By Lukas Flores (QST’21)
CCD: Tell us about your experience. What were your responsibilities?
I was interning out of EY’s DC office, but would travel every week to Philadelphia as part of a four person team consulting for a client wealth management firm. The client firm was looking to grow, and contracted EY to asses them and provide recommendations on what they should focus on to enable the growth.
I was responsible for formatting the slides that would be used to deliver updates and recommendations to the client, developed a survey to understand the client firm’s employees’ experiences, and developed an excel spreadsheet to extract insights from the data output of the survey.
CCD: How did you get the opportunity? What resources at BU or elsewhere did you use?
I first heard about the internship opportunity through the Questrom Ascend Mentorship Program. Using Questrom’s UDC resources, I developed my resume and cover letter. After completing a recorded video interview, I had two back-to-back behavioral interviews and an offer for a Diversity Leadership Conference. The DLC was a two-day event during my second semester freshman year at EY’s DC office. That summer, I got a call with a follow-up offer for a 2019 summers Sophomore internship.
CCD: What was the best thing about the experience? What was the worst?
The most valuable part of the internship was the chance to experience first-hand the day-to-day of a consultant, solidifying my inclinations to follow the career path. I enjoyed traveling for the week, having my own hotel room, car rental, and meals expensed. Apart from the perks, I was able to experience consultant’s role in the diffusion of knowledge across the corporate world. Before I got assigned to a travel project, I spent the first two weeks of the internship commuting 1.5 hours each way, every day. I was very fortunate not to have to make that commute after the first two weeks, but during those two weeks my weekday would only have enough time to work, sleep, and commute.
CCD: What was the most memorable moment of your experience?
The most memorable moment of the experience was the opportunity I had to join my team in having dinner with the client firm’s CEO. She invited us to an Italian Steakhouse, where we talked about the progress of the project and plans for the future, both personally and professionally. The opportunity to interact with the CEO of the client firm to that level is very rare for EY full-time employees, and even more for an intern.
CCD: What advice would you give to another student about making the most of an internship, job, or other career-related experience?
I would tell students to try to find a way to get the most value out of every moment of it. While it is easy to try to learn as much as possible when there are tasks due, one will have plenty of downtime as an intern. During that time, it is important to realize that the firm will have access to a lot of resources one wouldn’t have access to regularly, and what you do during that downtime is what differentiates you. During my downtime at EY, I took advantage of a variety of online resources I would not have had access to regularly. The topics of the courses I ranged from personal finance, to strengthening my proficiency in OfficeSuite programs.
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