Into the world of finance

My marathon coach once said, "You can never be fully prepared for the marathon. You never know what will happen on that day. All you can do is believe in yourself and not give up too soon." Looking back at the on-campus internship interview period I feel the same way.

CBS did a great service to the students by starting the interview season about two weeks before classes begin. This way, we didn't have to worry about readings, team meetings and homework at least till we got a taste of the interviews. Some of my friends and I celebrated the end of first semester by going to Atlantic city for a few days. We were recruiting for finance/consulting positions so essentially we wrapped up the vacation festivities late December and started our prep in full swing. As I was recruiting for a finance position, I focused on brushing up accounting and corporate finance while the consulting folks where busy doing case prep. Being a career switcher I wanted to make sure I nail any technical questions thrown at me. The resources I used (Vault guide to finance interviews, CBS interview guides prepared by the clubs, Training the Street etc) where really useful in  improving my knowledge and confidence. Interview prep was not just focused on these technical stuff but we also focused on the behavioral/fit part. This is somewhat similar to what you'd expect during an MBA admissions interview (Tell me about a time when you ....) and sometimes involved describing the decision making process for a hypothetical situation (relevant to the role we are pursuing). As such, we needed to be on top of our game from the get go.

One of the most important part of our preparation included polishing the "pitch". This is basically a 1-2 minute long monologue where you cover your background, why you want to work in this function/industry/company and why you are a great fit for this role. I'd say this was the most difficult one to nail. In the last few days prior to the beginning of the interview, I might have "pitched" more times than I could count and this was pretty common across the board.  Second year students helped calm our nerves by conducting mock interviews and giving pep talks. Soon, the day arrived and we were as ready as we ever could be. The suits were new, the shoes were shiny, and the eyes were dreamy.

To cut a long story short, I experienced both sides of the coin just like so many of my friends. Happiness and sorrow. Joy and disappointment.  Stress and relief. Looking back, I think I learned a lot about myself- how I handle these emotions, these pressure-cooker situations where you win and lose on margins. Another thing that I really cherish about this period is the bond I further developed with some of my friends. We were all looking to get our foot in the door at the same places. We experienced similar challenges and we tasted success and failure at different times. Nevertheless, we were always there for each other. Whether it is to share the joy or the pain, whether it is to vent the frustration of a bad interview or share what clicked during a great interview. Cheers to our friendship!

As for me, I'll be here in NYC, gaining experience in Corporate Finance and Investment Banking! Now, if you really must know how many $$$ we will earn during the summer, go check out the 2010 career report. The numbers are still the same mostly :)

Final sprint & Columbia admit events

We had our first recruiting event within weeks of joining school. If memory serves right, we started working on our resumes within a few days after orientation. Whoever said recruiting is a marathon and not a sprint was spot on. It's been a long journey and over the next few weeks more than a dozen firms will conduct their interviews (mostly for positions in finance/consulting) - the journey will come to a successful end for many. For some, they would continue their marathon hopefully in a better position from the experience they gained through these events.

I've been fortunate to receive over half a dozen interviews from many top firms. God willing, this could be the final sprint for me. Wish me luck!

Before I forget, Columbia Connect I for the next batch is on Feb 10th and 11th. I recommend everyone to make an effort to attend these admit events. If you wish to know what happens in these events, here are detailed reports from the ones I attended.
Admit event I - http://columbiambaclassof2012.blogspot.com/2010/03/columbia-mba-admit-event-1.html
Admit event II - http://columbiambaclassof2012.blogspot.com/2010/04/columbia-admit-event-act-ii.html

Happy new year!

Sneak peak into the future

When you are deep inside this bubble called  investment banking recruiting it's difficult to plan ahead for the upcoming semester. Nevertheless, we still had to bid for courses we wish to take in the 2nd semester, and more importantly decide the destination for spring break!

