From VBS to Deloitte, Rishabh Singh’s Journey to Becoming a Tax Consultant

My First Experience of Working

My internship at Aditya Birla Sun Life Insurance was my first experience of working in a proper organization, until then, most of my experience had been around college, so the work environment was quite new to me.

There were deadlines, tasks to finish and responsibilities that I had to take care of. It was also the first time I understood that things don't always work the way they do in college. You have to manage your time, take ownership of your work and make sure things get done.

It may have been my first step into the working world, but it gave me a much better understanding of what to expect after my PGDM.

How I Found My Way into Taxation

After my PGDM, I joined Capgemini, where I worked on areas such as budgeting and cost control. This gave me a good understanding of how the finance function works within a large organisation.

At Capgemini, I started getting more interested in taxation. I liked that the work wasn't just about following one process. You had to look at the details, understand what the situation was and then work out what needed to be done.

The more I came across this kind of work, the more I felt that taxation was something I wanted to pursue. It was an area I hadn't really considered when I started my PGDM, but my experience at Capgemini changed that.

Today, I work as a Tax Consultant at Deloitte. My work covers areas including US Tax, Mobility Tax, Tax Compliance, Tax Planning and Tax Advisory.

One thing I like about the role is that the work keeps changing. Tax rules are updated, and the situations we deal with are not always the same. Some work is quite straightforward, while some cases need more time and attention. I enjoy that part of the job because it gives me something different to work on and learn from.

Learning to be patient with the process

One thing I think my time at VBS helped me understand was that you don't always have to know the answer straight away.

I think I carry that mindset with me even today. In taxation, there are many situations where you can't simply look at a problem and know the answer. You have to understand the details, go through the rules, do your research and sometimes spend more time than you initially expected before reaching the right conclusion.

In a way, it is similar to how I approached my PGDM. I started with an interest in finance, explored different areas and eventually found my way towards taxation. I didn't have the answer from day one. I figured it out along the way.

I didn't have it all figured out when I started

When I think about VBS today, I don't see it simply as the place where I completed my PGDM. It was also the phase when I was trying to figure out what I actually wanted to do. 

When I joined in 2020, I certainly didn't have my entire career planned out. I started with an interest in finance, explored different areas during my PGDM, gained my first work experience through my internship, moved into Capgemini and eventually discovered an interest in taxation.

Each step gave me a little more clarity about what I wanted to do next.

That's probably the biggest thing I would tell students today — you don't have to have your entire career figured out from the beginning.

Sometimes you understand what you want by trying something, learning from it and then taking the next step.

That's more or less how it happened for me. I started with an interest in finance, found my way towards taxation and eventually ended up working in tax consulting at Deloitte.

And for now, I'm happy with where that journey has taken me.

Rishabh Singh
Tax Consultant, Deloitte
PGDM | Batch 2020–22

The views expressed in this article are of VBS and do not reflect/represent those of Shiksha.