Job Shadowing

The career of choice I would like to pursue is auditing. Since this field involves a lot of confidential items and work I was not able to find someone outside my own current job to allow me to job shadow. Therefore, I would like to discuss a time where I first went on an audit at my current job, which is with the New Mexico Taxation and Revenue Department. Before I got this job I was not sure of what I wanted to do with my accounting degree. I did not think of auditing as being a career choice until I got hired on with the IRS.

Before working with the IRS I only worked as an usher for the Journal Pavilion and I knew I needed to get a job with experience related to my degree. So I took the opportunity to register to the e-recruiting listservs for the Anderson School of Management. Any job description that was sent to me where I knew I could qualify, I applied for. I applied to several job descriptions and got many rejections, and I knew it was because I had no experience related to the accounting field. Finally I got a call from Leonard Lopez who is now my boss for an interview for a temp position with the State of New Mexico.

I went to the interview not really knowing what this position entailed but I knew any experience would be beneficial to me. That day I was hired as a temp and it started a chain of events that led me to wanting a career as an auditor. The first week I began to realize what the job was about and what the IRS did. My boss asked me to join two female auditors to help them with the audit field work. I was very excited as I have heard about audits and now I was about to experience hands on what an audit entailed.

The females I went with were Christina Owens (Internal Audit Manager) and Jennifer Leal (Entry level Auditor). Christina has had nine years experience with auditing and she has a BBA in accounting, an MBA in Tax, and also a CPA. Jennifer just started as an auditor and has had about two years experience with another firm. We went out to audit the Dealership Reliable Nissan. When we first arrived we spoke to the manager about what we were there to look for and also what documents we were going to be looking at.

The manager complied and gave us the transactions for our audit period which was for a year. Before hand Jennifer had seen the transactions and picked a random sample for us to check. We took those samples from the files and began to look at everything that was on our check list for the compliance based on the New Mexico state statutes related to the sales of vehicles. I enjoyed looking at these files and making sure the Dealership was doing its job properly. We also looked at bank statements to make sure checks were clearing and for other possible errors or fraud.

We were there for about a few days and I enjoyed being out on the field. Then after we were done with the test work it was time to look over everything and write the report. Jennifer had me help her write the findings and I enjoyed that she gave me the opportunity to do so. Self Assessment I believe I enjoy this field of work because of both going out on the field and also having some time in the office. I like that most of the audits are done with more than one person so this gives you the opportunity to work with others and to learn from others.

I am an introvert but I also like to be around people so I think auditing is a great mix for me to handle being around others but not just being by myself in an office all day. I also like the investigative part of auditing and being detail-oriented. When I started college I thought about being a detective of some sort and I think auditing feels that interest of having investigative work without having to be in such danger with the police department or FBI. One thing I have noticed is that I would like to give back to others or help the community.

I think auditing does a little of helping others. For example, our agency goes to audit businesses to help them not just to find out things that are wrong with their operations. Also with the IRS, yes we try to save taxpayers money as weird as that sounds. So I think this helps with me wanting to help others. So for the most part I feel like auditing is the choice for me right now. I need to dwell on the fact that if I choose auditing as a career will I want to do this for 40 years. Right now I say I can but I never know what I will encounter in the future.

Career Exploration As I said above I was introduced to my current job from the e-recruiting services offered at ASM. I think that this service is great to have for busy students. I found it hard to find jobs online or from the newspaper. I registered on the Monster. com site and although it gave me job descriptions related to my degree it was a bit confusing to use and I got so much junk mail and pop ups when using there site. With the e-recruiting I get the best job ads sent right to me knowing that they are legit and meaningful to my degree and career choice.

I also will attend information sessions and job fairs at UNM in the future. I have attended an accounting job fair once but I was really not sure what I wanted to do at the time so it was a little waste of my time. I also think when going to these sessions and career fairs I will gain access to the companies available for auditing positions and I will access these companies websites. All options made by UNM should surely help me find a job to apply for. List of Search Tactics

I have already taken the opportunity to upload my resume and information on the Career Services site for UNM. I continue to get job descriptions from the ASM listservs form e-recruiting and I keep my eyes open for any job I feel will be worth applying for or interesting. With the opportunity to do an informational interview for this class I believe I have got my foot in the door with the Defense Contract Audit Agency (DCAA). I will continue to reach out to them and hope one day I can apply for a position.

I will also continue my internship with IRS as long as I can and hope a position opens up for me there as well. I enjoy where I currently work and hope to continue networking with people in my organization. I plan to reach out to the DCAA when I have acquired my MBA and even the CPA. I will attend the career fair next semester when I am going to get my BBA, this way I can put my foot in the door for many companies and hopefully also see the DCAA there. Really if the opportunity comes up for any of these tactics I will act on them as I see them being appropriate.