Fowler College Class of 2021 Career Spotlight: Meghan Valdivia, Assurance Associate at Ernst and Young
Accounting Graduate Utilizes Networking and Campus Involvement to Connect With Her Ideal Firm
Growing up in an accountant family, Meghan Valdivia decided she didn’t want to follow suit until her junior year of high school when she found her passion for business and banking. Valdivia’s four years at SDSU inspired her to hold multiple leadership positions in student organizations, connect with her peers and professors, and keep her priorities straight.
Meghan Valdivia, Class of 2021.
Meghan’s networking skills and leadership experience helped her land a position with Enrst and Young after her internship in Summer 2020. She is thrilled to begin her career in accounting and reflects on how her SDSU experience prepared her for this new journey.
Q: Can you describe a little bit about yourself and how/when you decided to pursue accounting as an area of study?
A little bit about me… I was born and raised in Southern California and currently have no plans to leave. I have two younger brothers. The first, Matthew, is also an accounting major at SDSU and the second is only five years old so we have yet to see where he will go. Outside of school, I enjoy indoor rock climbing and hanging out with my friends, both of which have been impacted by the pandemic. Since the pandemic started, I have spent a lot more time on myself, drawing, and binge watching tv shows (much like most other people).
Accounting… Growing up, I watched my parents navigate their careers in accounting and decided that it was not for me. They sat in too many boring meetings, looked at too many numbers, and spent too many hours working. At least that’s what I thought at the time. I made it very clear that I was not going to follow in my parent’s footsteps until my sophomore or junior year of high school. At the time, I was enrolled in the Global Business and Finance program in school and took electives focused on business including Money and Banking and Business Entrepreneurship. Prior to completing my college applications, one of my teachers, Mr. Tim Turnquist, had us first investigate career paths that were attainable with a four-year college degree. I, of course, chose accounting as I had three (my parents and stepmother) accounting professionals at home. Then, he had us investigate a career path that was attainable with a two-year degree. I struggled to find something that interested me to report on and then began to think about what I would have done for the first project if I didn’t choose accounting. I couldn’t think of a single thing. Then, college applications came around and I knew that I needed to choose something that I could see myself doing in the future. It was then that I took a step back and realized that my strengths were in math and English. What major could I possibly do that would play to my strengths? Accounting. At this point, I had accepted that it was a good choice for me because I had come to it on my own without allowing my parents to explicitly influence my choice.
Q: Describe the position you will begin after graduation (job functions, key role).
In July 2021, I will begin my role as an assurance associate at Ernst and Young. As an assurance associate, it is my job to work with my team in conducting audit activities to identify and resolve issues in the client’s financial statements before release to the public. It is our job to exercise professional skepticism and provide reasonable assurance that the information is materially free from error. This is done to protect and serve the public interest.
Valdivia at the Ernst and Young (EY) Summer Leadership Program Trip to Disney.
Q: When did you receive your official job offer and what was your reaction when you received the offer?
I received my official job offer upon completion of my assurance internship in Summer 2020. Receiving the offer was exciting to me because it meant that I was going to be able to come back and work with the firm full time the following year. It meant that my efforts both during recruitment and the internship had finally paid off. However, I must admit that it was also a little bit daunting to me because it signaled the approach to the end of my college education. SDSU has become my home over the last four years and, as I experienced when transitioning to college, major life changes can sometimes prove to be challenging. Looking back, I know that my experiences at SDSU have prepared me for this change and I am confident that I will overcome any challenges that come my way.
Q: How did you get connected with this company and position?
With parents in the accounting profession, it was conveyed to me very early in my life that sometimes it’s about who you know and not necessarily only what you know. Coming into college with that mindset, it was very important to me to begin networking as early as possible. In Fall 2017, I made the decision to join the Student Accounting Society (SAS) and work on meeting people with similar interests and professional aspirations. It was the people there, along with my parents, who encouraged me to go to bigger networking events like Meet the Firms (MTF) despite being a freshman. That fall, I went to MTF and received some very mixed feedback on early recruitment. Some firms wanted to focus their attention on students actively seeking an internship, but EY was very welcoming and open to the idea of getting to know the people and the company even if I was still a couple years out from eligibility for a full internship. In the following semesters, I continued to network and recruit with several firms that had the same open mindset but, ultimately, decided that EY was where I felt I belonged. From there, I gathered advice from my parents, professors, and peers that helped me in my decision to join the assurance practice at EY.
Q: Did you use any other campus resources to help you acquire this position? If so, describe the support.
I, personally, can’t think of any campus resources that helped me to acquire the position. However, I did use the Aztec Career Connection website for applications though I think that the school now uses Handshake.
Valdivia (President) and fellow Student Accounting Society (SAS) Spring 2020 Executive Board.
Q: Are there specific skills you learned at SDSU (in class or otherwise) that helped you with the role’s qualifications?
Though not specific to my career path, one of the bigger talking points going through interviews was my time management skills. It seemed that many interviewers were surprised to find that I was able to juggle working at Nordstrom Rack, serving on the Executive Board for SAS, and maintaining a healthy social life while attempting to complete both my bachelors and masters degrees in four years.
Q: What advice do you have for fellow students, regardless of their field, looking to jumpstart their career and land their first job post-graduation?
Network early and often. This includes your peers, your professors, and even professionals in your field of choice. The connections you make are invaluable and can really make a difference in your experiences moving forward. You never know when and where those same people will show up later in your life.
Q: What is it that you are most looking forward to as you kick start this next chapter?
As I move into the next chapter of my life, I look forward to applying the knowledge that I gained throughout my college career to the real world. Admittedly, there were some classes that applied what we were learning to an example from the real world, but it almost always was trying to teach a certain point. I look forward to working with my team to audit companies where we don’t necessarily know that something is wrong from the start. There will almost certainly be something that could be more accurate, but it may not be as clear as it is in educational examples.
Valdivia at the Aztec Core Leadership Retreat.
Q: What experience at SDSU has changed your life the most?
A big part of my time at SDSU was my involvement with the Student Accounting Society. The organization and the people I met there played a huge role in getting me to where I am today and gave me lifetime friends along the way. Through my involvement, I was able to meet some amazing individuals who were both welcoming and supportive. Many were my peers, but others were faculty like Dr. Nathan Oestreich and Dr. Janie Chang. I am extremely grateful for them and look forward to working with many of them in the future. During this time, I also took on several leadership positions within the organization including VP of Membership, VP of Finance, Executive VP, and President. It was rewarding for me to watch my peers accomplish their professional goals and help through their difficulties just as previous leadership did for me.
Q: What is the best advice you have received during your time at SDSU?
In my second year at SDSU, I took MIS 301 with Professor Kelly Shaul. At the time, I was recruiting heavily for Summer Leadership Programs (SLPs) and found that many of the recruiting events conflicted with my class times. Out of respect for my professors, I would always speak to them prior to the event to keep them informed and ensure that no professor felt that I was merely skipping class for no reason. During this time, Professor Shaul encouraged me to keep my priorities straight. After all, the opportunity cost of skipping one class was far less than the opportunity cost of skipping an event that could, ultimately, negatively impact my future. I took his advice and applied it several times throughout the remainder of college. Whenever my plate was a little too full, I took necessary action to still fulfill my promises and obligations but kept my priorities in check and took care in not burning myself out.
*Group photos were taken before March 2020
