Career Development Blog

April 3, 2017

Be Ready To Work On Wall Street. Here Is How

Here are a few tips, must dos, recommendations, and a timeline too from Pam Ahearn, senior associate director for the Center for Career Development. Pam is the industry advisor for Financial Services, working within the Accounting, Finance, Consulting, Insurance and Real Estate Career Community. Pam works closely with alumni in the industry on the internship recruiting initiatives.

Q: What should students interested in Wall Street know?

A: Financial Services is a very competitive industry. If you want to work on Wall Street immediately following graduation, you must secure a summer analyst position your junior summer. These summer analyst roles are incredibly competitive and Holy Cross is not a target school for the banks.

Q: How does a student secure one of these internships?

A: Students interested in the industry can do many things to make themselves stronger candidates.

First and foremost, do well academically: GPA is the most likely the first thing the banks will look at on your resume. Ideally your cumulative GPA will be a 3.5 or above. Students from Holy Cross have landed successfully with a lower GPA, but you will do yourself a favor by maintaining a solid GPA.

Gain knowledge of the industry: Develop knowledge of the industry and the specific area within the industry where you see yourself as a good fit, read the Wall Street Journal daily, have an understanding of the markets, know what is going on in current events, follow a stock, sit on a desk by shadowing an alumni (deadline for the summer program is April 18) or personal connection, and check out the Vault Guides in Crusader Connections. Be able to articulate this knowledge.

Show a demonstrated interest in finance: Join the Finance Club, attend Finance Boot Camp through the Pre-Business Program (fall and/or spring break), act as treasurer of your club, shadow alumni, take quantitative courses at Holy Cross and do an internship where you hone your professional skill set (ideally within finance). Be sure to tailor your resume to the industry.

Network: Start with your peers who interned on Wall Street last summer. Ask them questions and learn more about what they did as a summer analyst. Contact young alumni at the banks to discuss your interests and goals. Reach out to more senior alumni who have been on the job between 4-10 years. Finally, have conversations with seasoned alumni in the industry once you have a solid understanding of your interests and skills, and you can articulate these effectively. Please do not waste anyone’s time and always say thank you!

Attend events: Avail yourselves of opportunities both on campus and off campus. Attend the Holy Cross Finance Networking Reception in New York in December and the Holy Cross Finance Networking Reception in Boston on April 12, 2017. Apply for *diversity initiatives (if applicable), apply for receptions and events hosted by the banks in Boston and New York, attend panels hosted by Career Development and Pre-Business. Many times these events are targeted towards first year and sophomore students. Log on to Crusader Connections daily to view opportunities.

Leadership skills and service: Get involved on campus. Work with a non-profit. Volunteer. Take on leadership roles as you progress at Holy Cross.

*Diversity on Wall Street = Women, students of color (Black, Latino/a, Native American), First Generation and students identifying within the LGBTQ community.

Q: Wow. There is a lot that goes into being successful in this industry. Do you have any other recommendations?

A: Not every student is going to be successful in their hunt for Wall Street. Definitely set that as your goal but know that there are lots of other opportunities within “finance” that might be an even better fit for you. Crusader Connections is our one stop shop for internships and full time jobs. Alumni are eager to hire Holy Cross students. Pay special attention to positions with #CHC (Crusaders Hiring Crusaders).

The trend this past fall was that the banks accelerated their recruiting efforts. Below is the timeline for the 2016-2017 academic year. I suspect that things will be accelerated again for the 2017-2018 academic year. BE READY.

RECRUITING TIMELINE (2016-2017)

FALL
Deadlines in Crusader Connections and banks’ websites
FALL/ EARLY WINTER
Superdays (day-long interview at bank)
SPRING
Networking events and diversity initiatives
SUMMER
Pam works with banks and other financial institutions to get positions posted in Crusader Connections

March 31, 2017

Career Horoscopes: Netflix Edition

What you binge watch on Netflix says a lot about your future career…

HOUSE OF CARDS | LAW & ORDER: SVU

You love any show with police chases, dramatic political backstabbing, or increasingly intense background music. If you’ve ever binge-watched Law and Order or debated your friends about the Underwood’s/Clinton’s comparison you definitely fall into this category. Consider careers in government, international affairs, or law – high stakes political endeavors are totally your thing.

