Stewart Pilsch- Audit Staff

In September, I start my first job — one that I’m already familiar with and anxious to get started. I’ll be an official member of the PKM team. How did I get here? Through an incredible internship experience and the realization that coworkers can become your best friends.

Who says work can’t be fun? My internship at PKM taught me a ton, but it was so much more than just work! Sure, I put in long hours and got a feel for what life would be like in the public accounting profession, but it is the social side of my internship that made the difference. The relationships I established at PKM started at the office, but they didn’t end there. Social activities and events such as Braves and Hawks game outings and dinner/social hour get-togethers, made my internship experience feel more like I was hanging out with my college buddies than with coworkers. Why should that matter? It made me realize that in a highly stressful profession like public accounting, it really matters who you work with.

During my internship, a group of about twenty PKM employees (interns included) met in Buckhead for dinner and to shoot pool and share survival stories after completing the first of our three-month busy season. It really helped me to see that others were experiencing the same stresses and that by being together and sharing our experiences my new best friends were there to support me, just as I was for them.

Everyone got along so well that it made me think that these work relationships were just like those you experience with your best friends from college. In fact, I began to feel like my PKM friends were my best friends from college. When my internship was over, I had to return to school to finish my degree and study for the CPA exam. During that time, I played the role of the guy who moves away for a few years only to realize he misses his friends and then comes back and it is as if nothing has changed. Now that I’m back and ready to officially start my job, I now join the guys at the gym and the pool and play with them on their sports teams. And, on the weekends…we hang out.

These social activities that I first experienced as an intern and that I am now enjoying more regularly as a soon-to-be full-time employee of the firm, gave me a different perspective on the job opportunity and where I fit culturally within the firm. I’m a firm believer that people should enjoy work. I think the people who are most successful and most self-satisfied in life love what they do. I’m also a firm believer that your coworkers and employers have a huge impact on how much enjoyment you get out of work. That’s why I think I made the right choice joining PKM. Every time I leave the office I feel like I have done something important. I’m a valuable member of the team and I couldn’t have done it without my new best friends.