S1E2: Crystal Ford, BerganKDV

Robert Frederick, the President of Career Professionals of Iowa and Director of Career Services at UNI, sits down virtually with recruiter and internship program leader Crystal Ford of BerganKDV. BerganKDV is a midwest based public accounting firm that has a robust internship program and a thriving company culture. Listen in as Robert and Crystal discuss her passion for the company and the competitive nature of recruiting for accounting professionals.

 

Transcript: 

U1 

 0:00 

 1s Hello, everyone, and welcome to career professionals of Iowa College to Careers Podcast. I'm your host, Robert Frederick, current CPI President and the Director of Career Services at the University of Northern Iowa. Career Professionals of Iowa membership includes career services experts from Iowa's community colleges, private colleges, private universities, and the Iowa Region Universities. The goal of our podcast is to explore the work of both colleges and employers in creating pathways to post graduation success, to discuss the nature of recruiting, to gain knowledge about internships and full time job opportunities, and any other concepts, ideas and practices that help our students go from college to career. In this podcast, I'm excited to interview one of the best recruiters in the Midwest, a woman who is passionate about her work and whose enthusiasm is infectious. I'm, of course, talking about Crystal Ford, shareholder and east region leader at Bergen K DV. Welcome, Crystal. 

 U2 

 0:59 

 Wow, that is quite the introduction. Thank you so much for the kudos for having me here with you today. It is so nice to have you here. I've gotten the pleasure of working with you for a number of years now, and I'm always impressed with the enthusiasm and just the 

 U1 

 1:16 

 way you represent Bergen. So can we just start first, though, by talking a little bit about yourself and your background? 

 U2 

 1:25 

 Thanks. Absolutely. I started with Bergen KDB, I believe, about five years ago. 1s And prior to working at Bergen KDB, I worked in a large company that was very kind of private, had a lot of policies and procedures, didn't have a lot of wiggle room. Transitioned to working for an entrepreneur where there was all the wiggle room in the world, and then found my home at Bergen KDV, where I absolutely adore that we can live our authentic lives, be ourselves, and ultimately support each other. And it's just the best place to be. And it's been an amazing journey. One of my other roles in the firm, besides being the regional leader and also a share holder as I lead our internship program, and that's something that I greatly enjoy. I love college students. I love kind of the twinkle in their eye of trying to explore what they want to do, where they're going, and it gives us an opportunity to show them the amazing world of public accounting. 

 U1 

 2:36 

 That is awesome. Well, tell us a little bit more about Bergen itself. 

 U2 

 2:42 

 Sure. So we are a Midwest based CPA firm. We are really that mid market size. So not incredibly small, not incredibly huge. And to me, I think that mid market size is kind of the sweet spot for me personally. So we have locations up to Minneapolis, St. Cloud down to Waterloo, Cedar Rapids, Coralville, des Moines, Kansas City, Omaha, and our newest location in Rapid City. So really that Midwest is our presence. But we have clients all across the United States, even internationally. So I always say it's kind of people clients that started in the Midwest, but they might have transitioned outside of the area. We have about 650 employees across all of our locations, 1s and it's really amazing what we can do to help our clients just with solving complex business problems. And that might be traditional tax and audit. It might be our technology team helping a client with their technology needs at their business. Could be wealth management, payroll. It's really anything that supports our clients. 

 U1 

 4:00 

 Oh, that is awesome. Really a big, broad scope. I mean, I know you're a Midwest company, but you have so many things going on in so many places. That's fantastic. I'm going to circle back to what you said just a few minutes ago about the internships. How do you recruit full time professionals? How do you recruit interns? Walk us through that process. 

 U2 

 4:22 

 Sure. Well, anybody that it works with the field of accounting knows recruiting is tough in the accounting space. It is just a challenge. One, there's not as many students that go into the field of accounting, so that just automatically makes the population smaller that you can recruit. And then with it being so competitive, you have to start early with really partnering with colleges and universities to have exposure to the accounting students from a pretty early point in their academic journey. 2s I feel like by the time somebody has reached their senior year of college, they likely have a full time job offer for after graduation, which is amazing 1s and hard from a recruiting lens. The field of accounting has a lot of fruitful opportunities after graduation. So highly recommend any student that's exploring different opportunities to look into accounting. It's definitely in demand, but for us, we know that one of the keys is really having authentic relationships with the colleges and universities, being there to help with mock interviews, guest speaking opportunities, anything that we can do to really partner with the schools. We love that. I love that we'll be at a career fair and people run up crystal crystal because they've seen me in the classes or in the halls or speaking or whatever it may be. And I think building that relationship is awesome. Whether they come to Bergen KTV or go to a different firm, be in public accounting, it's a great field period. Find your jam and what makes you happy from a firm perspective. I hope it's us at Bergen KDV, but if not, go into the profession, period. But I really think recruiting has to start, start early. 1s Otherwise those accounting students are gone. They're already accounted for and have jobs. 