Bidding for courses is a new phenomenon for me and it does become difficult to come to terms with it at times (especially when you lose!) . Even though there is great diversity in backgrounds and interests among the class of 2012, there are still many courses that fall into the trap of a supply/demand equation. For instance, Professor Greenwald's course on Value Investing is legendary around here. When you stick a rumor (or fact maybe) that he is taking a sabbatical after next semester... you get the idea. Many of my friends who bid >3000 points (which is ~25% of your total available bid points) still ended up empty handed as the course cleared over 5000 points! Initially I thought about bidding for the course (and most likely not win) but then I decided against it. I wanted to focus on taking courses that might help me perform better during my summer internship in an investment bank (if I'm fortunate to get one, touch wood!).  I got lucky and got all that I bid for- Capital Markets & Investments by Professor Tetlock, Financial Statements Analysis & Valuation by Professor Katz and Consumer Technology by David Pogue (New York Times Technology columnist). There are a few more courses we had to bid for and those bidding results are due in a few days.

Moving on to more fun things, I had to decide whether to participate in the lottery for Chazen study tours. Chazen study tour is basically a week long trip to experience the business and culture of a new country. Some of the main attractions about these trips are the opportunities we get to interact with senior managements of the top/most exciting companies in that area and also meet with  the senior political leaders of that country. The main attraction is of course the cultural exposure you get to experience and share with your friends from CBS! For the spring, we were offered trips to Italy, Israel, Japan, South Korea, Mexico. Most of them had a selection process that included a lottery or an application. (When you decide to attend an MBA program, get ready to accept  this as a fact of life- there is more demand than supply for all things worthy, except beer during happy hour!) All that said, I was in two minds about applying for the trip. On one hand, I had missed out on the awesome CBS World Tour and I was excited about traveling with friends from CBS. But then, for good or bad, Chazen didn't allow significant others to accompany us on the tour.  I was looking forward to spending time with my wife without stressing about internships and academics etc. Finally, my wife and I decided that it will be a good experience for me to take part in the Chazen trip :-) So I applied and was lucky enough to win the lottery for the Israel trip (my first choice!). Yay! The itinerary is exceptional- check it out here

So it's going to be a great start to a new year! Now before I start thinking too much about spring break, there is still final exams, cover letters, resumes, interviews and all that jazz standing between me and 2011. So for now, back to reality.

Career Management

When it comes to career choices there is a temptation to make sweeping generalizations. I offer my own story here requesting that you take it with a grain of salt. I think the takeaway should be not the actions I took but the process I followed. There are some people out there who develop a strong affinity to a particular subject at a very young age. For them the road ahead is more clear, for the rest of us it's more tricky. During my high school,  I did very well in the exams but I didn't display out of the ordinary brilliance in any one particular subject. When the time came to make a decision about an undergraduate degree, I chose engineering because I didn't like biology. This was the first and last decision I made by the choice of elimination.  

It is not that I disapprove completely the choice of elimination process. Sometimes that's all we have got. But once we reach a certain age, even if we are not a born genius with some introspection we can unearth what we are really passionate about. And without passion one would always find the cost of excellence too high. Again I believe this issue will be a common one for most of the above average students, those who can and will do well in their studies but haven't yet unearthed their strong foot. In other words there is no escaping this intellectual exercise for discovering your passion. One criterion I found useful and I touched upon this in a blog post earlier in my own blog is - if you can pick up a book on an industry and find yourself tempted to read a few more pages before lying down, that could be an industry you are passionate about and could excel in. And as you grow in your professional life you will get exposed to new roles and industries and may develop new interests.

In my case, software engineering was the subject that piqued my interest the most in undergrad. The fact that most of my peers found it boring didn't bother me at all. I remember browsing the Software Engineering Institute website with child-like enthusiasm. Having discovered a real interest I yearned for more opportunities to learn more. I was fortunate enough to have two great friends who encouraged me to take up GRE and apply to the top Master's programs in USA.  A year later, I was attending classes taught by Prof.Mary Shaw and Prof. David Garlan. These were the same people who wrote our undergrad texts! The icing on the cake was getting an internship at the same Software Engineering Institute I read so much about. The takeaway here is to follow your passion and chase excellence. I could've followed the herd and carried on with the job offer I got from Wipro. But I knew Wipro was not the best place for me to pursue my interests- not being complacent is vital.