GILMORE GIRLS | GLEE

You’re all about a good tug on the heartstrings and you love putting good vibes out into the world. You’ve never had a bad day that Rory and Lorelai’s banter or the Glee version of Don’t Stop Believin’ can’t fix. If you find that your Netflix shows of choice tend more towards the heartwarming side, you would be a perfect fit for careers in education, non-profit, or human services.

THE LEAGUE

You thrive in the spotlight and are constantly on the go. You’re passion for sports and entertainment is unparalleled, and this carries into your Netflix binge choices as well. If you’re known for quoting The League way too often or for ranting about Coach Taylor’s outstanding moral fiber, you might be interested in careers in sports, arts, or entertainment industries.

STRANGER THINGS | CRIMINAL MIND

Calling all critical thinkers! You love putting your problem solving skills to the test, so you appreciate a good mystery in your Netflix show of choice. If you were swept up in the sci-fi thrill of Stranger Things or pride yourself on beating the Criminal Minds detectives to cracking the case, then you definitely fall into this category. Your analytical thinking skills would serve you well in careers in technology, engineering, or the physical sciences.

NEW GIRL | 30 ROCK

You’re extroverted and outgoing (some might even say quirky), so your go-to shows should be no less fun! If you can relate all too well to every Liz Lemon “blerg” or find yourself admiring Jess’s eccentric fashion choices on New Girl, then you have a unique creativity and comedic sense-of-self that could help you go far in careers in marketing, media, communications, or advertising.

GREY’S ANATOMY | SCRUBS

Cue The Fray’s “How to Save a Life.” You’ve always been passionate about helping others, which has led you to consider careers in the health professions and life sciences. As a result, you fill your Netflix queue with shows to help you prepare for the role. Here’s hoping McDreamy’s exist at every hospital!

BREAKING BAD | GOSSIP GIRL

You are fascinated with shows where the characters are motivated by money. Maybe you were hooked on Walter White’s greed-driven meth-making obsession or you swooned when Chuck Bass flew all the way to Paris to win Blair over with her favorite macaroons. Careers in finance, consulting, or accounting might be right up your alley because you’d be critically analyzing and interpreting real financial situations.

By Emily Bowman ’17

March 23, 2017

Resume Do’s and Don’ts

By Emily Bowman ’17

Starting or updating a resume? Check out these DO’S and DON’TS to make sure your’s is top-notch!

DO keep your bullet points concise and detailed.

DO spice up your word choice! You didn’t just “file documents” you “completed various administrative tasks.” You want to describe everything you did at a position in as compelling a way as possible.

DON’T use acronyms or club/job-specific jargon. Outside of the HC community, no one will know what SPUD or SGA are, so it’s more effective to simply list the name of your SPUD site or write out Student Government Association.

DON’T use a weird font. Comic Sans might seem unique but it will likely come across as unprofessional. Play it safe with Times New Roman.

DO get your resume to fit on one page. Concision is key!

DON’T undersell yourself. No time humblebrags, talk about how awesome you are!

DO keep your formatting consistent. If you center one heading, then center all of them. If you italicize one job title, do the same for the rest as well.

DON’T use personal pronouns in your bullet points. Instead, start off with a strong action verb.

DO swing by the Center for Career Development (Hogan 203) to have your resume checked over by a counselor or Peer Career Assistant!

March 17, 2017

What Does Having a Career Actually Mean?

By Cassie Naimie ’17, Emily Bowman ’17

Afraid you’re going to get stuck in something? Think again! A successful career path is always changing.

ca·reer noun an occupation undertaken for a significant period of a person’s life and with opportunities for progress.

