How To Break Into The Accounting And Consulting Industry—Before You’re Even A Junior

The junior-year internship is an essential stepping stone between accounting student and fully employed accounting professional, but getting that internship has become more competitive than ever.

One great way to secure that offer for yourself—and way ahead of time—is to attend a summer early-identification session with a prestigious firm.

Here’s how an early-ID event like the Breakthrough Program at CohnReznick—a national leader in accounting, tax, and consulting and Top 10 Most Prestigious Firms list honoree—can help you get a jumpstart on your career, before you even enter your junior year.

The First Step: Secure An Invitation And Prepare For The Event

Before you can begin the process of securing your internship, you have to secure an invitation to an early-ID event. You can apply online through a career platform like WayUp or meet a CohnReznick Recruiter at an on-campus career fair.

Last year, between May and July, CohnReznick held events in Atlanta; Baltimore; Boston; Bethesda, MD; Hartford, CT; New York; San Diego; Roseland, NJ; Long Island; Los Angeles; Chicago; and Woodland Hills, CA—so there are plenty of options depending on where you live.

Once that’s done, you’ll need to prepare for the event itself. So, prepare some answers for basic accounting career questions and do your homework on the firm’s history and values.

Network With Senior Leaders, Learn About The Industry, And Get An Internship Offer

The actual Breakthrough Program event is made up of various learning, networking, and working opportunities. You’ll hear from senior leaders at the firm—possibly including the CEO—about the state of the industry, lessons they wish they knew early on in their career, and the values that make the firm what it is.

You’ll also have the opportunity to put your skills and knowledge to work in business case scenarios and activities designed to bring out your best qualities. These are important tests both of your accounting acumen and your ability to work with others in a collaborative and respectful way–a key tenet of CohnReznick’s values.

Finally, through fun networking events and outings like baseball games, escape rooms and rooftop dinners, you’ll meet leaders, current CohnReznick employees, and people who may become peers in the CohnReznick internship program (or maybe just friends!).

If you listened well, worked hard, and made a good impression throughout the two-day event, you should receive an internship offer for the following winter or summer within a few days.

The Early-ID Advantage

Besides the obvious professional advantage of meeting senior leaders at a firm before even starting your internship, one of the biggest advantages of securing your offer before the school year begins is that you’ll be free to focus on your studies and personal development.

While your peers are stressing about the dozens of internship applications they have to submit, you’ll be squared away and able to focus on the content of your actual accounting classes. Plus, with some of that extra time, you can learn about and practice with accounting technologies, like data visualization and wrangling tools. These technologies are used in most top-tier accounting firms and are hard to get experience with while you’re still in school.

And, of course, you can relax until it’s time to bring it at your internship. How’s that for an advantage?

Interested in getting your own head start? Apply for an invitation to a Breakthrough Program event at CohnReznick on WayUp!