Wrapping up the Season

By Jamie Jacobs
Tax Intern
Cedar Rapids, IA

It’s hard to believe we are only a few weeks away from April 15th. Man, did time fly by! It feels like just yesterday I was in orientation preparing myself for what I thought would be a long three months. In the short amount of time as a tax intern, I was able to obtain a broad knowledge on a variety of business financials and was also able to see how everything I learned in my business classes link together. This internship has been a great learning experience and it will definitely help me excel not only in my classes but in my future career. 

Cedar Rapids office

On the first week back from training, I was really nervous to start preparing business returns. They seemed complicated and I felt like I was asking questions every minute. I wasn’t sure how this internship would go as the first returns were a struggle, but within a week I was able to catch on and everything seemed to click from there. Once we hit March 15th I found it challenging to switch over to individual returns as I grew to enjoy preparing business returns.

It’s going to be weird going back to a “normal” lifestyle of working 40 hours a week. I’m not going to say I will miss working 60-70 hours a week, but overall it really wasn’t as bad as I imagined. It helped that our office is filled with a great group of people at all levels. They never made me feel like I was at the bottom of the pyramid and were always there to give me advice. I think that is one major benefit of working in a smaller office. 

I am happy with my decision to take a semester off of college because I now see that having work experience helps piece together everything I learned in classes. I am also grateful for this internship because I was able to make a lot of new friends and get out of my comfort zone. Moving to another town and having to start a new job was scary, but well worth it! It’s been a great few months and I am truly going to miss working for McGladrey.