"Are you in/I am countin'/1,2,3" (...4,5)

Dear Seniors,

Even though you’re probably recuperating from the stress of theses, term papers, and final exams, here’s yet another “life after Vassar” blog post for you, just in case the realization that you’re one semester away from leaving the bubble isn’t anxiety-inducing enough.

Although checking Mads several times a day is a (somewhat) productive way to spend four weeks at home, there are things (well, more like five) you could be doing to jumpstart your post-graduate plans. Best part is, you can do it all from the comfort of your couch!

1. Update (or create, which I really hope you’ve done already…REALLY hope) your resume. Maybe you haven’t touched it since it got you that unpaid internship stuffing envelopes last summer. Maybe you’ve done so much that you can’t possible fit it onto one page (if you fall into this category, I’m jealous). Regardless of the state of your resume, take a quick look and see if it needs a fix-up. OptimalResume (http://vassar.optimalresume.com), a resume-writing wizard, is a great resource. I can’t tell you how happy it makes me when a student comes in with an OptimalResume-generated resume.

2. Join professional networking sites like LinkedIn or V-NET. LinkedIn is kinda like Facebook, except more professional (because I’m pretty sure you don’t want future employers seeing pictures of you that are…let’s just say, INCREDIBLY unflattering). V-NET is a database of over 2500 VC alums who are willing to serve as career mentors in a wide variety of industries, occupations, and geographic regions. Don’t underestimate the VC connection: V-Netters include the Chief of Thoracic Surgery at Memorial-Sloan Kettering, Vice President at Credit Suisse, and a Senior Vice President at Christie’s. You’ve got nothing to lose by reaching out (just don’t stalk).

3. Consider a job shadow, informational interview, or mini-internship over the break. It’s a great opportunity for exposure to an industry you’ve always been interested and the ability to network with professionals in your area. Not to mention, two words: resume builder.

4. Think about what you’ve done and where you want to go. You have one more semester at good ol’ 124 Raymond Ave—make it count! Thought about doing field work but didn’t know how to start the process? Been meaning to stop by our office, but always got “conveniently detoured” by a sudden urge for Retreat chili? Now’s the time to take the plunge!

5. Think about recommendations. No matter what you plan on doing after May 23, you’re probably going to need recommendations. If you haven’t started a reference file with us, you should. If you haven’t thought about which faculty members could write you a strong rec letter, you should. And if you haven’t updated your resume to give to said recommenders for additional information, you should. A word of advice: Ask the letter-writers now, while you’re still fresh in their minds. If you can’t remember what you had for dinner last week, your freshmen writing seminar professor isn’t going to remember you two years after you graduate.

There you go, five things you could be doing right now to get a head start on your post-graduation plans. If, over break, you start having fits of paralyzing fear and anxiety because it seems like all of your friends have jobs waiting for them, call the office and set up a phone appointment. Happy Winter Break!

"So, what are you planning on doing this summer?"

If you are one of the students who will respond to this question (usually asked by parents over some sort of meal) with an “Umm…” and an awkward laugh, you should come to this workshop. Then, you’ll be one of the lucky ones who has a game plan! Plus, wouldn’t it be nice to know that after May finals are done, you’ll be off to some amazing (and maybe paid) experience?

During this workshop, we’ll answer the following questions (and more!):

· How do I start looking for an internship?

· How do I start building a resume?

· Are there Vassar alums who can help me make some sweet connections? (Hint: Yes!)

· Are there on-campus summer opportunities?

· How can I get funding for an unpaid internship?

The workshop will be held on WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 2, at 3:00 PM in the FACULTY COMMONS. So, put off that overwhelming amount of end-of-term work and come learn how to beat the crowd and get one step closer to an awesome summer experience!

The Street with no Wall

The Street with no Wall

a recap of the 2009 Financial Services Immersion Program

In 1653, Peter Stuyvesant, the last Dutch Director-General of New Netherland, constructed a 12-foot-high stockade on the northern boundary of the New Amsterdam settlement to keep out the Lenape Indians, the New England colonists, and the British.

That plan did not work.

In 1699, the British tore down the wall. The name of the street, however, remained as the Wall Street. In 1792, 24 prominent brokers, speculators and merchants met under a buttonwood tree at the foot of the Wall Street and formalized their association with the Buttonwood Agreement. The association later evolved into the largest stock exchange in the world, the New York Stock Exchange.

