few days for a new poll for July!
Salary/benefits (64%) - I'm not surprised that salary/benefits (i.e. Total Compensation) would be ranked at the top, but I have to say that I'm surprised that it was the #1 choice by such a large margin. It's no secret that we could all use for our dollar to stretch more and more all the time. It's also no surprise that a good benefits package is important at a time when it seems that companies have to cut back on what they have been offering. When it comes to this survey though, a new job is clearly All About the Benjamins (and other perks too)...
Work/Life Flexibility (43%) - No surprise that this ranked high either. We all need more time to do more things in today's society, and those organizations that offer good work-life flexibility options are clearly placing themselves ahead of the game with their candidates. Fortunately, McGladrey has several great work-life flexibility options that place us as a leader in our industry.
Career Growth (34%) - It's not just about getting a job, it's about what the future may hold as well. You indicated here that the future, and how an employer can help you achieve your goals, is very important to you. McGladrey is doing some great things in formalizing Career Development plans with their employees. Check back here in the coming weeks for more information on how we are helping our employees understand and take control over their own career growth options.
Nature/Scope of Work (33%) - Now this one really shocked me. This essentially what the job is all about. For me personally, it would of been my number one choice, but that's just me.
Surprisingly, Job Security (30%) comes in tied for 5th in the results. With unemployment at 25 year record highs, layoffs still threatening many organizations, and many people still concerned about their current job stability, I really expected this selection to be ranked much higher.
Also in 5th place, Location (30%). I also thought that I would see this ranked a bit higher. With concerns about work-life flexibility and the environment, I expected that the location of the job would play a much stronger role in one's decision making process. I guess however that when jobs are not as plentiful as they once were, that location can take a back seat when it comes to landing that next ideal job. For those of you who have a strong interest in location, you can check out our McGladrey Location Google Map to see just what type of commute you would have to one of our offices.
The only other selection that surprised me in this poll was Company Reputation (23%). In light of the scandals and challenges that many organizations have experienced over the past year, I really had thought that more people would of had this high on their radar when considering future employers.
Since you only had three choices however, they all couldn't be ranked high. These are interesting and unusual times, which makes me wonder just how different the results might of been if we had run this poll a year ago.
Thanks again to all of you who participated in this poll. Check back in the next few days for a new poll for July!
Thursday, July 2, 2009
Capstone Summer Intern Conference - Day 3 Recap
122 Interns + 2 Countries + 40 Offices + 68 Universities + 13 faculty members + 4 speakers + months of planning = 1 Great Conference
Planning events like these can often feel like planning a wedding. Months of hard work goes into getting every detail right to ensure a flawless event, and then before you know it, it's all over. They say that time flies when you are having fun, and that was certainly the case at this year's Capstone Summer Intern Conference. This was my first Capstone Conference. I had heard about previous Conferences and was always a bit envious of those who got to attend. I can really understand fully now why these have been so popular. It was 3 long, tiring, fun days, but as our Interns were departing O'Hare yesterday, they looked like they really had a great time. I was able to follow up with a few interns from the Baltimore-DC area at O'Hare, and they confirmed for me just how much they enjoyed the experience.
Day 1 and Day 2 were indeed, long and busy days. Day 3 wrapped things up very nicely. We began the day with more presentations from our intern project teams. Who said that accountants weren't creative? These presentations were well thought out, funny and informative. At the Winter Intern Conference this year the project teams produced videos, and we had them create videos once again at this conference. What was new however was having them develop podcasts and live presentations. This was new to many of our interns who had not dealt with the recording technology before, or who may of been a bit uncomfortable doing a presentation in front of so many people. The results overall were outstanding, the interns all had alot to be very proud of.
Following the presentations, the interns heard again from Ken Bansemer, who continued on his theme from Tuesday by talking about how to live with purpose. "Life is more than just a career..." he said, "How will you define your future and what will make you happy?" Ken's message was that everyone has control over what keeps their life in alignment, and shared personal stories about how he has been able to balance his career, his family and his personal achievements.
