I had the good fortune of being able to sit down with Monica Reyes and discuss her journey from community college to consulting. In this episode, we cover a variety of topics ranging from college expectations from family to accounting internships in the public and private sectors to the struggles of the CPA and how to push through adversity. You ca…

Monica shares her experience as a full-time risk consultant at a large accounting and financial services firm. In addition to walking through the type of work, Monica also shares how she approaches managers with questions and what specific day-to-day tasks she does within her role. You can find Monica here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/monica-reyes-…

Monica shares her experience starting as a hostess and transitioning to an accounting intern for a restaurant group that boasts over 130 different establishments in their portfolio. You can find Monica here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/monica-reyes-238071136/ --- Feel free to connect with me here! LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-pay... …

Monica shares her experience balancing being a tax intern during busy season while also going to school full-time. She also covers what her hours looked like as an intern versus full-time and how she used observations to make decisions about her future career. You can find Monica here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/monica-reyes-238071136/ --- Feel fr…

Monica chronicles her journey through college. Specifically, she covers why she decided to start at a community college, College of Lake County, as well as her decision to transfer to DePaul over other schools. You can find Monica here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/monica-reyes-238071136/ --- Feel free to connect with me here! LinkedIn: https://www.…

In this clip, Monica discusses her authentic story around pursuing her CPA and the adversity that can come with that journey. She also dives into why the CPA is important for her role and how she is navigating her future by leveraging her experience and certification(s). You can find Monica here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/monica-reyes-238071136/ …

Over the course of an hour, Billy and I cover a wide range of relevant topics to what's going on in the lives of young professionals today. These include the return on investment of higher education to ways to engineer your career path and how to take risks early on. Billy also provides his experiences as a business analyst for the Chicago Bear, a …

Peer pressure within careers is a real thing. However, doing the same thing as your friends can be catastrophic to your internal desire to do something that you truly love. In this clip, Billy and I chat about this dilemma and why you should follow your gut. You can find Billy here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/billylawton/ --- Feel free to connect …

Using this single tactic improved my results DRASTICALLY at the career fair. This is the ideal place for students to practice interacting with recruiters because these professionals are expecting you to be nervous. Thus, if you can show them your more "human" side, it can do wonders for separating you from the pack. I try to be as practical as poss…

What I believe to be the most important opportunity for young professionals to give back regardless of their industry or role. You can find Billy here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/billylawton/ --- Feel free to connect with me here! LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-pay... Instagram: http://instagram.com/davidpaykin Facebook: https://www.f…

The business case for putting out content around your journey as a young professional and the experiences you have in your job. Also, we cover what is being observed at the associate and senior associate level at accounting firms and why senior leadership needs to be aware of what's going on. The maturity and scale of the internet is putting transp…

Billy shares his experience as a Business Analyst for the Chicago Bears. You can find Billy here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/billylawton/ --- Feel free to connect with me here! LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-pay... Instagram: http://instagram.com/davidpaykin Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/david.paykin Twitter: http://twitter.com/d…

Billy gives his take on the environments at both University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign & Carnegie Mellon. You can find Billy here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/billylawton/ --- Feel free to connect with me here! LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-pay... Instagram: http://instagram.com/davidpaykin Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/davi…

Billy and I chat about a unique addition that colleges and universities around the globe could incorporate to improve practicality in the classroom. You can find Billy here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/billylawton/ --- Feel free to connect with me here! LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-pay... Instagram: http://instagram.com/davidpaykin F…

Billy and I discuss his unique experience as a game development intern and the lessons he learned that can differentiate him from others in future roles. You can find Billy here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/billylawton/ --- Feel free to connect with me here! LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-pay... Instagram: http://instagram.com/davidpay…

Billy and I discuss the importance of maximizing the use of your time outside of work to find your passion and how to do so. You can find Billy here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/billylawton/ --- Feel free to connect with me here! LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-pay... Instagram: http://instagram.com/davidpaykin Facebook: https://www.fac…

Billy explains why he chose University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign (UIUC) for his undergraduate degree. You can find Billy here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/billylawton/ --- Feel free to connect with me here! LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-pay... Instagram: http://instagram.com/davidpaykin Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/david.p…

Billy provides insight on his path to starting with the Chicago Bears. You can find Billy here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/billylawton/ --- Feel free to connect with me here! LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-pay... Instagram: http://instagram.com/davidpaykin Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/david.paykin Twitter: http://twitter.com/dpa…

Billy and I share some of the things we learned as we were transitioning from college to the real world. I also discuss why there's an argument for asking younger workers about their experiences versus those who are further on in their careers to understand what a culture or workplace environment for a specific company is like since they work in th…

I'm a big believer that if you do things with the good-hearted intent and making a difference, it changes how you judge yourself, which empowers you to keep the judgment of others out of your head. I never let the compliments NOR the criticisms take up too much space in my head and it's a distinguishing trait that allows me and others who employ th…

Billy gives his advice to undergrads and soon to be grads on what risks make sense coming out of school. You can find Billy here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/billylawton/ --- Feel free to connect with me here! LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-pay... Instagram: http://instagram.com/davidpaykin Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/david.payk…

In this clip, I go DEEP on why I really chose accounting and how I leveraged it to open the most doors for my future. You can find Billy here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/billylawton/ --- Feel free to connect with me here! LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-pay... Instagram: http://instagram.com/davidpaykin Facebook: https://www.facebook.c…

