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My name is Luc van de Tillaart and I am 23 years old. I completed my master’s in Accountancy last January and started working at Deloitte in February. In this article, I will talk about the transition from being a student to working at a company.
How would you describe your student experience in Tilburg?
I started my student life with a bachelor program in Business Economics. During my bachelors, I found courses in which numbers are important such as accounting and finance to be more interesting than for example marketing courses. For me, this was the reason to become active at Asset | Accounting & Finance during my second year as a student. During my time at A&F, I was active within the Activities committee, StudyTour committee, and Faces committee. I experienced this as a very fun and educational period which I would recommend to everyone. Through my activities within A&F, I got a better perspective on how work within a company would look like after completing a master’s in Accountancy or Finance. In the end, I choose to follow a master’s in Accountancy. I finished my master in one and a half year, which allowed me to be a working student at Deloitte next to writing my thesis at this company. This work internship gave me the opportunity to work at Deloitte for three days a week during a period of five months. The master program in Accountancy is very theoretical and working at a accountancy firm gives you a good view on how your working activities will look like.
“For the past six months, I have been writing my master thesis at Deloitte’s office which already gave me a good impression of the atmosphere.”
How did you end up choosing Deloitte?
I’d recommend visiting as many A&F or accountancy firm activities as possible, in order to get to know which accountancy firm suits you the best. In the end, I went for a BIG-Four company, namely Deloitte Eindhoven. For the past six months, I have been writing my master thesis at Deloitte’s office which already gave me a good impression of the atmosphere.
How did you experience the transition from studying to working?
I have been working fulltime for four weeks now, yet the transition from being a student to working has been relatively easy for me due to the fact that I have been at Deloitte for one year already. The major difference between these two is spare time. During your studies, you do not have lectures all day and as a student you are very flexible to do other nice activities. If you want to party during carnival, which I like a lot, you first have to consult your manager whether this is possible or not. Another factor that I had to adjust to is waking up early on a daily basis, as this is not always necessary as a student. Therefore, going out during the weekdays is not possible anymore.
Could you shortly describe your current function within Deloitte?
At Deloitte, I started my career within the function of Staff Audit. I have clients within different sectors, which gives me the opportunity to get insights into different companies. My client portfolio consists of profit organizations, municipalities and educational organizations. During my internship at Deloitte, I also worked at several health care organizations. Another nice addition is that each time, you work within different teams and with young people. In addition, a major advantage is that during the weekends, you do not have to think about any study related stuff.
What do you do besides your new job?
From September on, I will start the post-master’s in Accountancy. Then, I will have lectures on Fridays, and I will have to study during the evenings or in the weekends. Besides my job, I am also active as city counselor within the municipality of Meijerstad, which asks for some hours of my spare time as well. I hope to be able to continue this once I start my post-master’s, yet so far so good. I still have spare time left to do some sports in the evenings and weekends, or to do other activities. To conclude, working within a company after your studies takes some time getting used to, yet it suits me well.
