During the summer, I had the opportunity to work as an administrative intern at Beacon Roofing Supply’s corporate headquarters in Herndon Virginia. My daily duties included filing expense reports, coordinating travel, and prepping meeting materials for several of the executive officers of the company. I worked closely with the executive admin team to learn the inter-workings of the office. This was my first full time job, and I believe the experience I gained from it was invaluable. I thoroughly enjoyed collaborating with coworkers as well as working on independent projects for the company.
In addition to the day to day tasks that I performed, I was also assigned several different, special projects which spanned across multiple areas, including the accounting, supply chain management, and finance departments. Within the accounting department, I assisted with the filing of the state and federal taxes for Beacon. There was a lot of very detailed work that went into meticulously ensuring that each tax form and record was filled out accurately and in full. I was surprised to see that several states still require the taxes to be filed via paper rather than electronically. Separately, I worked very closely with the Chief Supply Chain Officer to coordinate a meeting, which I then contributed to as an active team member. This was my first time participating in a large meeting, and I was able to share my ideas, which was an incredible opportunity. Finally, my most involved project was in accordance with the Directors of Finance. For that project, I compiled a comprehensive list of investors and contacts with arrays of their respective information in preparation for the annual investor day.
Although my intended career path does not include working in a corporate office, I believe that the experience was still valuable, and the plethora of soft and hard skills that I learned are transmittable to any career field. It is important to be able to work with and assist your team, as well as to understand how to direct your own work as a member of a multifaceted and complex system of working peers.