John Blumberg came back to discuss with the interns how their Kolbe profiles impacted their project teams, and how they could use their Kolbe profiles after they left the conference. The conference finished with an inspiring message from Rory Vaden, a 26-year old phenom who has been his spreading his formula for personal success to audiences far and wide. According to Rory, successful people do things that failures are not willing to do. Successful people don't take short cuts, they 'Take the Stairs'. Rory also challenged everyone to participate in Rory's Take the Stairs World Tour. I also liked that his organization is called Success Starts Now (sounds familiar, huh?) Rory's inspirational message was a great finish to a great event.
I'm home now and catching up on a few days of work before the long weekend. I hope to have a new slideshow video of the event to share with you here soon. In the meantime, you can check out some more of my pictures below.
Planning events like these can often feel like planning a wedding. Months of hard work goes into getting every detail right to ensure a flawless event, and then before you know it, it's all over. They say that time flies when you are having fun, and that was certainly the case at this year's Capstone Summer Intern Conference. This was my first Capstone Conference. I had heard about previous Conferences and was always a bit envious of those who got to attend. I can really understand fully now why these have been so popular. It was 3 long, tiring, fun days, but as our Interns were departing O'Hare yesterday, they looked like they really had a great time. I was able to follow up with a few interns from the Baltimore-DC area at O'Hare, and they confirmed for me just how much they enjoyed the experience.
Day 1 and Day 2 were indeed, long and busy days. Day 3 wrapped things up very nicely. We began the day with more presentations from our intern project teams. Who said that accountants weren't creative? These presentations were well thought out, funny and informative. At the Winter Intern Conference this year the project teams produced videos, and we had them create videos once again at this conference. What was new however was having them develop podcasts and live presentations. This was new to many of our interns who had not dealt with the recording technology before, or who may of been a bit uncomfortable doing a presentation in front of so many people. The results overall were outstanding, the interns all had alot to be very proud of.
Following the presentations, the interns heard again from Ken Bansemer, who continued on his theme from Tuesday by talking about how to live with purpose. "Life is more than just a career..." he said, "How will you define your future and what will make you happy?" Ken's message was that everyone has control over what keeps their life in alignment, and shared personal stories about how he has been able to balance his career, his family and his personal achievements.
John Blumberg came back to discuss with the interns how their Kolbe profiles impacted their project teams, and how they could use their Kolbe profiles after they left the conference. The conference finished with an inspiring message from Rory Vaden, a 26-year old phenom who has been his spreading his formula for personal success to audiences far and wide. According to Rory, successful people do things that failures are not willing to do. Successful people don't take short cuts, they 'Take the Stairs'. Rory also challenged everyone to participate in Rory's Take the Stairs World Tour. I also liked that his organization is called Success Starts Now (sounds familiar, huh?) Rory's inspirational message was a great finish to a great event.
I'm home now and catching up on a few days of work before the long weekend. I hope to have a new slideshow video of the event to share with you here soon. In the meantime, you can check out some more of my pictures below.
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| McGladrey Capstone Day 3 |
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
Capstone Summer Intern Conference - Day 2 Recap
It was an early start as I watched the still waking interns stumble into the Q Tower Dining Hall for breakfast. Before the conference stared up again, I met two interns, including Alex, who just graduated, is working in our Kansas City office, and told me about how she was preparing to start her Masters of Tax degree at DePaul in the fall, and Daniel from St. Bonaventure, who was working close to their home this summer in Cleveland. Both were highly engaged and energized to get another day started.
At 8AM, the conference got started again with some words from our Director of Talent Management and Recruiting, Ken Bansemer. Ken shared his wisdom by talking about taking control of your career by focusing on what you can influence, not what you can’t control, and by figuring out your personal assets and liabilities, and how they make up your equity characteristics. Following a group photo, the project teams reconvene for the balance of the morning to continue their work. Each team was assigned one of three themes and a means for presenting the results of the project (podcast, video, and live presentation). The teams got fast to work on defining the roles and responsibilities of each team member, and the concepts for what they will do and how they will do it.
