Category: Careers

Posted on by — Leave a comment

Inside Married Life: Priya Sprunk’s Perspective

Priya Sprunk was a Psychology major with a concentration in Exercise Science during her time at Grove City College. As a member of the 2017 graduating class, Priya still feels very connected with the students. She was a member of the Sigma Theta Chi sorority, and still holds close relationships with the current girls, along with alumni. About a month after graduation, Priya was married to her best friend, Nate Sprunk, who changed her formerly the last name of Graczyk. Since Nate is a current senior at The Grove, Priya was able to shed some light on their relationship while in different stages of their lives.

When asked what it is like with Nate still in school, Priya responded with:

“It is different for sure. It is a somewhat challenging dynamic when one person in a relationship works full time and one is a student full time. I sometimes wish I didn’t have to live in my college town because it makes me feel like I haven’t fully moved on from college. However, my job helps me feel like I’m making a difference, which helps. I work as an instructor for adults with mild to moderate intellectual disabilities who have graduated from high school, but still, need to develop independent living and employment skills before living on their own. I really enjoy it!”

Priya stressed how it has been hard to make time for other friends after working full time and then coming home to spend time with Nate.  However, she feels that marriage has helped both become more independent and hard-working, along with giving them the happiness of living together.

“We met about 10 years ago when I was in 7th grade and Nate was in 6th grade. We were part of the same youth group and were always close friends. I had a huge crush on him, but we didn’t start dating until the summer of 2014 before my freshman year at Grove City College. The college time together helped us grow together; I don’t even recognize the young and immature teenage couple we were four years ago. Living in a Christian environment helped me grow spiritually and make Christian friends who hold me accountable while encouraging me. Later we began to think about marriage as we started thinking about our future careers and what we wanted for our lives.  By the fall of my junior year after many discussions by ourselves, with both sets of parents, and with friends, we had decided we were ready to commit our lives to each other. We were engaged the following March,” Priya said.

Priya and Nate continue to enjoy each other’s company, build upon their relationship, and focus on God. By attending church, reading their Bibles, and praying together, their commitment to growing spiritually has shown in their actions toward others and each other. They lift one another up while practicing patience and empathy in the hard moments. Priya looks forward to their awesome future.

Posted on by — Leave a comment

A Major League Intern

Nate Curry, a 2019 senior, may seem like your average student athlete, but last summer he had a major experience with Major League Soccer (MLS) at its National Sales Center. Located in Blaine, Minn., Nate spent the summer as an intern supporting the current crop of post-graduates who were going through the sales training program themselves.

An internship at Grove City can be used for class credit if it meets the criteria set forth by each academic department. A few of these requirements may include regular contact with your faculty advisor, logging your hours worked, and a paper to reflect on your time as an intern. Depending on the number of hours of work an intern does, they can receive an upwards of six hours of class credit. A student’s faculty advisor for their internship will be a professor who has had firsthand experience in that type of work. This has proven to benefit our students because they can go into their internships knowing what they can expect, as well as being aware of what challenges they may be faced with.

I sat down with Nate and his faculty advisor, Dr. Scott Powell, to discuss what Nate’s experience at the National Sales Center was like. Dr. Powell also gave us some insight on the advantages of doing an internship for academic credit, as well as why Grove City encourages all of their students to take advantage of those benefits.

Dr. Powell and Nate went more in depth on Nate’s internship, the importance of an academically verified internship, and what it looks like to be a Christian in a secular work environment. If you are interested in learning more about these topics, you can view our full interview here: https://youtu.be/_RBSy-zZfAo

Posted on by — Leave a comment

Audit Internship Tips II: You Are Not Alone

So, you just read a whole blog post and you have not learned anything? You are right where you were before the start of the blog and are still (A) confused what audit is and reading this for future reference or (B) waiting for some tips for that internship you start next month.

