After graduation, Matthew Swartz ’22 hopes to pursue a career as a financial analyst. For 10 weeks this summer, he had the opportunity to gain real-world experience in that field through an internship with Arconic in Alcoa, Tenn.
Arconic Corporation, headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pa., is a leading provider of aluminum sheet, plate and extrusions, as well as innovative architectural products that advance the automotive, aerospace, commercial transportation, industrial, and building and construction markets.
Swartz was interested in applying for the internship because he wanted to gain experience in the manufacturing field of finance.
“In school, they often focus on the financial advisor kind of role, and there’s not a lot of focus on the manufacturing field – when you think of finance, you don’t think of different factories,” said Swartz, a finance/accounting major from Maryville, Tenn. “So when I saw this opportunity, I thought, that’s a different way to apply what I’ve learned. Also, just being from around here and seeing the company every day, it was kind of cool to be part of something that I’ve always grown up recognizing.”
As a finance analyst intern, he handled “just about anything finance-related that they gave me,” including analyzing data and updating spreadsheets, Swartz said.
The experience allowed him to apply what he learned in the classroom in a real-world setting.
“It’s a lot different than reading things in a textbook and then just solving a problem. Instead of that, you’re getting the human-to-human interaction of working as a team to put everybody’s skills together to come up with a solution or compile data and just see how everything works together the best,” he said.
Swartz said it was a pretty sharp learning curve, but he enjoyed having the opportunity to jump in and get to work right away.
“After a week here, I was out in the plant doing inventory – definitely not what I was expecting to do a week into a finance internship. I was standing next to big furnaces where they’re melting aluminum down, which helps you kind of see the process and see what you’re doing – and how the rest of the plant affects what you’re doing,” he said. “Something I got out of the internship that I wasn’t expecting was just seeing how it worked and how everything kind of comes together – and then seeing that just because you learn it in a textbook doesn’t mean that’s how everybody’s going to do it. Everybody has their own way of doing it, and sometimes that works better. The thing I wasn’t expecting was how different it was going to be … from a classroom to the real world.”
Kinga Hughes, metal controller and cost manager at Arconic, said Swartz was one of eight interns in the summer internship program, but Swartz’s internship was the only non-engineering one. The 10-week program includes housing or a housing stipend and competitive wages, she said.
Hughes said the internship provides many benefits for both the company and the interns. The company has experienced several expansions in recent years, including an automotive expansion and an industrial transformation, creating several projects and initiatives in the finance area.
“It’s very nice to get extra sets of hands to complete them, because we are so busy throughout the year, and I think it is good for the students, as well, because they gain real hands-on experience, which helps them connect the dots between what you learned in school and what you see in the real work environment,” she said. “And ultimately what you want is to provide a talent pool for future employment. You want this line extended and connected and basically have that pool of people coming in – and being able to offer some of them a job if they are good.”
Hughes said Swartz was able to assist with the company’s new cost system designed to help price equipment, which was “a big deal.”
“He has helped the cost system a lot, running queries to get information, meeting with some people who are more experienced in different areas like capital, and figuring out all the square footage we have for the buildings so we can do the depreciation allocation,” Hughes said. “He has worked with quality to provide us time spent on each of the production centers and multiple photo ops. And he has helped with revenue reconciliation. He definitely helped, for sure!”
Swartz said the experienced has solidified his desire to pursue a career in finance in the manufacturing field.
“I’d love to stay in this field, and specifically, I’d love to stay with this company,” he said. “The experience during the last two months has been amazing.”