Accounting internships offer an excellent opportunity to build your resume, gain experience and create a professional network that will help you get your foot in the door of the industry. Work experience opportunities like accounting internships can help you to build up your skills and learn how to work effectively in real-life workplaces. They can teach you things that you will never learn in the classroom and can give you some real practical experience to back up your education that employers will look at positively. Accounting internships are an excellent way to stand apart from your peers and get the edge when starting your career. So how can you make the most of the experience?
Give it your all
This should go without saying, but when doing accounting internships, you should give it 100%. Entry-level work and learning experience aren’t always fun or super stimulating. Part of working your way up in your chosen career part is learning the basics which can involve boring paperwork and menial tasks. These tasks may be boring but they’re an important way for you to build trust in your new business and to show that you’re willing to learn. Starting small can help you to start to do more interesting and challenging work and ensures that you’ve got the basics down. If you find yourself with down time, don’t use it to catch up on your social media or to sit around, go looking for things that you can do or help with. It could help you to meet new people, make new work relationships or to learn new things in the business.
Get to know office culture
One important thing that you should keep in mind is that it is very important to take note of the culture in your new office. Accounting internships can be very varied depending on where you choose to gain experience. Some companies for instance may have a very formal culture around how employees dress or may think it’s very important for everyone to show up on time or take part in team building exercises. Other places may be very relaxed, might not mind too much when you show up and might be fine if you wear jeans. When trying to make a good impression it’s a good idea to observe the culture at your new workplace and try to copy it.
Ask lots of questions
A very important tip is that you should ask a lot of questions during accounting internships. Ask the people around you about different tasks, ask your boss about the organisation, ask for feedback on how you’re doing and ask why things are done the way they are. This will help you to get a good idea of how things operate in different workplaces and why they work that way. If you need help make sure you ask for it and make sure you ask for how you can do things better if you make mistakes.
Make sure you network
Work experience presents a great opportunity to meet people in your industry. This can help you to get recommended for a permanent job and can also help later on. If you make the right impression on someone it can make it easier to get jobs later on. People may leave their current workplace for instance and recommend you to other companies. Professional networks are an extremely important tool for building your career. Making friends with the right people can help to propel you career forward and will pay off later on down the line.