No matter which group you may fall into, you are probably a bit confused and slightly annoyed, but this is normal. This is all part of the process of being an audit intern. You start unsure, then get stressed with all of the pressure of interviews and networking, then you finally get an offer and you become dazed and confused about what you just got yourself into. That is what I am here for, though. In providing tips, I hope to not just give you the general speech telling you that there is no way to prepare for it (that I noted in the previous blog). Instead, I hope to supply you with some useful advice and necessary skills, which will supply you the opportunity to be successful in this internship you will receive (or have already received).

So, let us finally get started. You have this internship and you want to be prepared and ready to take it on and provide the employer your best effort, but how do you do that and what is audit? For those of you who do not know what audit is, the best place to start this journey is to first describe and discuss what an auditor does. An auditor’s job is to perform tests of a company’s financial statements and perform other various assurance acts to provide their clients and their client’s stakeholder’s confidence in the preparation of financial statements and confidence in the processes in place at a client’s location. It is with this definition that we can move on into the final blog of the series and really dig into both what this career path known as audit is and FINALLY hear the precious tips you have been waiting quite patiently for.

Posted on by — Leave a comment

Audit Internship Tips I: An Introduction to The Process

Are you an incoming freshman planning on majoring in accounting or a college student looking for an accounting internship? If so, you may find this blog a bit helpful and encouraging.

At some point over the next couple of years, when you decide to start looking for an internship (or if you already started looking), you are bound to come across a lot of audit internship opportunities. The reasoning for this is twofold. First, audit internships are usually the main internship opportunity that public accounting firms offer during the summer due to their year-round need. Secondly, because early in the school year (September/August and around the time of the Career Fair), is when the Big Four accounting firms (EY, Deloitte, PwC and KPMG) start hiring, this is also when regional firms begin looking. With this abundance of opportunities and the encouragement of your colleagues and friends, you will then (if you have not already started) go out and apply at these firms. In applying, your goal is to get an interview. In doing so, you will go through your first, second, and, yes, even third round of interviews at these various firms. Then, if you are one of the lucky ones, get an offer.

So, now that you have this offer (or offers), you will more likely than not find yourself in the place I once was a short six months ago. You have an internship at a public accounting firm in audit, but if you were asked to tell someone what an audit was you would not even know where to start. Even with your lack of knowledge of the field you accepted the offer anyway and act confident and cool, when deep inside you are having a mini-heart attack because you are not sure what auditing even is and everyone you talk to who has had an internship in audit before just tells you that, “Audit is different. Class can’t really prepare you for what you will be doing on a daily basis as an auditor,” which, if I’m being honest, is true to some extent but this is where I come in…

Posted on by — Leave a comment

How Homecoming Helped Me Get an Internship

Imagine this:

You are a junior looking for an internship and Homecoming weekend is quickly approaching. You have just gone through one of the most stressful months of your life, where you had a multitude of tests, had to update and re-write your resume and cover letter, and spent hours on end networking and interviewing both at your college’s career fair and in on and off-campus interviews. After going through a month of this, only one thing could make everything feel worth it. No, this one thing is not a fine dinner at Hicks dining hall, it is an internship offer!

In approaching the weeks following the stressful month before, I wondered what else I could do, or where else I could apply for internships. It was during these following weeks that Grove City College held its annual Homecoming, which was a time for students to relax and alumni to come back and visit the college. It was during this time of relaxation for me that I, by chance, ran into a past member of the Crons (the housing group, which I am part of on campus). Upon discussing with him the current state of the group, I later found that he worked in the field of accounting, and not only did he work in the field of accounting, but he was a shareholder for a firm and they were looking for interns for the summer. Throughout our discussion we exchanged information, which later allowed me to not just contact him, but set up an interview at his firm’s office, which later led to an offer from the firm for a summer internship position.

Who would have thought, that after one of the most stressful months of my life that I would, in my “relaxing week” of Homecoming, randomly run into someone and that our discussions would turn into a later job offer? Is it not funny how God works? As you find yourself in a similar situation as I in the upcoming years, I urge you to remember my story and to have faith in God, because he is always doing works in your life, even when you think it is time to relax.

23 The Lord makes firm the steps
of the one who delights in him;
24 though he may stumble, he will not fall,
for the Lord upholds him with his hand.

