Member Monday: Natalie Raulerson
This week’s Member Monday is Natalie Raulerson. Natalie graduated from Georgia Southern University with a Bachelor’s degree in Accounting. Her job search process began fall semester of her junior year when she attended the career fair for accountants known as Georgia Southern Meet the Firms. Her next step in the job search process included becoming a member of Beta Alpha Psi. With being a member of BAP, this leads to several opportunities such as networking with accounting firms and gaining skills in leadership and business communications through presentations at each meeting. After attending both Fall and Spring career fairs and becoming a member of Beta Alpha Psi, she attended a virtual Summer Leadership Program at MST during May 2020. During her senior year, her job search process continued with attending career fairs online due to COVID-19.
In January 2021, she accepted a Summer internship with MST at the Brunswick office. After a successful internship at MST, she accepted a job offer in August 2021. Over the past year, she took classes and achieved her Masters in Accounting in May 2022. Upon finishing the MAcc program, she began working at MST full-time as a Staff Accountant in July 2022.
There were several key factors that helped her narrow her job decision down.
The Team – After interning with MST at the Brunswick office last Summer, she truly loved working with each and every team member at the office. Everyone was so welcoming and eager to help. This is so important especially for interns when needing to ask questions. This was one of the most important decisions for her when deciding where she wanted to work.
Internship – During her internship at MST, she truly enjoyed the work she was assigned and realized that being an accountant was the right career choice. Being able to experience what being an accountant would truly be like outside of the classroom and inside the workplace helped tremendously.
Company Culture – This is important to her due to truly wanting to enjoy where she is working. She loves the work environment at MST. In addition to team lunches, other events outside of the office for employees are planned to allow team members to socialize outside of work. Examples of these are Top Golf, Christmas party, and an Annual Oyster Roast.
Location – She is originally from Blackshear, Ga, which is fairly close to the Brunswick office for MST. MST is the perfect location due to being close to home as well as being close to St. Simons Island, where she vacationed as a child. She always loved visiting the island over the years, so this was the perfect fit for her as this location feels like a second home.
Hours – MST offers flexible working hours and Summer Fridays off.
She believes it is so important to begin attending career fairs in college as early as possible in order to gain experience with the interview process, networking, and meeting all of the firms. She also recommends becoming a member of Beta Alpha Psi if possible. This club is an honor organization where members participate in professional and community service activities, while maintaining academic excellence at the chapter and international level. Members also have the opportunity to develop skills in business communications, networking, and mentorship to develop leadership competencies. Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) is another great opportunity for accounting students to experience during undergrad as well as a graduate student. VITA is an annual partnership between the School of Accountancy at Georgia Southern University and the IRS to provide free individual income tax preparation and e-file services to taxpayers. All tax returns are prepared and reviewed by accounting students and faculty who are IRS VITA certified.
During spring 2021 and 2022, she was a student in VITA and was able to experience the class as both an undergrad and graduate student. She believes she grew professionally from her VITA experience as her soft skills such as communication, teamwork, and social skills improved drastically. Most importantly, students should attend Summer Leadership programs and experience a Spring or Summer internship if possible. This gives college students the hands-on experience they are unable to achieve in the classroom. An internship also helps determine if the intern would like to accept a full-time job from the accounting firm as well as if the firm would like to hire them in return.
The Member Monday series will highlight a different GSCPA member each week. GSCPA is excited to introduce you to your fellow members and let you get to know a little more about them. Stayed tuned for the next Member Spotlight.