Jenny Wang graduated from Portland State University with a Bachelor of Arts in Accounting in June 2020. Immediately after graduating, she started her virtual internship at the Port of Seattle.
Between transitioning out of college and searching for a job, navigating life after college can be a challenging venture. As Jenny eagerly waited for graduation, she was also ecstatic for her new role at the Port. Jenny is currently interning with the Accounting and Financial Reporting (AFR) Capital Services team. When deciding on a major at Portland State University, Jenny chose accounting because of her interest in analyzing financial records and understanding the financial processes in business operations. At the Port, she focuses on Construction Work-in-Progress (CWIP) activities. This includes setting up projects in the project costing system, processing project budget requests and amendments, reclassing costs from CWIP to capital asset accounts, and reconciling the CWIP accounting subledger. “I've never worked at a government agency before, so I'm looking forward to learning and exploring more.”
At Home, but Not Alone
After taking her last quarter of college fully online, Jenny believes her transition to work has been successful because of her months of experience completing classes remotely. Starting a new job and not knowing anyone in the company can be nerve-wrecking, but Jenny felt welcomed and comfortable at the Port. In her first two weeks, there were several remote onboarding sessions, virtual meetings with her team, and many opportunities to network with other Port employees and college interns. Despite being physically distant, her manager ensured that she was well-equipped with the resources and network to succeed.
“With my manager and our team members' help, I have not encountered any difficulties so far. As a self-driven person, I am equally efficient when working at home and in the office. But I hope to have the opportunity to meet with team members and employees from all departments face to face... I really appreciated my manager Andrew Cartica and our Capital Service team members for their great support and help. They were very patient and active in guiding us and helping us solve problems. I also want to thank another accounting intern, Shelby Kay. When we completed the projects together, we were responsive to each other's questions. Despite the challenges of working remotely, our team was very supportive, and we communicate very effectively.”
Exercising Creativity While at Home
In Jenny's free time, she enjoys reading, listing to pop music, and building Legos. “Lego has a lot of very beautiful assembly sets. Putting them together has exercised my ability to create. The finished product is also a very good decoration at home.”
While Jenny looks forward to meeting her team and employees from departments across the Port in-person, she is grateful for the opportunity to continue learning and applying her accounting knowledge and skills at the Port. As the Port begins recruiting new college interns in the following months, Jenny provided some advice to incoming interns:
- Make sure you have a goal.
- Ask lots of questions.
- Request more responsibility.
- Take notes. All the time.
- Be totally professional.
- Say “Thank you.” A lot.