 U1 

 6:40 

 And we absolutely see that at you and i. So I get where you're going there. We have seen in my time I've been here a few decades now, recruiting seniors to recruiting juniors to looking at sophomores, and going deeper into the bench, as it were, just to get the talent you need to continue to be able to be successful in your own organization. Could you talk about interns? Like, what do they do? Do what's their job, their roles look like? Are they paid? Do they have a place to stay? I mean, those are kind of the questions we end up getting at some point when we're talking with students who are thinking about different organizations to go to and be interns in. Can you walk us through what the intern world looks like a little bit? 

 U2 

 7:24 

 Sure. We have three different internship programs at bergen KDB. One is the traditional spring semester, so that january through april, spring semester, and I'll dive into that a little bit more. We also have a summer program which runs through the summer, and that program is really unique, where it's the only internship of ours where somebody can intern and try tax and audit during that time with us at the firm. Summers are traditionally a little bit slower, so it's easier to have students have that exposure to both. And then the third and final is an internship with our government team, so that's july through october, because that aligns with kind of the government deadline needs back to spring. Our internship program is just like being a staff member. It is getting to do all the things, see all the things, really have that experience to show what it's going to be like in life. Post graduation, they get treated with a lot of respect. They get to explore a lot of different things while they're with us. And one of the best compliments that I heard last week with some interns that I was meeting with, they said, I feel like I'm an equal to everyone across the firm. My voice is heard. People respect my input. They ask for my input. And to me, that's my goal. I tell interns on the first day, my mission is to have you leave your internship saying, I'm so glad I did this. If you leave saying, I'm so glad I did this, I've done my job. And whether somebody wants to continue their career with us, go to different firms. I want them to have an experience that they will always be grateful for having, and we continue to improve it each year. How can we get better? How can we take this to even the next level? And I feel like we do that every year. We try to up level that experience for our students. How 

 U1 

 9:34 

 many interns do you normally get in a year, then? 

 U2 

 9:38 

 Yes. So spring is the biggest and I always take 45. 45 is the number in spring. So that's a lot of interns. 1s Are there 

 U1 

 9:52 

 activities beyond the workday that you are engaging students in connecting them, young professionals, things like that? 

 U2 

 10:00 

 Yes, thanks for asking about that. We do a lot of different engagement type activities. We have coffee with a partner, we have different lunch and learns where our interns can connect with different parts of our business team across the whole entire firm. We have happy hours, so many different free lunches. That's one of the thing about tax season and kind of that audit season. We have so much food. 1s But the goal is to have people 1s network amongst themselves as interns with our different mixers we hold and also network with the professionals so that they can always have kind of those references and that enhanced network when they depart from our internship. So it's equally as important to give them the tools to successful in the job and equally important to give them the social component as well. Awesome. 

 U1 

 11:02 

 This could vary from industry to industry, but what do you sort of hope for on a yield rate with interns? Like how many do you hope to keep after the internship is done? 

 U2 

 11:14 

 Right. I always say and joke that I would love to keep them all. I wish they would all stay and be a part of our Bergen KDD family. But I also know sometimes our experience is what fits best with their academic plan. Sometimes they're moving to maybe a location where we don't have a footprint. There are valid reasons why it might not work out for them to stay. 3s I'm trying to remember. I'm extending job offers next week, the next two weeks to all of our interns, and it is over half that I'm extending offers to out of that 45. And the craziest thing is that a couple of them are for 2025. So we are not afraid of hiring someone after they're done with their academic journey. Kind of gives them a peace of mind of go enjoy the rest of college, enjoy the moment, soak up all the different tools that you're going to gain in college and we'll see in a couple of years when you're ready for that full time employment, we have a signed offer waiting for you. Wow. 

 U1 

 12:25 

 That is amazing. Up to 2025. 

 U2 

 12:28 

 No. Isn't that wild? It's 

 U1 

 12:31 

 the world we live in, Crystal. 

 U2 

 12:33 

 It is the world we live in. But 1s I think a lot of the students find that as kind of peaceful and reassuring that they're not going to kind of face that challenge that sometimes people hear of graduating from college and they find a desert of job opportunities. That's not the case. And I think that kind of gives them a little bit of pep in their step as they finish out college. 

 U1 

 13:02 

 Do you? This isn't one of our planned questions, but do you ever find you have someone, a student who's really had a great experience, you send it an offer, maybe they're going to be another year in school. They become like a campus champion for you. They become a representative on campus for your organization. 

 U2 

 13:22 

 Great question. And some of the different universities we work with have started down that path of having ambassador programs, that partnership between employers and students. And we have started that partnership with the University of Iowa of having an ambassador on campus. So if anybody else out there is looking for an accounting ambassador, hit me up. I'd love to talk about Bergen KDB joining forces with different universities. 

 U1 

 13:53 

 I've seen more of it lately in the past few years, which is really again, it's interesting. When I see a student wearing the apparel of an organization, they've got handouts for the organization. I'm just like, Are you an ambassador for them? And they're like, oh, yeah. 