Psalms 37-23-24 (NIV)

Posted on by — Leave a comment

Internship Opportunities: Engineer Edition

Are you a Mechanical Engineering major? Electrical Engineering major? Looking for a summer internship? There is hope for you, just talk to Shannon Stovar!

Shannon Stovar is a senior Mechanical Engineering major at Grove City College. She is from Butler, Pa. and the first person in her family to attend Grove City College.

Shannon was one of my three ‘random’ freshmen roommates and has stayed a close friend of mine throughout college. During our sophomore year, Shannon was looking for an engineering summer internship, and I knew just the person she should talk to. I immediately called my dad, Rich Bartek, who at the time was the vice president and COO of the manufacturing company, Oberg Industries. He worked there for about 14 years and loved to hire Grove City College students as interns and employees. Oberg is headquartered in Freeport, Pa., which is only about a 25-minute commute from Shannon’s hometown of Butler. My dad and I both knew Shannon was a hard worker and fast learner and he was more than happy to help her. Shortly after, Shannon applied for Oberg Industries’ mechanical engineering internship and got an offer for the summer!

Shannon excelled that summer at Oberg Industries and outshined the other interns. Oberg ended up offering her another internship for the following summer, after her junior year. She gladly accepted.

“I assisted the design engineers in a variety of tasks along with helping in other areas of the company like die maintenance and quality control. I developed 3D models and drawings for customer parts and tooling. I worked on quite a few independent projects where I was given a problem such as a component in a machine that had broken and had to come up with a solution to fix the issue,” Shannon explained to me when I asked about what she did both summers.

I followed up by asking Shannon if she liked her time with Oberg, “I really enjoyed the experience! I think one of the most important parts about a company is the people that you work with, and everyone I worked with was extremely helpful and kind. I formed close friendships with workers from all different areas of the company. I was able to work with some of the brightest engineers in the company and was really challenged by this. Oberg gave me a wide variety of tasks so that I wouldn’t get bored and they really trusted me to work independently on big projects.”

Shannon received a full-time job offer from the company this past August. Oberg was gracious and gave her roughly six months to decide if she would like to take the offer. She had obviously proven herself very worthy over the course of her two summers there. Shannon is giving herself some time to decide and taking other options into consideration as the halfway mark of her senior year quickly approaches.

Many Mechanical Engineer majors assume internships are only for business majors. “Companies like Oberg Industries are overjoyed when they receive a resume from a student coming from Grove City College,” my dad stated. “When Shannon applied we could not wait to work with her.”

This is just another example of how connections within the Grove City College community can give you great opportunities. Students need to continue to persevere and form relationships during their four years because you never know where they will land you.

Posted on by — Leave a comment

Career Networking Mixer

Grove City College Career Fair, 9/26/18

After the Grove City College Career Fair on Sept. 26, the Business Department offered a career networking mixer and panel discussion. This event offered an insider’s perspective into the business world and insight on how to gain a competitive advantage in interviews. Students had an opportunity to mingle with business professionals over hors d’oeuvres before hearing from speakers at the panel session.

David Durfee ’13, returned to the Career Fair as a sales executive with Armstrong World Industries. His degree in Marketing prepared him for this career, but he said that the services offered to current students has improved since his college years. Durfee explained that the annual career fair – a school-wide event – attracts more marketing and management firms now, which provides more networking opportunities to business students. In addition, he has seen improved professor interaction during the fair; students can now find guidance from their professors on which firms to approach, how to start a career conversation, and how to increase self-marketability.

Grossman Yanak & Ford (GY&F), a Pittsburgh accounting firm, regularly sends representatives to recruit Grove City College students. Colleen Febbraro, HR Director at GY&F, says that the Certified Public Accountant (CPA) firm seeks Grovers because they have found that Grove City graduates are well-rounded compared to their peers. In addition, the graduates have been prepared by their education to work well on their own and in groups. She mentioned that GY&F has found Grovers to have “superb” communication skills and advanced technical training – attributes that are evidence of thorough preparation by trained faculty. Though GY&F has a familiarity with the quality of a Grove City College education, Febbraro said that Grove City’s exceptional Accounting program – which graduates students with a CPA passing rate at nearly 30% higher than the national average – is making a name for itself as ninth in the nation for CPA success rates.

