DES MOINES, Iowa – This summer, junior Nathan Clayberg is an intern at Principal Financial Group in Des Moines, Iowa. GoDrakeBulldogs.com checked in with Nathan to see what his experience has been like so far and how he believes that this experience will help his future.
 
Q: What does your internship consist of?
 
A: My internship is in the accounting department of the Retirement and Income Solutions division of Principal. I will be assisting the External Financial Reporting team by reviewing several of their processes and testing the effectiveness of the controls that are in place to mitigate risk. Along with that, I will be assisting in a variety of other projects. With the internship, there is also an executive leader seminar series that allows the interns to hear from the leaders in the company.
 
Q: How did you learn about your internship opportunity?
 
 I learned about this opportunity by looking at the posted internships on Career Blueprint that are provided by the Drake CBPA.
 
Q: Before you started your internship, what were your goals for your internship?
 
Before I started, I would say the goals of my internship was to learn how to navigate a corporate setting in a professional way, meet high achieving people, and make myself into a desirable employee when I graduate from college. 
 
Q: How will this internship help you in your future?
 
I think that this internship will help me in several ways as I move down the road of my professional career. First, I am gaining a ton of valuable technical information about corporate accounting that will be very useful no matter where I end up. Second, I am enhancing and growing in my professionalism, and learning how to interact in a corporate setting. Finally, I am gaining experience and building relationships that have the potential to shape my desires and dreams for my future, as well as help me get there.