Megan Jones
CIBACS Junior
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WORK EXPERIENCE JOURNALS
These are journal entries that I had filled out throught my job shadow. It describes in depth the experiences and observations that I had made, along with other important details.
12/2/15 4PM-4:45PM
Today, on a rainy Tuesday afternoon, I was able to meet with my mentor, Greg Kling, for the first time. I was very nervous. We had already planned on discussing possible dates and times for the job shadow, as well as an interview. I was a little bit late due to traffic, and I had already called in advance to let him know. My mentor works as a partner for a CPA firm, and has a very busy schedule. I was able to get in contact with him because he had already done some previous work with my parents. The office was all the way in Cerritos, so I spent my time doing homework on the car ride there. My mom dropped me off, and I went up the elevator to his office.
When I got there, I was greeted by the secretary, Melanie Alaan, and was told to wait in a conference room. I was also offered water as I waited. When he arrived, we shook hands and I showed him my cover letter, resume, and what the general basis of the project was. I was also asked common interview questions such as why I wanted to do my job shadow here, where I plan to go to college, and why they should let me do this. I also described my previous efforts in CIBACS freshman and sophomore year. We had decided to do the job shadow during Christmas vacation, because January was a very busy month for them, and so it wouldn’t interfere with my school and work. When we had finished, we shook hands, and I left the building.
12/22/15 9AM-12:30PM
Today is the first day of my job shadow, and I am very nervous again. I wasn’t sure what to expect. Once I got there, I spoke to Melanie again and was told to sit and wait for my mentor to come out. When he did, we planned that I would shadow with different people on his staff to see all aspects of that company. He left me with an office manager, Irene Brown. Irene was very kind to me and gave me a tour of the office, introduced me to various staff members, and walked me around the office. She also used some common terminology that I should expect to hear, along with some acronyms that they use around the office.
After this, she let me shadow with an intern staff accountant, Clifton Imai. I asked him questions such as daily activities that he does and how he grew interest in this area. I was also asked questions such as what a plan on doing for school and what the job shadow and CIBACS is about. As I was there, I was able to observe Clifton analyzing a company’s budget, expenses, as well as revenue. He told me that these things are easier to learn with experience. As I watched, I was able to learn that as he was working with so many numbers, the only ones that you truly have to deal with and look at are actually just a handful, so it looks scarier than it actually is.
After this, it was already 10:30 and he was going to take his break, so I was sent off to job shadow with a staff accountant, Thaddeus Marcroft. He was more loud spoken than Clifton was. Once again we had exchanged questions with each other and I was able to observe him doing a bank reconciliation as well as some other bookkeeping. Here, I figured that this would probably be the easiest thing that I could use for my process research essay, so I went more in depth with this than some of the other things that I was learning. During this time, most of the office went out to go to lunch and it was already 12:30, so I met with Greg again to sign off my job shadow hours, and went on my way.
12/23/15 9AM-12:30PM
Today, I was already getting used to how the office operates and had “learned the ropes” if you will, and I had more confidence in myself with how this job shadow is going. By this point, I already feel like this is most likely something that I want to pursue in the future, and that this shadow has encouraged me rather than scared me away from this field. As I got here, I talked to Greg again and he asked me with how I was feeling with this internship and if there was anything that I was unclear about. Afterwards, he took me with a manager, Salman Syed, and allowed me to start the day here. Salman went over the basics of what he does and answered some of the questions that I had regarding his area.
He then took me to shadow with Megan Seguin, a senior staff accountant, and I was then able to observe her work. She seemed a little bit busier than the people that I have already shadowed with because she cut more of the small talk and immediately went to explaining the tasks that was at hand. At the time that I had arrived there she was reviewing application for approval to deduct from Tennessee, and what she would do is that she would review it, and send it back with revisions that need to be made that were found by looking through the files. She was explaining to me this process and then allowed me to go shadow with Kristine Santa Maria, another staff accountant.
Kristine was in the cubicle directly behind Megan, and she was a little bit more quiet than the others have been. What Kristine was doing when I got there, was logging time on whatever the client was working on and that this was an activity that she does typically on a daily basis. She had told me that she also works with notices for audits, and that the client that she was currently working with was trying to get a loan to have more buildings. She also said that she had to keep schedule of the owned businesses. After this, it was already 12:30 and my mentor was in a meeting when I was about to leave, so I decided that he could sign off my hours confirmation form on the following Monday.
12/29/15 9AM-12PM
Today was the last day of my internship, and I was excited because I was already beginning to brainstorm and map out what I plan on doing for my final presentation. When I got there, I talked to my mentor a little bit about how things were going and if there was anything further needed, he would be happy to help me. He allowed me to job shadow with Michael Christensen, another staff accountant. He seemed much younger than the other people that I shadowed with, and we once again traded some questions with each other. He was finishing deadlines so that they would not be busy up until January through April, because that is a very busy time of the year for them. Earlier he had received a tax return but with something small that was left incomplete, and he had to review it and send it back completed.
Once it was 12:00, I had completed my full 10 hours of shadowing. Before I left for today, since Greg already knew my parents and that’s how we came in contact in the first place, my parents sent me there with some gift cards for him. So when I finished my shadow I went up to him and had him fill out the remainder of the hours confirmation form, as well as my interview evaluation form. By the time I actually did my interview, I did not realize that we had to have a form for it considering I did my internship a little bit early, but I was still able to get it done with extremely positive feedback. I was told that by the time I finish college, I could maybe come back there and do an actual internship or job, so we will be keeping in touch in the meantime.
In summary, I was able to observe and learn valuable skills in the area of accounting and finance, and I learned how to perform new tasks. I was able to make great contacts and meet people that love what they do. Everybody there was so kind to me, and went over the top with what was expected. I am very grateful to have such an opportunity, and I’m sure that I have made the most of it. I was even able to find out that my mentor went to the same college that I have been thinking about attending, and that others have told me that that’s where they recruit people and allow to have tours, so now I am more driven to go to that college. This was such a wonderful experience and I am looking forward to pursuing this in the future.