After lunch, everyone comes back to the amphitheater to hear from our Chief HR Officer, Kimpa Moss, and our new company President, C.E. Andrews. Listening to Kimpa is always a treat as she spoke about the some of the core leadership competencies at McGladrey. It was an added bonus however to have our new President join us as well. He started in his new role on Monday and made the time to come out to St. Charles to participate in this event. Mr. Andrews backed up his participation with some inspiring words about why he decided to take on this new role, and where he hopes to take the firm in the future. He shared with us that he actually started his career at Arthur Andersen 35 years ago at The Q Center, with some courses in the same room that we were in. He also let the group know that he took his new role with McGladrey because he saw a lot of the same attributes here that appealed to him at Andersen, specifically McGladrey’s focus on people and their development. Kimpa and C.E. then took questions from the interns for over 40 minutes, with many excellent questions and insightful answers.
Following Kimpa and C.E., the teams reconnected for the rest of the afternoon to finish their projects. After dinner and some free time, it’s time to start to see the results of the project teams work. A faculty member (Jen Poklemka) and myself had the honor of emceeing the project team presentations, which we will continue to see through Wednesday. This is a competition BTW, and the early results are promising. The interns and faculty get to vote on each presentation, and the winners get rewarded at the end of the conference. The first set of presentations we saw were all entertaining and creative. More on that tomorrow.
A long day isn’t quite done yet though. The day ends with a Casino Night event inside the ballroom. It’s a fun night as faculty members like myself dealt out the cards, and the interns compete with chips to ultimately win raffle tickets that they will redeem tomorrow. The event wraps up at 10PM, and like Monday night, some retire, some continue the networking into the night. Be sure to check back again tomorrow for a recap of the final day of Capstone. In the meantime, look below for some pictures from Day 2.
At 8AM, the conference got started again with some words from our Director of Talent Management and Recruiting, Ken Bansemer. Ken shared his wisdom by talking about taking control of your career by focusing on what you can influence, not what you can’t control, and by figuring out your personal assets and liabilities, and how they make up your equity characteristics. Following a group photo, the project teams reconvene for the balance of the morning to continue their work. Each team was assigned one of three themes and a means for presenting the results of the project (podcast, video, and live presentation). The teams got fast to work on defining the roles and responsibilities of each team member, and the concepts for what they will do and how they will do it.
After lunch, everyone comes back to the amphitheater to hear from our Chief HR Officer, Kimpa Moss, and our new company President, C.E. Andrews. Listening to Kimpa is always a treat as she spoke about the some of the core leadership competencies at McGladrey. It was an added bonus however to have our new President join us as well. He started in his new role on Monday and made the time to come out to St. Charles to participate in this event. Mr. Andrews backed up his participation with some inspiring words about why he decided to take on this new role, and where he hopes to take the firm in the future. He shared with us that he actually started his career at Arthur Andersen 35 years ago at The Q Center, with some courses in the same room that we were in. He also let the group know that he took his new role with McGladrey because he saw a lot of the same attributes here that appealed to him at Andersen, specifically McGladrey’s focus on people and their development. Kimpa and C.E. then took questions from the interns for over 40 minutes, with many excellent questions and insightful answers.
Following Kimpa and C.E., the teams reconnected for the rest of the afternoon to finish their projects. After dinner and some free time, it’s time to start to see the results of the project teams work. A faculty member (Jen Poklemka) and myself had the honor of emceeing the project team presentations, which we will continue to see through Wednesday. This is a competition BTW, and the early results are promising. The interns and faculty get to vote on each presentation, and the winners get rewarded at the end of the conference. The first set of presentations we saw were all entertaining and creative. More on that tomorrow.
A long day isn’t quite done yet though. The day ends with a Casino Night event inside the ballroom. It’s a fun night as faculty members like myself dealt out the cards, and the interns compete with chips to ultimately win raffle tickets that they will redeem tomorrow. The event wraps up at 10PM, and like Monday night, some retire, some continue the networking into the night. Be sure to check back again tomorrow for a recap of the final day of Capstone. In the meantime, look below for some pictures from Day 2.
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| Capstone Day 2 |
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