Used in a Sentence
Your CAREER will be constantly changing and shifting as you develop new passions and skills. Take comfort in the fact that your first career will most likely not be your last. There are many roads to the same direction.

fu·ture noun the time or a period of time following the moment of speaking or writing; time regarded as still to come.

Used in a Sentence
The FUTURE is exciting, not scary! Make sure you’re seizing every opportunity to make your future the best it can be by planning ahead now. A good first step is a visit to the Center for Career Development!

path noun a way or track laid down for walking or made by continual treading.

Used in a Sentence
Your career PATH may not be clear to you right now… and that’s completely fine! The important thing is to understand is that determining your path requires serious thought and action, so don’t miss a chance to come into the Center for Career Development and start figuring things out!

March 10, 2017

What Do You Want To Be?

By Emily Bowman ’17

The eternal question – what do you want to be when you grow up?

When you were in kindergarten, a teacher might have asked you to draw a picture of what you wanted to be when you grew up. You probably whipped out your pack of crayons and drew a doctor or a police officer or, if you were an attention-loving-five-year-old like me, a famous movie star. As you got older, your answer to this question likely changed pretty frequently. Maybe after Take Your Daughter to Work day you wanted to be a lawyer like your Dad, or maybe after your baseball team won the county championships you wanted to play professionally. Deciding what you wanted to be when you grew up was as much a fad as Silly Bandz and Tamagotchis. But I think for most of us, we’re still trying to find the right answer.

So, how can we start to figure it out?

When your younger self wanted to be a dancer or an astronaut, you didn’t have a true affinity for these careers, you were seduced by adventure and excitement. Very few kids dream of working at the DMV when they grow up because it doesn’t hold that same allure. Basically, your career should live up to the standards of five-year-old you – consider positions that challenge you and reward you and impassion you. If you do that, you’ll be on the right track.

March 8, 2017

My Alumni Job Shadowing Experience | GOVERNMENT, INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS, LAW

Full Name: Siming Zhai
Class Year: 2019
Major: International Studies and History
Shadowing Visit Site: Office of the Deputy Mayor for Health and Human Services, Washington, D.C.

Describe your visit and what did you gain from the experience?

I met with the alumnus in her office in the morning where she spent a little time with me going through her schedule for the day and asked if I had specific interest or questions so that she could connect me with her colleagues in the building who work on those topics. We then started the day with a meeting of the deputy mayor’s office staff. I was very lucky for that the deputy mayor was actually stepping down as she accept a new job in a local branch of Children’s welfare and the press conference of her announcement was held at that day. I was able to meet the mayor, the new deputy mayor and a lot of other government officials working in the same field. In the afternoon, I talked to her and some of her colleagues about their daily routine, job responsibilities and an ongoing project of a homeless shelter. In addition, she introduced me to a staff from a different office working on D.C. Statehood as I was very interested in that.

What I treasure the most from the all-day learning experience was how works are actually carried out step by step. For me, the biggest concern of my transition from college to real life is how can I apply my knowledge and ability into daily executive operations and in what way do I find the bridge from my education to my career goal.

How did this experience influence or connect to your future career plans/goals?

I am always worried about my career interest being too vague and idealistic. Shadowing the alumnus in a field that I feel appealing to opened a lot doors for me and turned some of my indeterminacies into visible possibilities as I witness the daily life of the Holy Cross graduate who has shared interest with me and moreover, the love and passion she and her colleagues have towards their work proofed to me that work can actually be a realization of your dream.

What is some helpful advice your alumni host shared with you?

Always know where your boss’s purse is.

Why would you recommend the Alumni Job Shadowing Program to other students?

For students who are not sure with what they want to do in the future, alumni shadowing can be a short experience of a career which would be really helpful for you to think if that field suits you; for the ones who already have a clear plan, shadowing in the field helps you to get an insider’s view of how to prepare yourself for it. Of course, meeting a crusader out there is always exciting on its own!