My two-day financial services immersion program began with a visit to Citigroup after an early train-ride to Grand Central. At Citigroup Investment Banking Section, we were kindly greeted by Greg and Jane, both Vassar graduates. The encounter was informal, but engaging and valuable. The active conversation was a great appetizer for those who are hungry for a taste of investment banking. One of the most valuable lessons I learned was that it is not necessary to be a finance or economics major to pursue a career in investment banking: Jane, for example, majored in English at Vassar College, discovered her negotiation talent through selling cup cakes in New York, realized interest in cooperate law after interning with HSBC, and is now working for Paralegal at Citigroup.

With my stomach stuffed with a Swiss meatball Ragu hot wrap and a delicious parfait, we set out for a tour of the Museum of American Finance with the group. If you want to learn more about the financial crisis, there is a very helpful timeline provided by the museum. To me, the architecture of the building was as interesting as the exhibition: cantilevered marble staircase, enormous brass chandeliers, checkered marble floor, murals painted by J. Monroe Hewlett, all took me back to the 18th century in a mere of seconds.

Another quick subway ride, we found ourselves in the center of the hustle and bustle of the city, Times Square. Everything was as I remembered: endless streams of tourists, countless billboards of shows, and limitless neon lights. Well, almost everything. The 745 7 Ave silently embraced its new owner: in the world of finance, one day you are green, the other day you are blue. Barclays Capital now takes over most of the Lehman Brothers business and occupies its New York headquarters. We met a very diverse group of new analysts at Barclays Capital, who attended colleges ranging from Cornell, NYU to Middlebury and, of course Vassar (Dan Tan,'09).

The evening at the Yale Club was another delightful experience. After a lecture we sat down with a few wonderful Vassar graduates and an important guest, Debbie Treyz, who is the Head of Wealth Advisory and Fiduciary of J.P. Morgan, and thanks to her support and generosity, this Financial Immersion Program is able to carry on. Our visit to J.P. Morgan Private Wealth Management the morning after was one of the highlights of the program. It turns out that investment banking and wealth management share quite a bit in common. The excitement and tension of the visit could hardly be recreated with a few words, but consider the following questions (allow yourself 5 seconds before you answer each question):

1. What is the headline of today's Wall Street Journal?

2. What stocks do you think I should buy this year? Why?

3. And, tell me something I don't know about economics.

In order to succeed in the ever-changing and competitive world of business, you always need to be ready: this probably means that you may need to go to sleep with today's stock portfolio, or wake to the New York Times headlines, or give a convincing alternative when you know little about the answer, in front of a group of exceptionally acute minds.

Surrounded by stores like H&M, Zara, Express, Gap, Banana Republic and Bloomingdales, one could be easily be distracted and miss the Bloomberg Tower. Yet it takes only one visit for the building to remember you: the photo you take before going through the security of the building will be stored for years. The Bloomberg building was a piece of MoMA: large-scale light installations, eccentric sponge sofas, colorful fish tanks scattered around, numerous sculptures, Bloomberg museum displaying the evolution of its terminals… and did I mention those free food stations (imagine going to a store where you can grab everything on the shelf for free) on each floor? The working environment oozes color, exudes energy and sends out a tinge of ephemeral existence. In the blink of an eye, a piece of news loses its all value.

In a street with no walls, in a world with no barriers, there is unbounded opportunities and immense competition. Here is an African proverb that I read years ago but still motivates me today: “Every morning in Africa, an antelope wakes up. It knows it must outrun the fastest lion, or it will be killed. Every morning in Africa, a lion wakes up. It knows it must run faster than the slowest antelope, or it will starve. It doesn’t matter whether you’re the lion or an antelope – when the sun comes up, you’d better be running”.

You might ask, why do I want this? Why should I be a lion or an antelope in Serengeti? Why would people want to go to investment banking? My answer is, at the end of the day, if you are a lion that captures a prey or an antelope that escapes the fastest lion, you survive.

There is nothing better than knowing that you have lived and you have survived.

For Now.

One more reason to put off that midterm due at midnight

If you're a senior, you've probably gotten a million (except not really) emails from the office about FRC, SLAC, LACN, etc (just a few more, and we'll have as many acronyms as the RSL Office). This week's post is going to be about SLAC, you can go on and be a SLAC-ker! (My midterms are sucking all of the energy/happiness/sarcasm out of me, so deal with the corniness until October Break comes and I finally get some rest.)

What is SLAC?
The Selective Liberal Arts Consortium, or SLAC, offers college students the opportunity to interview with organizations that do not ordinarily visit college campuses (aka they don’t have the time to travel all the way out to Po-Town to sit in the Faculty Commons for an hour). These companies are pretty legit, too—Greencorps, Federal Reserve Bank, and Bain & Company, just to name a few. So it’s probably worth your while to wake up early and take the train into one of the major cities mentioned below.

