Charles Gu

Informational Interviews and Summary #1

On Monday, I made an informational interview with Professor Hof Milam. I found him
through the connection of Professor Lineberger. She helped me contact Professor Milam and
introduced me to him. So finally I was lucky to meet him. Professor Milam is an easy going
person and he made the 40-minute conversation an enjoyable experience for me.
First, we talked about his early career. He told me he started his career as an accountant
in the Big Four. Then after working in the accounting firm four or five years, he felt bored to do
the same thing every day and accidentally his friend invited him to work in an insurance
company, so he decided to take the offer and start a new chapter of his life. But when he was
working in the insurance company, it didnt make much money and actually lost millions of
dollars because it had a bad business model that its business was to provide insurance to the
patients of the hospital, which is the mother company of the insurance company. The goals of the
two companies were not aligned and in fact were in the exactly opposite direction that the
hospital made the money by charging expenses to the patients while the insurance company paid
the bill for the patients. Thus, when the hospital made lots of money, the insurance company lost
all that money. However, Professor Milam said that it was actually a great experience for him
because people learn more from the failure. Another thing he learned from this experience was
that always making sure to work around people who you respect and are better than you, so you
can learn from them, but you dont need to like them. His advice made me think about how to
choose a good working environment and good co-workers in my future career.
After working in the insurance company, Professor Milam moved on to work at the
financial department of Duke University. When he was still in the insurance company, he said
that he knew he would leave the company soon so he has finished all his job early and waited for
an opportunity. Then when one of his friends recommended a position at Duke University to him,
he said he was well prepared at the time so he moved on quickly. The lesson he taught me in this
case is that I need to be always prepared because I will not know when a new opportunity will
appear in my life. It reminds me of the same lesson from Luck is No Accident that the so-called
luck is actually only for people who are always prepared to accept the opportunity. However,
when I introduced this book to Professor Milam, he believed that there is something just pure
luck. He told me a story about his friend in which his friend was sick and needed to do a heart
transplant surgery. But no available hearts was matched at the time while the time was limited.
Then a car accident happened and the man who died in the accident have signed the agreement to
donate his heart after he died. Luckily, the heart from the donator matched with that of Professor
Milams friend, so he did the surgery and recovered. This story made Professor Milam truly
believed that there is something just pure luck. Otherwise, his friend would die of illness. It was
an impressive story to me and gave me a different perspective of luck. He also said that he felt
very lucky to finally land a job here at Wake Forest working with great faculty members around
him. He said not many people could have this kind of luck like him to have great people working
together. So he thought that that was his pure luck. I appreciate his grateful heart to life.
After the discussion of Professor Milams career, I recognized that he like a random
walker never did any plan to his career path. As I introduced this concept to him, he liked the
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word and agreed. He said that he also shared his experience to his children and told them to keep
the doors open. I like his idea and his successful career really encourages me to be open. Before I
leave, I asked him if he any other advice for me. He said that he specifically likes one saying that
there is only one integrity. Some people may say that the integrity in business and the one in
personal life are different, but he thinks they are actually the same, so he suggests that I always
need to be careful to my own integrity and reputation. With this great advice, we ended up our
conversation, which was really an enjoyable experience.

Informational Interviews and Summary #2

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On another Monday, I made an informational interview with Professor James Willis, who
was the professor of my previous tax class when I was a junior. So he definitely was an expert in
the tax area. After my 30-minute interview with him, I learnt a lot about the tax consulting track
of the accounting industry.
We first started the conversation with his career. Professor Willis has spent 24 years in
public accounting and over 30 years in total in the accounting area prior to coming to teach at
Wake Forest. His devotion and love for tax is easy to tell from his excitement when hes talking
about the tax consulting services he did in the past. I asked him that why he chose to do tax
consulting rather than assurance services. He told me that when he was a college student, he had
a great corporate tax class and the professor of that class made him feel interested in the
corporate tax and finally decide to pursue his career in the tax consulting. After I heard it, I felt
impressive that a professor could have such a long-term influence on his students. I mentioned
this to Professor Willis and he felt related. In fact, he chose to teach at Wake Forest after all the
years immersed in the accounting world is because he felt this job is more meaningful to him. He
likes to teach young generations and prepare them to be future accountants. He said that even
though doing the previous jobs is more financially helpful to him, this job is the most meaningful
one. I was kind of moved when he said these. I think in his heart, he still loves taxes and now he
just changes a way by teaching tax classes to express his love and devotion.
Then Professor Willis and I talked about some aspects of working as a tax consultant. I
asked him that what he likes about his work. He told me that he felt most interesting to talk with
different clients. Also, he liked the feeling of trust and reliable given by his clients. That
motivated him a lot to work hard every day. Then I asked him what the toughest problems with
which he must cope in his job. He said that the toughest problems were the stress and time.
Typically, during a not busy season, he said that he would work nine to ten hours a day, including
meeting with clients during lunch and dinner time. And he would spend more hours in busy
seasons. Even though I had the expectation of long-hour work during the day, I was still shocked
by the number of working hours. It seemed to me that Professor Willis really sacrificed a lot to
do this job well because usually lunch and dinner time are private and usually used to hang out
with friends and families. But his devotion and hard work paid off in his later career that he
became the partner in charge of tax services for the Atlantic Region of BDO USA, LLP. Also,
when he later moved to Charlotte, he served as Executive President and Chief Financial Officer
of a local multi-family owned Real Estate Company because of his expertise in accounting,
especially in the tax. I asked him that what the differences are between doing public accounting
and being CFO of a private company. He said that a good thing about being CFO was that he had
more free time that he could control while in public accounting he was always busy. So Professor
Williss successful career taught me that I need to find my passion in the job and hard work will
finally pay off.
After that, I started a new topic. I asked him that since I want to pursue a career in the
accounting industry, I wonder if he could give me some advice in general working in this
industry. He suggested that I sign ownership to the work. In other words, I should be willing to
take responsibilities and always want to be the last person to review the work. This is especially
important in the accounting industry because if people can do the work carefully, then other
people dont need to check again on the work and the overall process will be efficient. I also
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asked him if he had any suggestion for doing internship. He said that during the internship, one
important thing is that I need to be initiative and ask others if I can be involved in the projects
they are doing. Then my experience could be maximized and my willingness to learn will leave a
good impression to the co-workers and the boss.
With his great advice, the informational interview approached to the end. Before I leave,
Professor Willis warmly told me that if I need any help, he would be glad to help me. So I asked
him if he could write recommendation letter for me, he agreed. I really appreciate his help.
Overall, this informational interview was a great experience and I learned a lot from Professor
Willis.

