I found out about this company at an accounting major career fair I went to. After creeping around the booths of the Big4 (everyone knows they have the best swag), I started visiting the booths of the non public accounting companies, and this booth was one of the first ones I went to. I didn't know a single thing about them! I literally went up to the guy at the booth and said "I did an internship with E&Y and I didn't like it, so I'm basically looking for anyone who's not Big4." Smooth, huh? So I got all of the information and went to an info session a few weeks later.
I really started to get excited about this company after the info session. I love small towns, so the idea of living in Omaha was actually really appealing to me. Even though it's small, it's big enough that Greg has a good chance of finding a good job also. The company was doing really well and the people who worked there genuinely seemed to like their work. They love their company - contrast this to so many people who do public accounting and consider it "doing time" before they can really start their career. The company is very "promote from within," so I knew I could have a career there. I went home that night and was telling Greg all about it- I was pretty excited.
When I flew out to interview, I loved it even more. The office building is seriously huge. They have a catered cafeteria, a gym, a doctor's office,a pharmacy, and a post office all in the building. Something that really stood out to me was the day care center a few blocks away. It's almost certain that our children will be in day care, and having it so close by is amazing to me. The people I met were all really friendly and down to earth, something I had not experience at E&Y or other companies I had interviewed for (*cough*Dell*cough*).
I could tell that they were very selective in who they hired. I felt like I had to actually work to show them who I am and what I can do. More importantly, I wanted to put that effort in because I was really excited about the prospects of working for them. When I interviewed for E&Y, I honestly couldn't get excited about it. I did zero preparation. I didn't network. When they asked me why I wanted to work for E&Y.... nothing. It's a miracle I got an internship. Part of my lack of enthusiasm is because deep down, I dreaded that career path. Another (bigger) part is because of how many people the public accounting firms hire. I knew my chances were good just from being a warm body with a degree.
I fell so lucky to be going down this path, lucky to be genuinely excited about my career and to not already have an exit plan. If I had done public accounting, I already had an exit plan. How lame is that? I'm so excited to be start somewhere where I know I can have a future that I will be happy with.