When/where are the regional recruiting days?
SLAC will be taking place in Chicago (December 4, 2009), Boston (January 6, 2010), New York City (January 7, 2010), and Washington, DC (January 11, 2010).

So, who’s coming? And what positions are they looking to fill?
A sampling of employers who are currently signed up (and what they’re looking for):

Chicago
Bain & Company, Inc. (associate consultant)
Chicago Trading Company (trading assistant)
Duff & Phelps Business (analyst)
Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago (associate economist)
Grassroots Campaigns, Inc. (canvass director/assistant director)
L.E.K. Consulting LLC (associate)

Boston
New England Center for Children (teachers/graduate assistantship)
Carney, Sandoe & Associates (teachers in independent schools)
Analysis Group, Inc. (analyst)
Federal Reserve Bank of Boston (research analyst)
Grassroots Campaigns, Inc. (canvass director/assistant director)
Immune Disease Institute (research technician)
LECG Inc. (research analyst)

NYC
Carney, Sandoe & Associates (teachers in independent schools)
Grassroots Campaigns, Inc. (canvass director/assistant director)
GSI Commerce (interactive marketing associate)
Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (physician office assistant/research study assistant/research technician/session assistant)
NERA Economic Consulting (research associate)
Shearman & Sterling LLP (paralegal)
The Nielsen Company (analyst)

Washington, DC
American Enterprise Institute (staff/research assistant)
Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen & Hamilton LLP (paralegal)
Congressional Budget Office (assistant analyst)
Economists Inc. (research associate)
Grassroots Campaigns, Inc. (canvass director/assistant director)
National Human Genome Research Institute (scientific program analyst)
U.S. Department of Justice (paralegal specialist)

I want to interview for those jobs! How can I do that?
Easy. Just go to http://slac.experience.com/er/security/login.jsp and log in. Your username is your full college email address_slac (so, mavassar@vassar.edu_slac) and the password is “recruiting.” You choose which recruiting day you want to go to, review the available job descriptions, and submit your applications. Employers then select which applicants they want to interview (hopefully you), and you’re on your way!

Additionally, if you are selected to interview on any of these days, you'll need to be able to get there (Bolt Bus is a good option for NY/DC/Boston!). These are great opportunities and students DO get job offers!

Freshmen, you're breakin' my heart

This week’s post will be divided into two parts:

BLOG PART UNO: ATTENTION ALL FRESHMEN (and freshwomen, if you went to an all-female high school and berated anyone who referred to your estrogen filled first-year class as “freshmen”)

This past Friday, we had our first Freshmen Friday from 1:00-4:00 pm. There were packets of information regarding internships, choosing a major, figuring out a life plan, and free food. And all except for about seven members of your class committed a cardinal sin of college life (no, not the “two-week rule” you learned during orientation): you turned down free food (and stood us up). I got to talk to a really nice fresher (how the English refer to you), who knew exactly what he was going to major in and what he was going to do after Vassar and all he wanted was information about summer research opportunities. And I know that for every student that has the next 4-10 years planned out, there’s at least 2-3 students who don’t even know what they’re going to have for dinner, much less what their major is going to be. And then there’s the rest of you who are somewhere in between (i.e. you know what you want to major in, but you don’t know how it’ll fit into your career plans). Point is, the CDO really wants to help you out (if we didn’t, we wouldn’t be enticing you with free food and an entire afternoon dedicated to you), but it goes both ways. So come and visit, and help make our next Freshmen Friday a success!

BLOG PART DOS: ATTENTION EVERYONE (freshmen, freshwomen, upperclassmen, upperclasswomen, you hippies who don’t like to classify yourself in any particular class year because you think it’s conformist)

The usual info sessions…hey, with this economy, you’re lucky these employers are trekking all the way to Po-Town.

University of Minnesota

Graduate Study in Architecture, Landscape Architecture, and Sustainable Design

October 5, 5:00 pm, Faculty Parlor

(Pizza will be provided)

One of the top-ranked professional programs, the University of Minnesota offers Masters programs in architecture (with concentrations in either sustainable design or heritage preservation), and landscape architecture. After you do that, maybe you could come back and redo Noyes Circle by putting a giant parade of shrubbery animals in the middle.

Yale Divinity School

October 5, 5:00 pm, Faculty Commons

If architecture isn’t for you, maybe Yale Divinity School is (and if both are for you, then you’ll have to make an info session choice. I’d go with God, because He’s, you know, the Big Guy, but that’s just me). Their graduate programs include a Master of Divinity, MA in Religion, or Master of Sacred Theology. Next year there will be a Master of Father, Son and Holy Ghost. No matter what program you choose, you’ll be totes besties with God, and Jesus and Mary will be your homeboy/girl. You might be receiving an email from me around finals time asking for the intercessions of your entourage.

