April 15th marked the end of my first tax season at BBD as a full time employee. It was a lot of work for sure, but it was not quite as bad as some of the horror stories that I had heard about tax season. Despite the long hours and Saturdays that are required, it was a great learning experience. I expanded my tax knowledge in a very short time, which will be a major benefit for the rest of my career. I also expanded my knowledge of many of our clients, which will make next tax season a little easier because I will be more familiar with clients I am working on.
One specific thing I tried not to do, at least to the best of my ability, was not to get stressed out during the busy season. There is a lot of work that needs to get done in a fairly short period of time, but I felt that getting stressed out or getting co-workers stressed out does not get things done quicker or make things easier. Of course, there were stressful moments especially as April 15th drew closer. Still I found it helpful during the more stressful times to “step back” for a minute and focus on what I was working on, rather than all the other work that needed to be done. Realistically, there will always be stress, but I found that trying to minimize the stress was very helpful during my first full time tax season.
