“Prior to my internship, I was actually considering changing majors,” Carter Franklin said. An accounting student at the University of Nebraska at Kearney, with a minor in marketing/management, he wasn’t sure how his class work applied to an accounting position. 他也不确定是否将会计作为自己的职业选择。 “I found accounting semi-interesting, but I had doubts,” he admits. 

然后，卡特在纳税季节在格兰德岛的卢茨实习了12周。 “I was able to look back and say, ‘I have done this before in class and this is why the professor wanted us to do it this way rather than that way.’” It was like a light came on for Cater, and he was seeing the payoff of what he was learning at college. “I used something from my tax class to help a client. It was a class I thought I would never use.” 

虽然卡特决定申请实习，以使自己与其他学生区别开来，并获得竞争优势，但他也想确定，在修完所有会计专业课程后，他是否会喜欢公共会计。 “回家work is basically a hypothetical. But the internship helped me see the bigger picture and realize this is the degree for me.” 

Carter said, “I’ll probably be seeing the positives for the next 10 years from this internship.” 他得到的一些好处是：

• 将课程应用到实际生活中
• 与同事建立联系并保持联系
• 决定自己的职业方向
• 获得自信和发展批判性思维技能
• 养成好习惯，变得更有条理
• 用经验充实他的简历
• 拓展他的思维，以不同的职业，会计师可以追求
• 下个纳税季要回来实习  

在卢茨，卡特作为一名会计师实习，处理纳税申报表。 “I started with c-Corp and s-Corp returns, with the primary clientele being in the medical and agricultural industries.” 他还发现，参加审计课程对他很有帮助，这将为他在会计领域的不同行业打开大门。 他希望明年夏天去做审计实习。  

The hardest thing during Carter’s internship was the initial learning curve. “I wasn’t sure I could do tax returns every day for the season. 但后来我做了一些。 It started making sense and I started gaining confidence.” 最精彩的是他的第一个客户电话。 “I was pretty nervous and typed everything out and read it pretty monotone.” But he learned from it and saw that “you can be personable with your clients, and they like that.”

卡特还发现，由于会计专业的学生要处理企业的方方面面，而且要修很多其他课程，比如金融、市场营销、道德和人力资源课程，所以他们有很多其他的职业选择可以追求。 “There’s a lot of plusses to accounting, but the biggest one is knowing so much about businesses outside of accounting.” 卡特说，50%找他的招聘人员都不是会计行业的，包括供应链和统计公司，以及咨询公司。 “An accountant may work in their field for a few years,” Carter said, “then move to HR or marketing or somewhere else until they find the perfect job fit.”

关于实习，他给学生们的建议是去实习。 “It sounds scary but there is a reason why they are important. They give you experience and provide data about your career field.” 事实上，根据肯塔基大学商业和技术职业中心副主任Janice Woods的说法，最近有93%的肯塔基大学商业和技术专业的学生表示，实习是他们学位课程的重要组成部分。 “These students can attest that on-the-job learning reinforces classroom learning. They also get to know a company and its culture from a first-hand perspective.” 她报告说，去年，82%的商业和技术实习项目的学生表示，他们会考虑毕业后在实习公司找到一份全职工作。  As Carter shared, “My internship gave me more motivation with my classes and gave me something to look forward to after college.”

除了鼓励学生去实习，卡特还鼓励学生去找他们的教授，他们通常在学术界和专业领域都有经验。 “Don’t forget upperclassmen,” he said, “we’re the ones you will be working with, and we want to see you succeed. Ask questions and use the experience of others.” 

Carter, who graduates in December 2023, says he’s the kind of person who can walk into a room and talk to anyone. 他很高兴地发现，这项技能在会计中也很重要。 His internship “debunked the idea that an accountant is just in a cubicle all day on a computer not talking to anyone.” 他还喜欢帮助别人，并认为成为一名公共会计师可以进一步实现这一目标。 “I figure as an accountant I can help people save money, which is a big help for most people.”