Internship Spotlight: Jake Vilott, Deloitte

Jake Vilott '22 BSBA (Accounting and Entrepreneurship) was a Tax Consultant Intern at Deloitte in Phoenix, AZ.

What was a typical day like?

This internship focused as much as on getting exposure to public tax accounting as it dis with networking within the Deloitte Phoenix office. Most days us interns would reach out to our team for work, but complete smaller tasks while we waited to get assigned a project. Deloitte also took us out to lunch everyday and to multiple dinners along with weekly happy hours. Interns also sat in on staff and client meetings while working on client work. 

What was your favorite part of the experience?

My favorite part of the experience was meeting the people at Deloitte Tax in Phoenix. It was also very nice to get hands on experience with clients, and to see how my work directly helped the engagement team. Deloitte also flew out all interns to Dallas, Texas where we attended a 3-day intern conference at Deloitte University!

What did you learn?

I learned that it is very normal to feel super lost when starting a new job/project. The proper thing to do is to be resourceful and find out who could best help you with the challenge you are facing then reach out to them. In the field of public accounting, anything can happen making it imperative you are always ready to learn. 

What advice do you have for other students looking for a similar experience, or advice for future students to be successful?

Be yourself when you are interviewing. From my experience, interviewers can tell almost immediately if you are being truthful when answering their questions. Prepare for your interviews by researching your interviewer and coming with questions for them, either with respect to their professional career or the firm. Lastly, be open minded!