Wow it's been a really long time since I last blogged. I've been so busy the past couple of months and I don't see that coming to an end any time soon. I'll try to start blogging more again though now that I can blog right from my phone.
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So here's an update in how I'm doing professionally... It's pretty much the priority for me at thus point in my life so I've dedicated a lot of my time to these things.
I think I promised a post on how the Barclays Capital event I went to went. To make it quick and painless, I had a great time and met some really interesting, professional people. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to get an interview or offer from them for this coming summer. I guess they were able to tell that I wasn't really that interested in finance and operations given that I was asking a good amount of questions on investment banking. No big deal. There are other opportunities out there that can potentially be a better fit fir me anyway.
That trip was the crazy weekend when I spent about 30 hours on a bus within three days or so. Good times. Everything turned out okay in the end.
A few weeks after that, I was interviews by a firm called Commonwealth Annuities. It's a wholly owned subsidiary of Goldman Sachs but is in the reinsurance business. That was my first time being subjected to a practically full day interview, having to meet with 6 people. I thought I did pretty well and was incited back for second rounds, which should take place sometime in the coming weeks. This would definitely offer a great opportunity. Entry level analysts at firms such as this usually do very similar tasks as analysts in investment banking do so this offers me a great opportunity to break myself in. Not to mention it's Goldman Sachs, which is my ultimate goal. I obviously hope to have several opportunities to choose from when the time comes, but I would definitely happy to land this one. I think one thing the interviewers liked about me was my honesty and enthusiasm. I was pretty straightforward with them about the fact that I'm not 100% sure I want to launch my career in insurance, but I was able to assure them that I will put my best foot forward, work hard, and use this as an opportunity to discover of this is where I want to be.
A few weeks later I interviewed for a Merrill Lynch position in private wealth management on the day I was heading home for winter vacation. This one went well ad well...but for some reason I can't get into contact with then anymore afterwards. Major fail. Oh well.
During break, I was able to go back and work for the company I worked for over the summer, Peregrine Acquisitions. As always, that was pretty fun. The culture there is just a lot of fun. It's relaxed but somehow or another I always learn from the job. Over the summer, I did a lot of work basically as the support staff. They would find me if there was side things that needed to be done. This time around, I was exposed a lot more to financial modeling and the actual projects. I appreciated that and I put in quite a bit of work trying to really understand everything. I love learning while on the job and it's so much more satisfying to be able to figure out something that is real and will actually be used than it is to figure out something on an exam. I love the challenge - it's what I thrive on - and I'm just looking for more as i go forward in my career.
During break, I also participated in an externship at Prudential Capital Group in NYC. That was a one day program where they basically gave us a one-day overview of what they do through presentations and case studies. I was amazed by how much i actually learned during that one day. The firm works on the buy-side and issues mezzanine debt and private placements. Very intriguing stuff and that's definitely another place I would not mind working at at all. One thing I realized there is how much fun financial firms can be to work at because all entry level people you're in contact with on a daily basis are at most three years out of college (a lot like at Peregrine). Even they're young, they're a lot more professional, mature, and overall interesting than the typical college student.
Since I returned to school, every night has been packed with networking events and information sessions for various internship opportunities. Oh recruiting season. Me and a couple of friends have been doing mad dashes around campus on a nightly basis trying to make these events. A few days ago, I also went to an "etiquette dinner." They spent the night teaching us how to eat in a professional setting. Very interesting stuff and will definitely come in handy. At least now I know what all those forks and knives are for. Next week is just going to be more of the same with several internship fairs coming up. Networking!
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So that's all for now. I'm going to post on other thoughts not related to my career soon.
----------
So here's an update in how I'm doing professionally... It's pretty much the priority for me at thus point in my life so I've dedicated a lot of my time to these things.
I think I promised a post on how the Barclays Capital event I went to went. To make it quick and painless, I had a great time and met some really interesting, professional people. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to get an interview or offer from them for this coming summer. I guess they were able to tell that I wasn't really that interested in finance and operations given that I was asking a good amount of questions on investment banking. No big deal. There are other opportunities out there that can potentially be a better fit fir me anyway.
That trip was the crazy weekend when I spent about 30 hours on a bus within three days or so. Good times. Everything turned out okay in the end.
A few weeks after that, I was interviews by a firm called Commonwealth Annuities. It's a wholly owned subsidiary of Goldman Sachs but is in the reinsurance business. That was my first time being subjected to a practically full day interview, having to meet with 6 people. I thought I did pretty well and was incited back for second rounds, which should take place sometime in the coming weeks. This would definitely offer a great opportunity. Entry level analysts at firms such as this usually do very similar tasks as analysts in investment banking do so this offers me a great opportunity to break myself in. Not to mention it's Goldman Sachs, which is my ultimate goal. I obviously hope to have several opportunities to choose from when the time comes, but I would definitely happy to land this one. I think one thing the interviewers liked about me was my honesty and enthusiasm. I was pretty straightforward with them about the fact that I'm not 100% sure I want to launch my career in insurance, but I was able to assure them that I will put my best foot forward, work hard, and use this as an opportunity to discover of this is where I want to be.
A few weeks later I interviewed for a Merrill Lynch position in private wealth management on the day I was heading home for winter vacation. This one went well ad well...but for some reason I can't get into contact with then anymore afterwards. Major fail. Oh well.
During break, I was able to go back and work for the company I worked for over the summer, Peregrine Acquisitions. As always, that was pretty fun. The culture there is just a lot of fun. It's relaxed but somehow or another I always learn from the job. Over the summer, I did a lot of work basically as the support staff. They would find me if there was side things that needed to be done. This time around, I was exposed a lot more to financial modeling and the actual projects. I appreciated that and I put in quite a bit of work trying to really understand everything. I love learning while on the job and it's so much more satisfying to be able to figure out something that is real and will actually be used than it is to figure out something on an exam. I love the challenge - it's what I thrive on - and I'm just looking for more as i go forward in my career.
During break, I also participated in an externship at Prudential Capital Group in NYC. That was a one day program where they basically gave us a one-day overview of what they do through presentations and case studies. I was amazed by how much i actually learned during that one day. The firm works on the buy-side and issues mezzanine debt and private placements. Very intriguing stuff and that's definitely another place I would not mind working at at all. One thing I realized there is how much fun financial firms can be to work at because all entry level people you're in contact with on a daily basis are at most three years out of college (a lot like at Peregrine). Even they're young, they're a lot more professional, mature, and overall interesting than the typical college student.
Since I returned to school, every night has been packed with networking events and information sessions for various internship opportunities. Oh recruiting season. Me and a couple of friends have been doing mad dashes around campus on a nightly basis trying to make these events. A few days ago, I also went to an "etiquette dinner." They spent the night teaching us how to eat in a professional setting. Very interesting stuff and will definitely come in handy. At least now I know what all those forks and knives are for. Next week is just going to be more of the same with several internship fairs coming up. Networking!
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So that's all for now. I'm going to post on other thoughts not related to my career soon.
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