Emily Miller, who graduated from Grove City College in 2015, now works with Grossman Yanak & Ford and returned to the Career Fair to help with recruitment. She says that Grove City College left her prepared to excel in the CPA exam and her future career. Though she was not expecting the volume of writing that her job demands, she says that the Grove City humanities core adequately prepared her to handle this challenge.

The business mixer representatives offer not only career placements, but also higher education opportunities. Alexander Lowry represented Gordon College as the executive director of its Financial Analytics program, explaining that this program would be ideal for Grove City students studying a variety of disciplines. For students interested in a career involving finance, statistics, or data analysis, the Boston school offers a Master of Science in Financial Analysis. Entering a fast-paced career after college can be intimidating to undergraduate students, but Gordon College offers insight into the Boston financial scene. Lowry, who has experience in executive management at JP Morgan, explains that students can expect networking and internship opportunities during the 12-class program – Gordon has long-standing ties with financial powerhouses like Liberty Mutual, Fidelity Investments, and Putnam Investments.

The question and answer panel, which featured several Grover alumni, consisted of several businessmen giving advice and feedback to the students about launching a career. After the event, there was a tangible atmosphere of excitement and anticipation about preparing for the future, with many students discussing what they liked about the panel. One student noted that it was encouraging to see Grove City College alumni in such high positions at their firms – evidence that a Grove City degree is highly marketable. Another observation was an appreciation that the speakers went very in-depth in giving advice on how to prepare for a full-time interview. Interviewing for a part-time job in high school, the student said, is very different from the process for a “real” career, and so he enjoyed the tips for interview preparation. Overall, the Business Mixer was a huge success, providing not only opportunities for students to network with prospective employers and fellow members of the Business department, but also opportunities for students to hear relevant advice for career preparation during the panel.

 

Posted on by — Leave a comment

Inside Married Life: Nate Sprunk’s Perspective

Nate Sprunk, an Exercise Science major and Psychology minor, is a quarter of the way through his senior year at Grove City College. He began his freshman year busy with his involvement on the lacrosse team and continued up until this year. His decision was primarily to focus more on school, along with his new wife, Priya.

Nate and Priya have known each other for about 10 years, meeting at middle school youth group at their church back in the day. Although, they did not start dating until the summer before Nate’s senior year of high school. They had always been great friends, but that summer they spent much more time together and grew extremely close.

“Going to school together gave us time to grow closer and build a stronger relational foundation to get married. Being at GCC was positive because it gave us a Christian environment to grow in,” Nate said. They started the conversation during Nate’s sophomore year of college, Priya’s junior year. With Priya being a year older, the decision to be married was difficult in terms of their current academic standings, but, with an abundance of advice and prayer, the couple decided to be married this previous summer.

This fall semester, with Priya as a Grove City College graduate, Nate has noticed changes in his life since the wedding. He feels that he has become more responsible and independent in his current college career and post-college plans. In living off-campus with his wife, he sees friends significantly less, which can cause strains in his relationships, but it just means working harder to maintain the ones that are truly important.

“It’s great to live together and have our own place. It’s also great to be able to support each other. However, it does make things weird with your relationships with other people because of change. My advice for people would be to make sure you’re truly ready for everything that comes with the commitment. We did marriage counseling prior to our wedding. I think that it helped us be more prepared for the transition and for what to expect,” Nate said.

Although only 21, Nate’s maturity and dedication to Priya has made their marriage fulfilled and exciting. His future plans include attending school for physical therapy to further his knowledge of subjects surrounding his college education.

Posted on by — Leave a comment

September: The Month of Cold Weather, Rain, and Careers

September. This is the month in the year where people like me begin to get sad that warm weather and sunny days are on their way out and the cold and rainy days are on their way in. This is also the month that people like my friend Ben look forward to, as it acts as his glimpse into the upcoming cold months. Weather (hehe, puns) you are like Ben or like myself, September also acts as an active time in pursuing jobs and careers.

