Veris Consulting
Veris Consulting, Inc. has been named number four among the best places to work in Virginia by Virginia Business magazine for the small employer category this year. The firm has a tradition of hiring Robins School of Business students and alumni for their internship, externship and full-time positions in Reston, Va.
Cristie Lucas, recruiting manager at Veris, points to the similar type of culture in the Robins School and at her firm as a key reason that they attract and retain so many Spiders.
“[At Veris,] we are a very well-rounded group of individuals, just like the student body in the Robins School, and we bring a lot to the table in addition to technical aptitude.”
Veris' operations consist of forensic accounting and litigation support, outsourced accounting and financial management, outsourced internal auditing services, technology-based survey research services, as well as information technology consulting and executive searchs.
Three 2011 Robins School graduates, Elizabeth Schaeffer, Meghan Cardell and John Clauser, started with Veris full-time after graduation and are currently working in forensic accounting and accounting outsourcing.
Schaeffer, Cardell and Clauser agreed that the culture at Veris parallels the culture in the Robins School.
“Similar to the Robins School, Veris offers an environment in which people are friendly, genuine, and hardworking,” Clauser said. Schaeffer said Veris’ smaller environment (the firm employs about 100 people) is reminiscent of the University of Richmond.
“I was drawn to Veris, because it is a smaller and more intimate office, which is something that drew me to the University as well,” she said.
On the job, Cardell and Clauser concentrate on forensic accounting work at Veris, while Schaeffer works in accounting outsourcing. On the forensic accounting front, Clauser and Cardell have already experienced working on an internal audit, a fraud investigation, and providing litigation support services.
According to Cardell, “The nature of the work that we do each day entirely depends on the type of case that we are working on. At some points, I may be researching relevant accounting guidance or standards. At other times, I am looking at documents or data and working to determine what the ‘big picture’ might be.”
Schaeffer (accounting services) spends her time supporting the tax-exempt community in the Washington, D.C., area.
“I am out at different clients or in the office working on out-of-town clients; I don’t have a set weekly schedule,” she said. “It is different at every client, which allows for a nice variety and a new experience every day.”
Clauser, Cardell and Schaeffer are just some of the Robins School grads who are employed by Veris. According to Lucas, Robins students tend to fare very well within the firm.
“I feel very confident (when we bring in a Robins student) that they’re going to do well,” she said.
Cardell and Schaeffer started at Veris as rising juniors through the externship program. They both spent the following summer interning at Veris and received offers for full-time employment.
During her internship at Veris, Cardell recalled that she felt like she was getting a glimpse of what life as a full-time consultant would be like after graduation.
“During my eight-week internship, I was able to learn what it would truly be like to work here on a daily basis,” she said. “The work that I was doing resembled that of an entry-level consultant, not a summer intern.”
“I felt that even as an intern, my contributions were important and valued.”
Students who are interested in employment opportunities at Veris can get started in several different ways.
“For a student who has two summers before their graduation date, they’re eligible for our summer externship program,” Lucas explained. “That program interviews in February of each year on campus. Students can submit their resume through Spider Connect for our externship which takes place in May.”
“Internship candidate students are encouraged to submit their resumes through Spider Connect during the fall of their junior year,” said Lucas.
“If they’re interested in full-time positions, they would look the fall of their senior year,” she said.
This spring, Veris is continuing their tradition of recruiting Robins School students. “We’ve made six of the 15 externship position offers to University of Richmond students,” Lucas said.