News

One of the many wonderful things about calling Champaign-Urbana home is the ease of access to world-class universities. Among our employees are proud alumni of the University of Illinois, Illinois State University, Eastern Illinois University, and Illinois Wesleyan University, all of which are within one hour’s drive from the doorstep of our office. We do our best to take advantage of every opportunity we have to partner with these universities to bridge the gap between academia and industry. One such opportunity is our job shadow program.

On a semi-annual basis, we host job shadow candidates from the University of Illinois. The first group of students is hosted in January over winter break, and the second group is hosted in June over summer break. The typical job shadow candidate is a freshman or sophomore and an accounting major. We have done our best to organize the job shadow program to provide students with a beneficial experience.

The day begins with an office tour and introductions to the employees with whom the students will be interacting during the day. The candidates then meet with a partner to get an overview of firm operations from the top. Next, the firm administrator provides background on the firm as well as an overview of all the services we provide to our clients and the community. After these introductory meetings, the candidates will get a detailed overview of both the tax and audit departments. They meet with a management-level employee in each department to get a description of what each job entails. In addition, the candidates also go to lunch with two employees in order to facilitate career-oriented conversation in a more casual setting.

MHFA makes every effort to make the job shadow experience one that will provide the students with real-life insight into a career in public accounting, as well as showcase the benefits of working for a locally-owned accounting firm. Our goal is to make the job shadow experience both fun and educational. We look forward to hosting our next set of job shadow candidates in June 2017.