Did that really just happen?

By Precious Dannug
Assurance Intern
Chicago, IL

All of this learning, all of this hard work, all of this knowledge, all of this food —in a matter of 11 weeks?! My mind has been blown in the best way possible. McGladrey has provided me with an internship experience beyond my expectations and I wouldn’t go back to change a second of it. 

Saying that I learned a lot is an understatement. Sometimes you just have to dive into the water head first. To me, busy season was a huge body of water that was the complete unknown. But, with McGladrey, I nervously dove in head first, and came out being able to successfully backstroke to the other side. My biggest leap took place on my third audit engagement. My supervisor trusted me with completing four different sections of the audit file. After freaking out for a substantial amount of time, I dove right in to the work papers and gave it my best shot. Of course, I came across frustrations and being lost, but I can honestly say that I learned the most from that engagement. When challenged, I can really end up surprising myself. So, for future interns out there, when you are given responsibility for something that is completely unfamiliar at first, just know that: 1) It’ll be okay, and 2) The leap is worth it.

The variety of knowledgeable people I was fortunate enough to work with at McGladrey made all of the difference. From all of the people I worked with, I was able to observe and grasp some of their best professional skills and begin to develop my own way of work. Some of the most important areas of work that I learned from others were organizational skills, communication skills, and teamwork. After learning these skills from others, I was able to appropriately use them on my own in my subsequent engagements.

To answer my question up at the title, yes. All of this busy, yet rewarding, time during my internship at McGladrey really did just happen. It was a phenomenal experience that certainly taught me more than a full class schedule could. With my internship at a close, not only am I grateful for the experience, but that I can walk into my Advanced Auditing class next week knowing a thing or two about substantive analytics.