My experience as an internship host. By David Berliner ’83
David Berliner ’83, a partner with BDO Seidman Consulting, New York, is hosting internships for several Lafayette students this summer.
Interns in BDO Consulting do not shadow any one individual consultant. Rather, they work independently or in teams on various business restructuring, bankruptcy litigation, or financial due diligence assignments for many people in our group. They also assist us in preparing proposals for new business opportunities and other special projects. Our interns are given real work that would otherwise be assigned to full-time consultants.
We have consistently recruited interns from Lafayette due to its proximity to NYC and the broad background of its students. We want to provide our interns with real-world experience so that they can see first hand what it is like working in a consulting environment and what a job in consulting would actually be like.
Our interns typically get involved in reviewing various business documents and financial records, researching companies experiencing financial distress, and assisting in analyzing cash flow and other financial reports.
I had an internship with a bank during my senior year at Lafayette and found it to be an invaluable way to apply the knowledge I learned in the classroom to the real business world. I am happy to be able to offer Lafayette students similar opportunities to explore a career in consulting and to learn something about applying their economic and business training to a specific field.
We also use the internships as a recruiting tool. We identify interns that did excellent work for us and made strong impressions with our management team. We typically offer these successful interns full-time positions after graduation. We are looking for people who have a strong work ethic, work hard when necessary, think on their feet, and have excellent writing and interpersonal skills.
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- New York City internships, externships, and career networking are part of the unique Lafayette student experience
Results from NSSE can provide prospective students with insights into how they might learn and develop at a given college. 