 U2 

 14:06 

 Sometimes they just do that naturally. And I think that almost means the most to me when it's just authentically shared about their experience with us at the firm. So sometimes they are wearing our Bergen KDB schwag because it's comfy and they're going to class, and they might be coming to work afterwards. But to me, I think that means the most when they say, hey, I'm interning at Bergen KDB. I've gotten to experience so much more than I ever thought. They're supportive. It's amazing. I'm so happy to be there. To me, that's the best way that our program can be. Evangelized 

 U1 

 14:44 

 yeah. That's awesome. I totally agree with you. Set aside the major for a second. A lot of organizations recruit for certain qualities, character qualities, skills, attributes. What do you look for in your candidates that beyond the degree? 

 U2 

 15:03 

 Sure. One of the most important things is somebody is coachable. 1s I would much rather have somebody that's on the lower side of the skill set but has a great attitude and is really able to be coached. To me, the most off putting characteristic is someone that comes in that says, I know everything. I don't need to learn anything from you. I know it all. To me, that's the most off putting thing because we're always as an industry, laws change, practices change. We have to practice being coachable ourselves. So it's incredibly valuable for somebody to have that same coachability so that we can help develop them and be there along the journey. 2s Unfortunately, sometimes that attitude and coachability is something that someone either has or doesn't. That can be that can be hard for someone to develop. But it's incredibly valuable to practice being coachable because it really is a workplace life skill. 

 U1 

 16:12 

 Yeah, that's excellent. Regarding work and future of work and the nature of work, tell us a little bit about in office remote work, out of office, pay, benefits, anything you want to share? Because there's such hybrid world right now in the world of work. How is KVD working on 

 U2 

 16:29 

 that? Oh, Robert, if I could take you back to COVID, I vividly remember the day that I had to notify I oversee three locations in the firm, so I had to notify all of my employees that we were going remote. Great news. We all can. We have all the tools, the VPN, we always have for this to be extremely seamless. I had people crying, you can't make me go remote. Just panicking and freaking out. And what's funny is, it was only a few days later, people were like, this is really just like being in the office. It says seamless and smooth. And I have a shareholder that works for me that she still will apologize and say sorry for that day and a little bit of freak out because she's now fully remote. She was a person that fought it, went home, ended up loving it, and that really enhances her world. We at Bergen KTV support whatever somebody does that makes them successful for working. Whether that's in office, hybrid, fully remote, it really is. You do. You you be successful, you enjoy life. I feel like remote working has been a game changer in the CPA profession, where you used to historically think of long hours in the office during tax season. That's different now when you can be home, eat dinner with your family, put your kids to bed, and then if you want to pick up your laptop and do a couple of different things, you can, I think, dramatically enhanced our work life balance. And it makes me happy that people are kind of dialing into what works for their style and being successful, because it's not one size fits all. It is all the sizes fit some. 2s Awesome. That is great. I really appreciate that overview. It is changing the way we all work, and even here at the university, it's changing the way we work. But I will say, working with young people, 1s they're very interested in hybrid work. So kudos to you for having that availability because it means a lot to them. Many of them actually went to high school, finished up in Isn't that amazing? Retreat. 1s Now they're here and they're actually on campus and they still half of their classes they're taking are hybrid or remote because they're like, oh yeah, it's easier for me. Or we'll do appointments with them and they're in their resident hall and they'd rather do it via Zoom than come over and it's just the way it's going to be. Yeah, 

 U1 

 19:23 

 that's great. It is 

 U2 

 19:25 

 a balance, though. There are certain things that sometimes you learn through Osmosis being in the office, and that's a fine balance too, of I just hope that even those that are fully remote still have those engagement points to not miss some of those things that I think do help in development. Some of our fully remote employees that are distant, that are far away, we still fly in several times a year for a week so that they can be in the office, have those relationships, and still get a little taste of it. So even if they're far away, we still try to occasionally make sure that that connection is strong and one based on support. 

 U1 

 20:14 

 You know, that's a great point. There's a lot of organizations we're talking to that are trying to maintain a culture and an ethos in their organization. And some of that is built around being together. And so you and others are doing the same, which is appreciating the opportunity to be hybrid and remote, but also realizing that we have something special here and we need to get people together to maintain and then push that forward as well. So and some of those practices we've continued from COVID there were things that we found were so fun. For example, later this afternoon, we have a virtual Luau happy hour. So we sent out to the offices to home all the different schwag for the luau. And we always do those virtual because we do breakout rooms, we have trivia different things, and then we mix everybody up. So some of those things, it just is more fun for it to be virtual so that we can kind of mix groups and people and teams that might not engage with one another on a regular basis, have that opportunity to network with each other. 9s Oh, great question. I'm on LinkedIn. If you want to find me on LinkedIn, you can also email me. Crystal [email protected] I love anytime I can speak about the world of public accounting, anytime I can be a partner to career professionals, I just did eight mock and views for you and I this week and love that opportunity, too. A lot of those students are still at that point of exploring what they want to go into and figuring it out. And I love being a part of helping that. I'll shamelessly plug public accounting, don't get me wrong. But still, just the value of part of your academic journey is learning yourself, your passions, your skill sets. So anytime I can be of value to any college or university that's listening to this podcast, I'd love to help. Just something that really is a passion of mine in supporting young people on their career journey. 27s Thank you for that. And I enjoy all the things that you put on with the university. You do an amazing job. So just thank you so much for our partnership and thank you for having me here today. 4s Thank you. You too.