Hi, I’m Matt Gutowsky. I will be graduating ahead of my class this upcoming Fall from Michigan State University with a specialty in Finance and a minor in Insurance and Risk Management.

Today was my final day serving as a summer intern at O’Keefe, and I wanted to share some of my experiences over the past 15 weeks and talk about the overall importance of an internship in today’s job market.

When I first started back in early May, I was not quite sure what to expect due to the diverse amount of work our firm performs. Our operations range from Corporate Finance to Strategic Advisory Services, Turnaround and restructuring, and Litigation support. I was lucky enough to work under managing directors from each of these divisions during my time here and learned different things from each one.

My main duties consisted of historical analysis, industry research, and financial modeling.

Having completed an internship that was all virtual last summer, it was refreshing to be able to work one on one with my managing directors and others on projects. I found that being able to talk face to face with my superiors was extremely helpful as they were able to teach me the best and most efficient way to do something. Additionally, it helped that when I did have questions, they were able to walk me through my confusion and taught me how I could apply what I learned in school to the real-world counterpart.

I am extremely grateful for the experience I have had this summer and am glad I was able to gain more experience in Finance, knowing that it will be an important part of moving full time into the workforce.

This brings me into my next point. Having an internship in today’s job market is more important now than ever. When my parents were young, to get a good job it was expected for you to have a college degree to be able to seamlessly transition into the workplace, but that was when entry level positions were actually entry level.

Today, it is more common than not that an entry level position will require 1-3 years of experience. Collegiate students across the country are racing towards internships to obtain this experience, knowing that it can determine whether or not they will be able to get the job they want after college. Studies show that students and young professionals with internship experience are 35% more likely to get at least one job offer after graduating than those without internship experience. Additionally, the median starting salary of a college student who has completed an internship is about $10k more than those who have not.

As daunting as this sounds to many students, it is important to remember that an internship experience is only for 10-15 weeks and allows you to get a good taste of the industry, line of work, and especially the company. Going into each internship opportunity with an open mind allows you to get the best understanding of what aspects you value you most, so that you will be able to seamlessly transition into your full time career after graduation.

I want to give a final thank you to Mr. O’Keefe and the whole team for giving me this incredible experience and hope to be able to work closely with them again.