The month of September for the average Grover is a time where school is beginning to really kick into gear and a time in which the College’s Career Services Office makes their biggest push of the year to help students find jobs. During this month there are loads of events going on and loads of opportunity for students of all ages at the College. From the kick-off party to the College’s large Career Fair, this month is packed full of opportunity and promise.

My personal account of my experience with Career Services and the various events and opportunities they supply, sadly, due to my own neglect, did not take place until my junior year at the College. It was September of last year that I entered the Career Services Office for the first time. At this point in my college career, and life, I had come to the realization that, firstly, I need to get a job at some point and, secondly, that since I am going to college I should probably get a job in my field. With this realization, I then set the goal of obtaining an internship for my junior year summer, which are highly common for Grove City College students. The only problem at this point, though, was that I had no idea where to start. Aimlessly lost, I decided to approach the Career Services Office on campus and in our first meeting they assisted me in setting up an account on the colleges new, at that point, job website and set up another meeting with me where we could go over my resume and get it ready for an on-campus mock interview they encouraged me to sign up for. So, just like that, I went from lost to found and was on track to my end goal. A few days after the initial meeting I went into the Career Services Office to look over my resume, which was accomplished by the end of the meeting. After leaving this meeting I had some work to do to my resume but was on track and ready for my on-campus mock interview. About a week later the mock interview arrived and I showed up with my new and improved resume and dressed to impress. After a 30-minute interview with the head of Human Resources at one of the companies I was planning on applying at, I was able to receive some constructive criticism. It was this mock interview that prepared me for the slew of interviews I was about to undertake.

As I applied for as many interviews as possible via the College’s job website, the response began flooding in. Instantly I was signed up for multiple first-round interviews with various types of companies. This feat alone was a huge accomplishment from where I was a short month ago. I found as I went through my first round of interviews that as I progressed I seemed to get better and more comfortable. Thus, allowing my second round of interviews to progress and become better than the first. After first, second, and even third rounds of interviews with some companies I had finally done it… I had received that elusive internship offer.

Needless to say, if you find yourself in a similar scenario as I did, do not fret. The Career Services Office is there to help. Your career needs are never too far gone!

 

 

Posted on by — Leave a comment

Interview Advice from Keystone Ridge Designs

The interview process can be a stressful time for anyone, especially when one is unsure of what to expect upon entering. Heather Starcher is Vice President of Keystone Ridge Designs, a company that manufacturers site furniture, and has been working in the business world for over 20 years. In her experience with interviewing, especially with students from Grove City College, she has focused on aspects that strongly affect an interview, positively or negatively. “Remember, they are hiring you to help their company. So they want to know what you bring to the table, how you can be an impact and help them succeed. They don’t want to hear from you ‘this is what I want’,” Heather said.

Followed by her few statements, employees Dave Starcher and Angela Maloney gave insight from their involvement with being both the interviewer and the interviewee.

Interview Advice from Director of Sales of Keystone Ridge Designs, Dave Starcher:

  1. Be prepared. Know the company and be prepared to ask questions that prove that you have done your research.
  2. Be yourself. Remember that you are interviewing the company just as much as they are interviewing you. Figure out if the company’s culture would be a fit for you. Ask what a typical day might look like or who are the team members with whom you would most often interact?
  3. Ask about the future. What could be worse than taking a job with a company that is about to fail?! Ask about their vision and how they foresee the future. What are they doing better than their competition to ensure success? Are there plans to spin-off other sister companies? How much are they growing?

Interview Advice from Director of Marketing of Keystone Ridge Designs, Angela Maloney:

  1. Take notes.
  2. Have good questions ready for whenever the interviewer says “What questions do you have for us?”
  3. Always ask for next steps at the end of the interview to show you are truly committed and want the job.
  4. Follow up. Thank you emails and notes help keep you top of mind and show your ability to follow through.
  5. Don’t ask about money in a first interview.