David Goldstein

How did you pick your career? Did you know all along?

Long story short... Since High School, I NEVER knew what I wanted to be when I grew up. I went to college for General Business, but was quickly advised by our Dean that was "too broad" a major, so I opted for Marketing. I took on a Marketing internship that didn't turn out the way I thought, was supported by the Dean to end the internship as that company didn't design it well. Soon after I was advised by our Assistant Dean that our school had 100% job placement for Accounting majors. I enjoyed the Accounting class and teacher I had in High School, did well academically, so decided to switch majors for Accounting. While the courses/material were challenging, I did well, earned a summer internship at a Big 4 Accounting firm during my Junior Year of College which led to a full-time offer upon graduation. I earned my CPA over the summer and into the fall upon starting the job. After ~2 years I was looking for something "different" from Financial Audit, and became aware of an opportunity within the firm on the IT Audit side that supported the financial audits. After ~5 years in that role, I attended an internal firm training around privacy - it caught my interest and the small team was looking to grow and offered me an opportunity to join. I did that for a number of years but as my family was growing, I was looking to lessen the amount of travel. While still in the same firm, I saw an opportunity to lead the global project management for an internal initiative for 3 years. I got to see the world I'm now embracing a new opportunity within the same firm in the area of Global Risk Management. The net of the story here is that you don't have to know exactly what you want now, or even down the road. Take on something that captures your interest, give it your best effort, and see where it takes you. The experiences you have and relationships you build are key to propelling you in the future and building your brand.