March 8, 2017

My Alumni Job Shadowing Experience | EDUCATION, NON-PROFIT, HUMAN SERVICES

Mary McGregor ’19
Major: Sociology
Shadowing Visit Site: Soroptimist- Women’s Organization

Describe your visit and what did you gain from the experience?
While at Soroptimist, I attended department meetings, helped contribute new ideas for the website and learned how the organization grew from a small women’s service club to an international organization. Through this opportunity, I was also able to converse with Nora and her coworkers about how they got to where they are now.

How did this experience influence or connect to your future career plans/goals?
This experience gave me a glimpse into what life in the nonprofit world is like and the variety of positions and backgrounds represented.

What is some helpful advice your alumni host shared with you?
Some of the most helpful advice I received from Nora and her coworkers was to be open to new opportunities and experiences that arise. Many of the women working in the office began on very different careers paths or interests but used those skills and strengths in unlikely ways in their current positions.

Why would you recommend the Alumni Job Shadowing Program to other students?
I would recommend the Alumni Job Shadowing Program to other students because it is a quick and interesting way to explore careers you may be considering as well as a way to gain experience in the professional world.

March 8, 2017

I was a PHYSICS major, now I…

Name: Kyle Hughes
Class Year: 2017 (3/2 program, so technically 2016)
Title: CubeSat Project Lead
Organization Name: Columbia Space Initiative

In one sentence, what does your job entail?

I lead a project team at Columbia that is attempting to build a fully-functioning 1U CubeSat (10x10x10 centimeter nanosatellite) equipped with a payload to (hopefully) calibrate ground-based and sub-orbital millimeter wave polarimeters in low Earth orbit.

What planned and unplanned events connected you to your industry and your first employer after Holy Cross? How did you learn/decide it was a good fit for you?

While at Holy Cross, I was always planning on following through with the 3-2 program with Columbia. Upon entering the engineering school in the fall, I had no idea that an opportunity such as this would have come my way. I have always been passionate about space and aerospace engineering in general; I attribute much of that passion to the concepts I learned while being a physics major at Holy Cross. I did not expect to be responsible for such a project during my first year of engineering school, and it was tough to manage initially. When my team and I received funding from the New York Space Grant/NASA at the end of my first semester, I was both relieved and reassured that this was an endeavor that I want to see through for as long as possible.

What were you involved in when you were on campus?

While at Holy Cross, I was primarily involved with the Center for Career Development and with the Society of Physics Students chapter. In the CCD office, I was lucky enough to be an intern during the academic year from the beginning of my sophomore year until when I left Holy Cross, at the end of my junior year. Working in this office was incredible because I could frequently interact with all the awesome career advisors, along with the students who visited the office. I was also given the opportunity to lead the first iteration of Holy Cross’ SPS chapter in the physics department; this was a great leadership experience because previously, the department didn’t have a formal student group to represent it and do cool physics-related things outside of the classroom.

What was your major and how did it affect your career decisions?

I came to Holy Cross knowing that I wanted to participate in the 3-2 program in engineering with Columbia. I chose physics (as opposed to math or computer science) because I have always been intrigued by the discipline, although it terrified me in high school. The physics department at Holy Cross is super tight-knit and helpful; I always felt comfortable with approaching my professors with (many) questions. This is something that I’m sure applies to every major at Holy Cross, but it’s something that definitely shouldn’t be taken for granted. Now that I’m at a larger, more research-focused university, it’s almost impossible to find face-to-face time with your professors. In hindsight, I am happy that I chose to study physics; my classes in the major at HC truly honed my ability to break down complex, sometimes vague, and exhaustive problems. In turn, I discovered that my passions reside in engineering, specifically regarding innovations in power and computation for spaceflight, space exploration, and aerospace research.

What are one or two skills that you developed at Holy Cross that you use in your work?

Resourcefulness and the ability to communicate well. My time at Holy Cross was key for the development of my ability to solve complex problems, even if I didn’t know where to start. I believe that my transition from Holy Cross to engineering school puts me at an advantage when it comes to excelling in project-focused environments because I’m able to communicate well, both verbally and through writing. That is a resounding perk of studying at a liberal arts school that you may not realize until post-grad experiences.