United States Department of State

October 6, 5:00 pm, Faculty Commons

Big government organization willingly coming and seeking out students of an incredibly liberal school for internships and jobs. This means one of two things: 1) the government is really hard up for qualified employees (which might actually be true, seeing as how many qualified employees are either in jail or want absolutely nothing to do with the government because they’re afraid they’ll end up in jail), or 2) they want to prevent the liberal minds of tomorrow’s leaders from eventually rising up against them, so they plan on luring them into an attractive summer internship or postgraduate job. Tell the rep that you really enjoyed the info session and that you’ll be happy to stop by and visit when you go down to DC with ACT OUT for the National Equality March.

GRE Practice Session

October 7, 5:30pm - 8:30pm, GIS Lab, Room 114, Ely Hall

*Registration required: getter@vassar.edu

Ehh, I got nothing. Those of you who want to take it already know what the GRE’s all about, and those of you who are scared about taking it know what it’s about. And those of you who know nothing about the GRE shouldn’t be taking a practice one.

Fall Recruiting Consortium Oh Yeah!

Attention Vassar juniors and seniors:
Where there's smoke, there's fire. Where there are interviews, there are jobs. With that rhetorical flourish, I'm pleased to inform you about the Tenth Annual Fall Recruiting Consortium in New York City. The FRC is a day full of interviews held only for students from Vassar, Swarthmore, Bowdoin, Sarah Lawrence, Wesleyan, and Middlebury. This is a great opportunity to find either a full-time job or internship, as the very fact that these companies are participating in this event is a testament to their interest in Vassar students. Besides, don't you want to have the satisfaction of once more besting our rivals by taking away some of their post-college career opportunities? I know I do...

In any event, here's how it works. Log onto the FRC website, scope out all the jobs that strike your fancy, apply to the aforementioned jobs, and wait for the interview offers to start rollin' on in. Then, on Friday, October 30th, you'll head over to that place called New York City to interview with the firms from which you have received offers.

It's all happening much sooner than you'd think, so put your application hats on and get cracking!

GET INFORMED!

With summer nearing an end (on September 22, 2009, at 5:18 PM EDT, according to the US Naval Observatory), classes coming into full swing, and your inbox being flooded with all those orgs you signed up for during the activities fair (whether you wanted to or not), we here at the CDO have yet another thing for you to add to your schedule—info sessions!

Morningstar, Inc.
Monday, September 21, 6:00 pm
Faculty Commons

Morningstar (no, not the veggie burger company) is a Chicago-based independent investment research company with offices in more than 20 countries, and they’re looking for employees to help create their growing line of software, websites, consulting services, and publications. Apparently they’re one of those “hip” companies who have a Facebook (facebook.com/MorningstarDevelopmentProgram), Twitter (twitter.com/mdps), and a YouTube (youtube.com/mstarhr). Does “tweeting” count as an action word on a resume?

PricewaterhouseCoopers
Tuesday, September 22, 5:00 pm
Faculty Commons

Jean Wyer, Class of 1970, will be coming to talk about the accounting profession, including how large companies recruit, business schools/MBAs, PwC’s new Liberal Arts Masters Program, and how they count the Oscar ballots (no, seriously). If there’s any reason to become an accountant, it’s so that you can know next year’s Best Picture winner (maybe you could be one of those guys who walks down the red carpet handcuffed to a briefcase) and score some tickets for your favorite CDO staff.

M&T Bank
Thursday, September 24, 5:30 pm
Faculty Commons

Cam-Thach Tran, Class of 2006, will be discussing M&T’s Management Development Program. Good news: M&T Bank Corporation had $65 billion in assets as of March 2009 and is one of the 20 largest bank holding companies in the U.S., with over 700 branches located in Delaware, Maryland, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia, New Jersey, and Washington, D.C. Even better news: M&T Bank Stadium is home to the Baltimore Ravens. If you can’t get us tickets to the Oscars, Skybox seats to an NFL game will do.

Peace Corps
Wednesday, September 30, 5:00 pm
Faculty Commons

“Peace Corps volunteers serve in 74 countries in Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, Central and South America, Europe, and the Middle East. Collaborating with local community members, volunteers work in areas like education, youth outreach and community development, the environment, and information technology*.” Okay, fine, we guess plane tickets to Fiji/Jamaica/the Philippines will do. We’ll just tell Cappy it’s an employer research trip.
*http://www.peacecorps.gov/index.cfm?shell=learn

So, check out these info sessions (our goal is to beat the attendance of last week’s Trustees’ student forum; thank you, Misc), land a job, and just send those Oscar/NFL/exotic getaway tickets along to Box 7.