Billy provides his experience with ISBC and how he used his experiences and networking there to set himself up for the future. You can find Billy here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/billylawton/ --- Feel free to connect with me here! LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-pay... Instagram: http://instagram.com/davidpaykin Facebook: https://www.f…

In this clip, we discuss views on views. Yes, my view on views, and how they're irrelevant when you have a vision and mission in mind. Yet, vanity metrics are stopping you (and me) from posting what we know could be meaningful to someone else. You can find Billy here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/billylawton/ --- Feel free to connect with me here! L…

I had the pleasure of sitting down with fellow alum, Martin Arredondo, to discuss his journey from college to the real world. Being involved in multiple business and social organizations during college and then working at two different Big 4 firms, as well as a mid-market firm before now running his own entertainment business, Martin provides uniqu…

Martin highlights the moment that he decided that he couldn't do a corporate career anymore and started his own business! --- Feel free to connect with me here! LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-pay... Instagram: http://instagram.com/davidpaykin Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/david.paykin Twitter: http://twitter.com/dpayki2…

Martin discusses what being a Technology Risk Consultant was like at Deloitte and RSM! --- Feel free to connect with me here! LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-pay... Instagram: http://instagram.com/davidpaykin Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/david.paykin Twitter: http://twitter.com/dpayki2…

Martin covers his college & career path (business organizations, Big 4 accounting firms, and more) to get to where he wanted to be! --- Feel free to connect with me here! LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-pay... Instagram: http://instagram.com/davidpaykin Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/david.paykin Twitter: http://twitter.com/dpayki2…

Hear how Martin doubled down on what he hated to achieve what he truly wanted! --- Feel free to connect with me here! LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-pay... Instagram: http://instagram.com/davidpaykin Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/david.paykin Twitter: http://twitter.com/dpayki2

Want to save money YESTERDAY as a young professional? Listen to this episode to find out a couple of practical ways to get more money in your pocket! --- Feel free to connect with me here! LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-pay... Instagram: http://instagram.com/davidpaykin Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/david.paykin Twitter: http://tw…

00:37 - Who do I look for at networking events? 01:33 - What should I ask and what should I pay attention to? 05:02 - What should I do if the conversation is dying down? 05:46 - What should I prepare ahead of time? 07:36 - What should I do when we're finishing up our chat? 08:35 - What is your best method of reaching out to someone on LinkedIn afte…

Jamari and I discuss a wide variety of topics including LinkedIn & job board strategies, transitioning from college to the real world, Real Internships vs. Paper Internships, and managing different personalities among others! You can find Jamari here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jomenesm2/ --- Feel free to connect with me here! LinkedIn: https://ww…

Jamari discusses the challenges that college students can face in balancing classes with social life, especially on a campus like University of Illinois. Interestingly, Jamari offers the counter that work-life balance may be easier to maintain than college-life balance. You can find Jamari here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jomenesm2/ --- Feel free …

Jamari highlights the difference between "resume builders" and pure internships that provide exposure to what the work actually looks like. You can find Jamari here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jomenesm2/ --- Feel free to connect with me here! LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-pay... Instagram: http://instagram.com/davidpaykin Facebook: h…

In this clip, Jamari provides key examples of how to add a little something extra to your emails in order to distinguish yourself from other candidates. The following is an article I use to guide all of my resume writing and I've been following this structure since my early college days: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/20140929001534-24454816-my-per…

Jamari details what goes into the day-to-day for a performance analyst at an investment consultancy, Ellwood Associates. You can find Jamari here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jomenesm2/ --- Feel free to connect with me here! LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-pay... Instagram: http://instagram.com/davidpaykin Facebook: https://www.facebook…

Jamari looks back at an experience in which he had to manage tough feedback and the importance of moving past it. You can find Jamari here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jomenesm2/ --- Feel free to connect with me here! LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-pay... Instagram: http://instagram.com/davidpaykin Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/da…

Jamari discusses specific tasks from one of his early internships as an investment intern at the State Universities Retirement System. You can find Jamari here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jomenesm2/ --- Feel free to connect with me here! LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-pay... Instagram: http://instagram.com/davidpaykin Facebook: https:…

Jamari provides a practical tip for students debating what they want to do with their careers, as well as how to make your parents happy while pursuing your own passions. Mark Cuban interview that Jamari refers to in the clip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UgdNTzul27k You can find Jamari here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jomenesm2/ --- Feel free …

Jamari highlights his experiences as a financial representative intern at Northwestern Mutual and how the experiences he learned there helped him for many future interviews. You can find Jamari here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jomenesm2/ --- Feel free to connect with me here! LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-pay... Instagram: http://ins…

Jamari provides insightful advice on what freshmen can do at career fairs to get ahead of the game. You can find Jamari here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jomenesm2/ --- Feel free to connect with me here! LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-pay... Instagram: http://instagram.com/davidpaykin Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/david.paykin Twi…

Jamari discusses his sit-down with the CEO and one of the key characteristics he observed from the meeting. You can find Jamari here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jomenesm2/ --- Feel free to connect with me here! LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-pay... Instagram: http://instagram.com/davidpaykin Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/david.pa…

Jamari provides an incredibly useful tactic to distinguish yourself when reaching out to professionals for opportunities. This tactic can be applied to alumni pages from your school, past jobs, professional organizations, and more! You can find Jamari here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jomenesm2/ --- Feel free to connect with me here! LinkedIn: http…

Jamari offers an alternative route for job applicants to stand out and explains why it's so special. You can find Jamari here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jomenesm2/ --- Feel free to connect with me here! LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-pay... Instagram: http://instagram.com/davidpaykin Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/david.paykin Tw…

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