Tax Services Intern, summer 2008

Camille McLaws

Education: B.S. in Accounting at Brigham Young University, anticipated graduation in December 2008

Camille McLaws first chose to study accounting because of an interest in business and a desire for job security, but her internship with PwC showed her much more. After taking part in PwC’s Project Belize, McLaws worked in International Tax services in the San Francisco office. She emerged from both experiences with a strong network of support within the company and the opportunity to come back: She starts as a full-time associate with PwC in August 2009.

What attracted you to PwC?
I really liked the people and how they interacted with one another. I could just see the camaraderie between the recruiters, the partners and managers who came to campus. Even in the company’s hierarchy, I could tell that they were friends. That made me instantly comfortable with them.

Tell me about the first day of your internship.
I was nervous, but right away there were three people there to greet me. Everyone was so welcoming, and I made some important contacts. After going out to lunch, I got to know my co-workers more on a ‘friend’ level. I left feeling like I had 50 new friends, and I knew it would be a good internship.

What did you work on over the summer?
Before going to Belize, I studied the country's cultural traditions and politics, but nothing could have prepared me for what we would experience there.  While the conditions were more dire than I expected, so too was the immediate acceptance and appreciation of the children. I worked in International Tax Services, where I did a lot of research rather than fill out forms or crunch numbers. I didn’t have one huge project, but I did get exposure to what I’d do as a first year associate. I got to sit in on conference calls with CEOs of other companies. I felt they treated me more like an associate than an intern.

What was the most important thing you learned?
I gained the knowledge that your career is not just based on a task or about coming up with the right number. Anyone in any classroom can learn that. It’s about finding mentors who you can relate to and who care about you. That’s how you grow within a company. Now, I feel that I have this network of successful professionals who I can turn to for help.

What are your expectations for your full-time position?
I’ll be in the same division I interned in, so I’ll be working on structuring and researching. I know it’ll be more stressful and that there will more consequences for my actions. I’ll have larger tasks, including larger projects that will take more time. That’s good, because I don’t want to just sail through. I want to be pushed, and that’s really what I was looking for.

Where do you see yourself in five years?
I know I still want to be with PwC. I can really see the opportunities with them. I want to try out new tasks and do rotations, maybe in compliance. I think I’d like to try rotations in different cities. Also, I’m taking my CPA starting in February. It might be a little aggressive, but it’s something I really want to do.