 |
| This is a picture of UCLA students wearing suits. I don't know who they are, but they look pretty important. Perhaps one day I'll be in an important looking group photo wearing a suit. |
Classes really are just one part of the total equation at business school. The job search often seems to be the top priority, both from students' perspectives and from faculty's emphasis. It seemed a little weird to already be thinking about summer internships in September, and although they don't want us applying for jobs quite yet, career preparation started almost immediately which has been one of the toughest adjustments this quarter, but Anderson does seem to do a pretty good job at least letting us know our options, providing avenues to increase career knowledge, and setting up a lot of internal support. Here's an exciting summary of career related stuff on campus.
One of the first groups we join is an Anderson Career Team (ACT Team). These are groups of students interested in similar career verticals, who are coached by a couple 2nd year students who just completed their summer internships in that field. During the two meetings I've had in my Investment Management (IM, for short) ACT group so far, we've discussed events going on in the markets and evaluated some of the biggest investment firms in the area, and our ACT coaches have given some tips on giving stock pitches (an important part of IM interviewing). I've heard past students say these groups are really helpful, so I'm looking forward to seeing what we get out of it.
The Parker Career Management Center (CMC) is the main source of career related goodness on campus. They provide career counselors appointments, career workshops and events, but probably most importantly, their website. In addition to its robust student, industry, and alumni databases, there are calendars on the site of all companies coming on campus with descriptions and deadlines, and job postings for off campus recruiting too.
Every day after classes end there are usually a ton of career-related events going on. These include professional club meetings, networking events, career workshops, guest speakers, and company presentations. The hallways are usually a sea of people in the hallways dressed to the nine's getting ready to collect business cards or have their resume ripped to shreds by a career counselor. I'll admit I probably haven't taken advantage of as many of these activities as I should, but that's mostly just because networking is so darn scary.
I did have one big accomplishment so far though, which is landing the title of "Director of Investment Management" for the Investment Finance Association (IFA) at Anderson. Although Investment Management is only a relatively small vertical, the IFA is the largest club at the school, and I (along with the other 1st year director) will be responsible for pretty much all investment management-related campus activities, including bringing companies to campus, and setting up training or workshops. Our big event is the IM Career Night in January, where we need to bring in guest speakers and a lot of alumni and other professionals in the industry to campus for a night of networking. Most investment management firms don't really recruit on campus (because they usually are smaller and don't have a set recruiting schedule), which makes this event all the more important for people looking to get into the field. It sounds like it will be a lot of work, but it should be pretty rewarding, and it'll give me a head start on networking with alumni and other professionals by having to contact these people early. And the school has certainly been pushing the buzzwords "leadership" and "networking" on us hardcore so far, so at least I've notched that leadership position early. Now I just need to work on those networking skills.
I think that's a long enough overview for now of what kind of career resources the school has for us. Hopefully in the next career update I'll have some exciting stories as I blaze down the recruiting trail.
No comments:
Post a Comment