By: Lindsey Gray, BS’17

“Build a better working world.”

Do you know which company’s mission this is? It’s a company right here in Indianapolis, an accounting firm to be more specific. Still guessing? Well, it’s Ernst & Young, which is one of the Big 4 accounting firms. I can now officially say that I will be interning with them in spring 2016 during the dreaded busy season, but being my nerdy self, I could not be more excited to start! I cannot wait to receive the real world experience of what my future career will be like. Now, here is a little story of how I got here:

In case you don’t know, Kelley Indianapolis Career Services runs a website called Kelley Careers where there are different job and internship postings almost daily. USE IT! It is a vital resource to use in order to receive that job experience that employers are looking for, outside of searching for internships through career fairs.

I first applied for the Emerging Leaders Program with EY through Kelley Careers; then with a few emails and an interview later, I attended the Emerging Leaders Program. This is a two-day program interacting with student leaders from different campuses where we spent learning more about the firm and networking with the staff and partners.

The Emerging Leaders Program provided me with that extra boost that accounting majors need. Sitting in an accounting class, I always catch myself being lost at least one point in the class. Then, I always consider changing my major. It is weird to explain, but everything I felt at Ernst & Young was the exact opposite.

Attending this program, I met with a variety of different people, some who just started and some who have been there for 30+ years. It was great to already begin building those connections. Then of course, we played a couple of icebreaker games, sat through a couple of workshops, and just had a great time. Oh, did I forget to mention that we were able to walk on the actual field in Lucas Oil? Well, we did, and it was awesome.

So when you always hear that accountants are boring people with no fun in their life and that all you do is sit at your desk 8 hours a day 5 days a week, don’t believe them. I am pretty excited for what awaits me in the spring!