What advice do you have for students on campus today?

Interact with your professors and involve yourself with your department as much as you can. Holy Cross is truly unique in the sense that the departments are designed to give students the opportunity to extend their learning beyond the classroom (e.g., through office hours, research experiences, etc.). This is especially impactful for STEM majors at Holy Cross because the departments are so small and getting to know the professors could open doors to future opportunities.

March 8, 2017

#CrusaderIntern: KCSA Strategic Communications

Catherine Greene ’17
KCSA Strategic Communications

What were you up to this past summer?
As an intern at KCSA, I split my time working on two accounts. One of the biggest parts of my internship is research. From researching press release coverage, to potential contacts for clients, and a wide variety of statistics that our clients utilize, I spent a good amount of my day reading. In addition to this, it is safe to say that I spent an equal amount of time writing briefing books and outreach emails for clients. Many days I will have two or three meetings, listening in on conference calls with clients and other PR firms, as well as participating in brainstorming sessions.

What was your favorite part?
Having the opportunity to intern at a well-regarded communications firm is something that I am very grateful for. I was exposed to many commonly-used PR tools such as Gorkana and Factiva, and worked with account directors and high-up executives. I love the fact that I get to go into work everyday knowing that I will be doing something different for two different accounts, and leaving with a sense of accomplishment.

What surprised you?
Something that surprised me the most was the prevalence of Excel in the public relations industry. While it is not used for computing, it is used as a means of organization and as a way to present information to clients. I met with a man that worked at Google here in New York and he told me that if there is one thing I can enter the workplace with is proficiency in Excel. I would definitely say that this is true and I would recommend to all students seeking internships that they have somewhat of a capacity for Excel.

February 23, 2017

Make Moves Towards Your Future Career

By: Emily Bowman ’17

It’s safe to bet that you have been asked, on more than one dreaded occasion, what your “plans” are for the summer/after graduation. Perhaps it was during your most recent big family dinner when a prying uncle asked if you had started the job search yet. Or maybe it was the consistent subtle nags dropped by your mom every time she called you out for having not moved from the couch during winter break. Either way, let’s face it, you all have an added on second semester stress, FINDING A SUMMER JOB OR INTERNSHIP.

Luckily, the Center for Career Development is an excellent place to go to start relieving this stress. With just one trip to the office, we guarantee you will feel self-assured enough to call your family and let them know you’re making moves towards a future career!

Here are a few tips to keep in mind so you don’t feel overwhelmed by the job/internship search process.

It’s never too late to start looking.

Take a deep breath, relax, take another deep breath. Don’t freak out if you feel behind on this whole process. Chances are, almost everyone else feels the same way! BUT, March is the most popular month for internships deadlines. Now is the time to start to seriously put in some effort before your options narrow down!

Bring your resume and/or cover letter to drop-in hours.

Don’t forget about the Career Office (Hogan 203)… it’s a wonderful resource for making sure all your application materials are top-notch. Swing by drop-in hours or make an appointment with a counselor to have your resume checked over and your cover letters polished.

Make a habit of checking Crusader Connections.

New job opportunities are posted on Crusader Connections almost every day. It’s smart to get in the habit of checking the site regularly and making sure you’re aware of all upcoming deadlines.

It’s okay to be unsure.

Searching for a job does not mean you have to have your life figured out. It’s totally fine and normal to be uncertain about where to apply. In fact, one of the best things about internships and first jobs is that it gives you the opportunity to explore career options and narrow down your interests.

All too often, we find ourselves panicking about our job searches when in reality, we should be excited, not nervous. This is a chance to discover a position that really calls on your passions, sparks your interests, and sharpens your skills. Be proactive about the search, but definitely don’t let it stress you out! For more words of comfort/votes of confidence, stop by the career office, Hogan 203 Monday-Friday 1-4pm.