Listen to Nick (2020) talk about his internship in accounting at Honda R&D this past summer.

Transcript: Stephanie: Hi there, you're listening to Gear Up, the Duke Career Center student produced podcast showcasing real student summer internship experiences. Today we're talking to Nick who had an internship in accounting this summer. Okay, introduce yourself.

Nick: Sure, my name is Nick Landis. I am a senior from Louisville, Kentucky and I am studying economics.

Stephanie: So what did you do this past summer?

Nick: This past summer, I was a managerial accounting student associate at Honda R and D Americas Incorporated in Raymond, Ohio.

Stephanie: And how did you find that position?

Nick: I thought it was very interesting. I had a lot of fun doing the work and I thought that the place I was working at was very fascinating, and I was learning new things every day.

Stephanie: And what were you doing specifically day to day?

Nick: Sure, so I had quite a variety of roles. One of the things that I did was that, I regularly helped track the budget of the facility that we were running.

Nick: It had a budget that was in the tens of the tens of millions of dollars. And one of my main tasks was figuring out where we could streamline the budget, and figure out ways to run the company more efficiently. In that role, I would also spend a lot of time meeting with people who helps manage other departments within the facility. And I also got to look at the various products that were being developed by Honda at this location. And I also spent some time developing this project to help streamline the disposal process for some of our test vehicles. And I think that I had a lot of really good positive impact for doing that.

Stephanie: That’s a lot of responsibility for an intern.

Nick: Yeah, I mean, it was a little bit of it was unexpected, but I feel like I had a lot of support, and I feel like my management had a lot of faith in my ability. And I think that's really important to work for people who have faith in you and don't try to just baby you. That's that's very important to me.

Stephanie: Did you find the work interesting?

Nick: Mostly, I'd say, I think that you can ask anybody who works in accounting of any kind and they'll tell you that sometimes the work can get a little dry and it did. But I will say that in the grand scheme of things, I really thought that the work I was doing was interesting and important in terms of the impact that I was having on the company. And I actually felt like I had a purpose for being there. And I thought that that was the most important thing to me.

Stephanie: Do you feel like your coursework or things that you do at Duke prepared you at all for it?

Nick: I'd say that it helped me out a little bit. I spent a lot of time taking finance based economics electives the past couple of years and they definitely helped me to understand some of the concepts that I was working with especially classes that involved accounting and viewing financial statements. Those were really helpful. One thing I will say, though, was that no amount of coursework can prepare you for having a real job. There are just certain things that you have to pick up when you're working. And I think that that goes for any job. But I think that in terms of the academic skills that I had, I think that I was reasonably prepared.

Stephanie: And where did you find this job? Like, did you find it that networking or see it on a job site?

Nick: I think that I saw on a job site. I was very, very proactive in trying to find internships wherever I could, whether it be on CareerConnections or just by Googling. So I honestly don't remember where I found it. I want to say that I found it on the job site, but it does kind of escape me at the moment.

Stephanie: And you just applied and and happened to get it?

Nick: Yes, I sent in an application. They sent back a couple questionnaires. I did a couple of phone screens and