My First Few Weeks

By Hannah Lynch

Tax Intern

Boston, MA

Hannah Lynch

To begin, my name is Hannah Lynch and I am currently in my third year of undergrad at Northeastern University in Boston, Massachusetts. Northeastern’s cooperative education program, where students work for half the year and take classes for the other half, requires business students to complete two (with an optional third) full time internships prior to graduation. My internship at McGladrey is my second “co-op” at Northeastern. I found out about the internship through campus recruiting and interviewed on the NU campus in October, and received my offer for the 24-week internship the same afternoon. 

My first few weeks with McGladrey as a tax intern have exceeded my expectations in several ways. I began my internship with a two-day orientation in the office, which covered mainly administrative matters. I met the other interns and some associates, and was given a laptop to use for the duration of my internship. The next week I was sent to the Q Center, a training facility outside Chicago, IL for a week of tax technical training, covering the software that I would be using on the job. I was in a class with approximately 20-25 other interns from all over the country with very different skill sets and levels of experience. One of the best things about the week was the charity event. One night after class, all the attendees of the training got together and were split into teams to build bikes for underprivileged kids from the greater Chicago area. The teams were made at random and were comprised of employees of all different levels. After we built the bikes, the kids came in and picked out their bikes. Not only was it a fun and very rewarding activity, but it spoke to the culture of the firm as a whole. After the week at the Q Center, I went through another week of training in the Boston office, which included return preparation case studies for corps, partnerships and individuals. This was for recently hired associates as well as interns and was geared more towards tax prep than the technicalities of the software. This training was a good way to become more comfortable with the software, as well as get to know other employees at the office. The teachers were associates, senior associates or managers who worked in the tax department. They were all open to questions and helped everyone to understand the how and why of the processes. Overall, McGladrey invested a lot of time and money into the recruiting process and the success of their interns. Having the experience as well as being given the responsibility similar to that of a regular employee are both incentives to put forth my best effort during the duration of my internship. 

I am looking forward to the next five months I will spend here at McGladrey. Working during busy season, I am eager to see what the next few months hold. Having only been in the office (and not in training) for a couple of days, I can say that everyone I have met so far has been kind and helpful. If the past few weeks are any indicator, I know my internship will be a great experience.