Informational Interviews and Summary #3

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In the afternoon on Wednesday of the final week, I made an informational interview with
Professor Anna Cianci out of her busy schedule. I chose to meet her because first she was the
professor of my accounting 111 class, which was my first accounting class, and she was a very
easy going and nice person; secondly, she graduated from Villanova University, which has a
good Master of Science in Accountancy program, and I wanted to learn more about the school.
The interview lasted about 40 minutes and was an enjoyable conversation for me.
Beginning in the interview, we first talked about the Villanova University. She was
surprised that Im interested in Villanova and asked me how I found this school. I told her that I
heard this schools MSA program from the career advisor of the OPCD when I asked for
suggestion of schools with well-known MSA program. Then Professor Cianci said that she went
there for undergraduate long time ago, so she didnt know much about the MSA program. But
one thing she was sure was that Villanova is a good school with a good location in Philadelphia.
Because of the great location, the school has a very strong connection with firms around the area.
So she told me that I couldnt be wrong if I go to Villanova. And she suggested me to do more
research on the school website and shes willing to help me if I need any further help.
Then we discussed about why she chose accounting. She said that when she was in
college, there was an expectation that good students should study accounting and then get offer
from the Big Four. So she was kind of forced to follow this path and entered the accounting
industry by the expectations from others. Otherwise, she said that she had a pretty good LAST
score and could be a layer like her father. But her major was in accounting at the time and she
could make a decent earning as an accountant, so she still went to the Big Four instead of further
studying in the law school. At the beginning of her career, she did the assurance service. But she
felt bored after doing the same thing day after day. The only thing she said was interesting about
her work was meeting with different clients and getting to know various working environments.
After she saw many different companies, she found out that she wanted to work in neither of
those places. So after several years working in the accounting industry, she finally realized that
she was a creative and theoretical-thinking person and her true passion is to do research in the
academic world. The accounting job didnt suit her very well. Then she decided to get a PHD
degree and started to teach. Now working at Wake Forest, she feels much more comfortable and
can do research and write papers as she always wants.
When talking about her early career, she reflected that she knew that she never liked working
in the Big Four but it took her several years to finally figure out what she really loves and wants
to pursue. She said that in a way she was overthought and convinced by others to stay. She asked
many people if she should get a different job; some said yes and some said no. So she felt kind of
lost during that time until she started to teach and found out meaning of her work. She said that
as the people get older, the change of job becomes more costly. So Professor Cianci suggested
me to seek meaning, truth and what you are truly meant to do with your life earlier and then
your gifts will be put to great use.
With no doubt, Professor Ciancis advice to me was inspiring and encouraging. As a
predecessor in the accounting industry, she was open to me to share her unhappy experience in
the Big Four and how she finally found her passion and meaning of work. She told me that
sometimes I need to listen more to my heart and less to others opinions because people dont
understand what I experience and feel in the situation and their opinions will be biased. I really
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like her life philosophy that at the end of the day, people really need to be themselves and do
what they like to do; otherwise, the work and life are likely to be exhausting and meaningless.
Professor Ciancis attitude towards career and life inspires me to regularly reflect on my current
life and encourages me to be myself and pursue my own track. Overall, it was a great experience
to have an informational interview with Professor Cianci.