Professor Elam

Tuesday Sept 27, 2016

Jennifer Dirks comments on her experience as a new student member of San Antonio Institute of Internal Auditors

I wanted to take a minute out of my schedule to briefly write about my experience at the Institute of Internal Auditors’ San Antonio Chapter meeting last week.

I was not sure what to expect when I registered for the Linguistic Lie Detection seminar, but it was definitely worth attending. The speaker, Nejolla Korris, was knowledgeable and engaging. The real-life examples she used from politics, business, and crime investigations were very relevant to the topics being discussed. I have 4 years internal audit experience, and can truly say that many of the things discussed would be very useful in the profession and wish I had known about them sooner.

In addition, I was truly impressed with the professionalism of the group as a whole. Everyone was incredibly helpful and more than willing to answer any questions I had about the profession. I had a misconception from my years in internal auditing (which ended up being more of an external auditing and project management job) that all auditors had to travel a lot and work long hours, and had subsequently stayed away from pursuing jobs in this area. After visiting with many members of the San Antonio Chapter, I found that there are many avenues to pursue in internal auditing that do not require excessive travel and that a work-life balance is attainable. I am thankful that Professor Elam took the time to encourage us attend the event. I think it is a good way to see what we are learning in class being put into practice as well as a great opportunity to network with professionals in the San Antonio area.