UHCL : With Career Services Support, Student Lands Key Internships

Press release from University of Houston-Clear Lake:

July 9, 2021

During college, immersive internships in your field of study can be a critical factor
in finding a job after graduation. Dawson Dreiling, a University of Houston-Clear
Lake senior completing his Bachelor of Science in Accounting, said the support he received from Career Services made the difference in successfully securing two internships that he believes will
ultimately launch his career in accounting.

"My career aspiration is to become a certified public accountant," Dreiling said.
"I'm hoping to become an audit partner."

His three-month summer internship, which began June 1, is with Nacero, a Houston-based
eco-friendly gasoline production company. "I got my summer internship through LinkedIn,
and my supervisor is the company's accountant. I do a lot of accounts payable, invoices,
paying suppliers, bank statement reconciliation, and monthly financial reports," he
explained.

"I got a lot of assistance from Career Services and I took (Career Services Director) Chuck Crocker's Business Principles class, which helped me a lot," he said. "I have a second internship
already lined up with BDO USA, LLP in Houston, for January. I attended a career fair
hosted at UH-Clear Lake through the Accounting Association. BDO USA and other firms
came and I used Jobs4Hawks to submit my application."

In May, Dreiling said that after getting an interview, he'd received an offer letter
from BDO USA.

"I'll be auditing companies for three months, going to companies requesting audits
and assurance consulting, checking records, and completing internal controls," he
said. "This is what I want to do in my career, and Career Services at UHCL has a long
history of helping people with things like this."

He said that whenever he needed to update his resume or practice his interviewing
skills, Crocker was there to help. "I even had professional portraits and business
cards made for free," he said. "I got a lot of training in some soft skills, like
good communication and how to present myself, that I wouldn't have gotten otherwise.
I was more confident when it came to doing an interview."

Dreiling said he hopes that his internship with BDO Global will become a hire after
he graduates in December 2021. "Everything I have done in my coursework has prepared
me for what to expect from my internship," he said. "I learned a lot of information
in my courses, so that gave me a head start in understanding what I needed to know.
I know I'm ready for this job, or for any job I may get. I'm really excited about
it."

For more information about how Career Services can prepare UHCL students for the internship/job search, go online.

This press release was produced by University of Houston-Clear Lake. The views expressed here are the author’s own.