Interning in Finance: A Guide

L&S provides a unique opportunity for a finance intern. Getting to work in an agency offers experiences and knowledge that you don’t get in other workplaces. Working with people in different disciplines could lead to a newfound passion, or a new way to experience finance in the workplace.

I’ve learned a lot during my internship, but here’s a few things you should know about the finance grind at L&S.

Be Organized

Organization looks different for everyone. When working in finance, it’s important to keep track of all your files. Being intentional about how you name your documents and sorting them in a way that makes sense to you will save you a major headache later. If you’re working with many financial documents, like L&S has, it’s important to be able to easily find invoices, memos and bills when you need them.

Don’t Get Frustrated

As an intern, there were many instances where I felt confused, even after being onboarded. It’s important to remember it’s all part of the process. L&S is a workplace where everyone asks questions and helps one another. So, if you don’t understand something right away, don’t sweat it. Just continue to ask questions.

Embrace the Opportunity

One of the best things about working at L&S is that even the interns get involved in other jobs at the agency. You’re not always confined to your desk just running the numbers. I’ve had the opportunity to work the front desk and take phone calls while welcoming clients into the agency. I even helped run a middle school careers camp. All of which taught me skills I didn’t expect to learn, but were great opportunities to try something new. You never know when these skills might help you later in your career.

Personal Projects

There’s a lot of camaraderie and teamwork at the agency, but there’s also opportunities to work on projects completely solo. In finance, I created Excel documents to make media billing easier for everyone, and I spent a lot of time cleaning up accounts to make sure everything was in order. All the work you do for L&S has a real impact on the company, even when you’re working “behind the scenes” in the finance department.

Group Projects

Along with working on your own, there’s plenty of projects the finance team works on together. Each month we present the gross profit numbers to the account service team. This helps us gain an understanding of where the company’s at. It’s vital to the success of L&S and helps keep track of the status of the business.

Reminders

Set reminders for yourself. If you let meetings sit in your calendar, odds are you’ll forget about them. Set reminders for your meetings, and reminders for your reminders. It’s easy to get lost in the work sometimes. So, if you find a way to remember to go to your meetings, you’ll be unstoppable.

FUN!

You read that right, even the finance team can have fun. From team lunches to an agency-wide bean bag tournament, the summer is full of fun events. Even taking a stroll through the office can lead to some interesting conversation. It’s experiences like these that make being an intern at L&S that much more exciting.