Charles Hunt is a senior here at UMBC, majoring in Financial Economics. In addition to being a student, Charles also fulfills his duties as the UMBC VITA Virtual Coordinator!
Here is what Charles has to say about his internship with E. Cohen's Tax Services Group:
In my internship experience, I definitely learned that public accounting was not at all what I thought it would be. In my head, I pictured cubicle work with a bunch of anti-social, introverted people. Being more of an extroverted “people-person” myself, I was expecting to be the odd one out. I wouldn’t necessarily have had a problem with that kind of work environment, but what I experienced was a pleasant surprise. The atmosphere at E. Cohen was lively, upbeat, and very friendly. I also learned very quickly that public accounting is far from boring. It is such a big industry that it’s very easy to find a niche that you would be passionate about. Whether you really like debits and credits and want to go into auditing or you like the tax side of the industry, there’s a lot of very interesting opportunities in this field.
Another thing that I learned from my time at the firm was that accounting is not mutually exclusive to financial advising. I desire to be a financial advisor, but I now see that having a background in accounting and being knowledgeable in a lot of those areas is an invaluable asset for your client. A lot of times clients have financial advisors, CPAs, and specific wealth managers, but what I learned was that you can easily be all of the above. The wealth manager that works closely in conjunction with E. Cohen told me that he leads with discussing the tax benefits that he will bring to his clients in introductory meetings. So, having a good well-rounded knowledge base will help you in any part of this career field.
The last thing that I’ll share is that I gained many valuable takeaways about the corporate culture. The biggest one was how to be an effective communicator (especially in a semi-virtual environment). I learned that the best thing to keep in mind is that being proactive is key. It doesn’t necessarily matter how you reach out when you have a question, but more so how often you reach out—how quickly you seek guidance and display your humility to your supervisor. Employers really like to see that trait in an employee because it shows that you're teachable and also that you’re ready and willing to learn. E. Cohen made it clear to me very early on that they understand there will be a ton of things that I won’t be able to figure out on my own. So, they emphasized the importance of being willing to learn and ask for help. At the end of the day, all employers want is a coachable, honest, and hardworking employee.
Another thing that I learned from my time at the firm was that accounting is not mutually exclusive to financial advising. I desire to be a financial advisor, but I now see that having a background in accounting and being knowledgeable in a lot of those areas is an invaluable asset for your client. A lot of times clients have financial advisors, CPAs, and specific wealth managers, but what I learned was that you can easily be all of the above. The wealth manager that works closely in conjunction with E. Cohen told me that he leads with discussing the tax benefits that he will bring to his clients in introductory meetings. So, having a good well-rounded knowledge base will help you in any part of this career field.
The last thing that I’ll share is that I gained many valuable takeaways about the corporate culture. The biggest one was how to be an effective communicator (especially in a semi-virtual environment). I learned that the best thing to keep in mind is that being proactive is key. It doesn’t necessarily matter how you reach out when you have a question, but more so how often you reach out—how quickly you seek guidance and display your humility to your supervisor. Employers really like to see that trait in an employee because it shows that you're teachable and also that you’re ready and willing to learn. E. Cohen made it clear to me very early on that they understand there will be a ton of things that I won’t be able to figure out on my own. So, they emphasized the importance of being willing to learn and ask for help. At the end of the day, all employers want is a coachable, honest, and hardworking employee.
Congratulations to Charles on his successful internship this summer!
We would love to hear more summer internship & job stories. If YOU would like to be our spotlight of the week next week, please email carleyb1@umbc.edu with a description of your experience, the best skill you learned at your internship and your favorite part of the internship.