My consulting experiences after Carnegie Mellon exposed me to the financial services industry and I was hooked like never before. I spent a lot of time reading about the business of my clients and acquiring knowledge that was not entirely necessary to perform my daily job. My benchmark was to be able to grasp the big picture of the op-eds in NYTimes written by folks such as Paul Krugman. I also extensively conversed on topical issues with friends from the industry to learn from their insider perspectives. As I learned more about the broad landscape I gravitated towards certain areas of the industry- Investment Banking. While I was in this pursuit, financial services transformed from the hottest career path to the deadbeat one. Nevertheless today I'm pursuing an MBA at one of the top business schools to succeed in making this transition to a career in Investment Banking. The takeaway here is to not let macroeconomic developments completely change your career choice. 

If you find yourself passionate about an industry/function, figure out ways to excel in it- whether it means pursuing a new degree or just spending sometime in the public library and then get your foot in the door. Do not worry too much about whether your friends are interested in the same industry or whether the media recommends this as "the next big thing". Chasing excellence always pays off. There will always be great careers waiting for the best, no matter whether it's a recession, recovery or a bubble.
I wish you all the very best! 

Pre-MBA Career Day - Part I

This was a very useful event put together by CBS. I'd recommend everyone who can afford to try and attend the next session (I think 2 more similar sessions are being planned.) There were about 40 people from the Class of 2012 and most of CMC (Career Management Center) was present as well. The desi representatives were myself and Rahul.

The event started with introductions from Regina who gave us favorable news- market is picking up, recruiting for internships have been fantastic this year etc. But she also discussed about a new normal that is a fact of career search in near term. We need to be on the top of our games, gone are the days when we could expect to receive jobs just because we are at CBS. She also mentioned about new kind of networking events that are taking place nowdays such as the event that was held at NASDAQ later in the evening being attended by the alumni of six peer schools (for those who are regulars at MBA forums- that would be the M7).

Emily discussed how she is already talking to employers and assigning slots for interviews! She spoke about how you should have the stomach to stick to your guns if you're not recruiting for IB/MC etc as only these employers show up on campus early and do a structured recruiting process. It would be interesting to see how many people end up going the IB route (if you remember during admit event 1, only 4 hands showed up for IB) just because of this factor.

Next up was an interesting exercise by Laurie - she gave us 3 minutes to map out our career plan for the next 10 years. It took me 30 seconds ;) Me and my wife had spent a ton of time thinking about my career plans in the last few months  so I'm pretty happy that everything is somewhat clear now. All that time/effort didn't get wasted. Laurie mentioned some very interesting things. She talked about creating a personal profile.

• Interests/Passions- related to industry/function
• Skills- what are you good at? out of those, what do you enjoy doing?
• Values- work/life balance, $$$. what are your priorities?
• Style- work environment- structured/spontaneous? numbers/big picture? alone/team?
• Needs- geography preferences, family commitments

She recommended taking the careerleader assessment right now and then evaluate discrepancies within and across categories, i.e competing/conflicting interests and values. For instance, rating both work life balance and compensation as high, may not work out in real life, ouch. We discussed how to move from current career to future career in terms of the personal profile using an example of an analyst in a bank trying to switch to entrepreneurship. That example helped me clearly understand what she meant. We also talked about bridge jobs and the importance of having plan A,B,C (something I need to work on).

Jay showed us some cool stuff which CBS offers us like Career Chronicles, Recruiter tips, Career chats, etc. A lot of videos of students talking about various careers/experiences etc. Tremendous value addition for us. They have just provided access to these through the admit website. I will be spending sometime over this weekend on them.

By this time we all were pretty tired with the amount of information thrown at us. I can only imagine how orientation will feel like. After the break, Michael moderated a wonderful panel of Columbia Coaches (alumni mentors). Carol '77 (Brand Management, Consulting), Andrew '02 (Investment Management) and Raji '04 (Non profit management, finance) spoke at length about their career, the different choices they had to make and how they navigated through them. Andrew mentioned that we should use the alumni after  we have done basic research in the field of choice and only when we are ready to have intelligent, in depth conversations. Thus, we would receive more value from the limited time we have with them. He recommended using the CMC, cluster mates and second years for the initial conversations when you're not sure about an industry/role etc. Everyone knows not all alumni are equally thrilled/interested in being contacted etc, so having dedicated career coaches from different fields is a great asset for us. +1 CBS!

Coming up- A candid discussion with current students on life @ CBS.