Internship Spotlight: Brian Donohoe ’18
Providence College has no shortage of exceptional students, which is why we established a platform where we could let their accomplishments shine. Our Internship Spotlight series provides the perfect place for them to recount some of the most memorable aspects of their impressive internship experiences. From companies like L’Oreal to RXR Realty, the students of the PCSB transition from classroom to real world by taking what they’ve learned and applying it to their delegated roles. Meet Brian Donohoe, a senior who interned at Ernst & Young last summer!
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What was your major/minor?
My major is accounting, and my minor is finance.
- Does the company you interned with have a social media presence, specifically on the channels below? If so, what are their usernames and/or links to their pages?
- Instagram: @eyuscareers
- Twitter: @EYnews
- LinkedIn: @EY
- When/how did you secure your internship at Ernst & Young? Do you have any tips for students who are looking for an internship?
I secured my internship in the spring of my junior year. I had previously met EY recruiters at multiple career fairs and felt the company would be a good fit for me. I got in touch with the Boston office recruiter, Lauren Garrone, and let her know I was interested in applying for an internship at EY.
My advice for students looking for an internship is to be genuine and to keep a good attitude throughout the whole process. Not every interview or interaction you have with a company is going to result in a job, but you can still learn from each experience. It’s important to always keep a positive attitude.
- Did you learn anything that you found to be particularly useful? Were there any projects that you worked on that you found to be interesting?
My internship was very team oriented. I would rotate between audit teams occasionally, so I became more comfortable working with many different people. Everyone had a role and relied on their fellow team members. Some of the skills I improved on translated over to my schoolwork, as I feel I became a better team member when working on group projects. One of the projects I worked on was for a company that is planning to transition from a private company to a public company in the upcoming year. The audit team I worked with is going to help them with that transition. I enjoyed working on this project because it gave me an opportunity to see all the work behind the process of becoming a public company.
- What was the most challenging aspect of your job?
The most challenging part of the job for me was understanding the language used during meetings on the audit team. The audit team members would use a lot of acronyms and industry specific terms that are uncommonly used otherwise. I sat in on a team planning event for a large client my first week on the job and felt as if everyone else was speaking in a different language. Luckily, my team encouraged me to ask many questions. It felt good once I was able to understand and participate in the conversations because it meant I had learned a lot.
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Read about more PCSB students and their Internship Spotlights here!
