GW MBA New York City Career Trek

Brian Wachtel with a friend and Gov. Paterson of NY

Brianna here, and I’m on the bus headed back to DC after an amazing but exhausting two days in NYC. This post is about last night’s activities, and tomorrow (hopefully) I’ll be able to write about today’s awesome company visits.

After the alumni mixer last night, fellow first-years Emily Hedgpeth, Kelsey Artes and I ate dinner with Jennifer Lasko. Jennifer just received her MBA from GW in May 2008 but now works as an Assistant Product Director for the Clean & Clear brand at Johnson & Johnson. Emily, Kelsey and I were hanging on to every word she said, absorbing all that she told us, despite her concerns that she was telling too many stories or boring us. She was not. Through her stories, Jennifer gave us a number of valuable insights, which I will describe below. Having just graduated in May, she had very recently been through what the first-years are going through now, and we could not get enough of what she had to say.

#1. Have a story. This was first and foremost. Jennifer started out as a chemical engineer, realized this was not the right field for her, and found herself in business school seeking out marketing positions for facial products. How did she get there? The story could take 15 minutes, it could take an hour, but she was able to perfect it into a 2 minute “teaser” to share with companies. If they wanted to hear more, they were just going to have to interview her. 

#2. Be persistent. Jennifer mentioned the story of the traveling salesman. Doors are going to be closed on you and you are going to get rejection emails when you are searching for an internship, but you need to keep going. This is something I’m dealing with now, and I know I need to keep my head up, but it’s always nice to be reminded that other people went through and are going through the same thing. Those internships may not have been the right one for me, but I will find the one that is. 

#3. Make your own experience. When interviewing with a recruiter, Jennifer pointed out, there is no need to talk about the classes you are taking and what you are learning in them. That’s a given. They know you are taking those classes, and so are the other 110,000 MBA students in the country. Join clubs. Get involved. Talk about what you are doing in those clubs and the results, not just the fact that you are in those clubs. You need to set yourself apart from everyone. Jennifer planned both the NY and San Francisco career treks, and got her summer internship through the San Francisco trek. 

#4. Don’t give up. Sure this may sound similar to #2, but it’s that important. 

#5. Give people a reason to want to help you. If you contact an alum to network or for an informational interview, don’t expect that person to hand you a job or other contacts simply because you went to the same school. Always prove yourself with steps 1-4. Jennifer met an alum during the San Francisco career trek who was so impressed with her passion and drive that he actually created the internship for her. This internship helped to get her job with Johnson & Johnson.

She also developed a very close relationship with Toni Della-Ratta, a career counselor with GW’s MBA career center. How does a once chemical engineer transition to facial care marketing? Toni saw Jennifer’s drive and commitment, and was willing to pull out all the stops for her. When two people work equally hard to support one another, great things can be accomplished. 

#6. To quote a favorite computer animated fish, “Just keep swimming.” Actually, this is my contribution, but Jennifer couldn’t say “Don’t give up, be persistent, keep your head up, hang in there” enough. Emily, Kelsey and I found it refreshing for her to acknowledge how tough the first year of the MBA program actually is. Jennifer’s accounts of never sleeping rang true. But you know what? It’s one year. And it’s going to set you up for the rest of your MBA career (if not the rest of your life?). 

Kelsey, Jennifer, Emily, Brianna

After the dinner, the four of us felt extremely close and we vowed to keep in touch.  Jennifer was such an inspiration to us and her stories were fascinating and entertaining. Emily, Kelsey and I agreed that it was beneficial to speak with someone who had so recently graduated, because she was able to truly understand what we were going through and give us advice that was current. I am so grateful for this opportunity to have met with such a passionate, caring young woman who wanted to give back to three students she had never even met. 

Okay….I think I’m going to pass out on this bus now. Bye for now.

–Brianna

What a day! I’m sick as a dog, but I’ve been trying not to let that get me down.

We had two awesome visits today. They were so good, in fact, that through one of the information sessions, one of my friends discovered a new career path: operations for financial institutions.

This trek is chockfull of opportunity. It’s a great learning experience about what’s out there.

I also thoroughly enjoyed getting to learn about Teach for America. I already knew about the organization’s teaching initiatives and mission, but prior to today’s visit, I had no idea how I could fit into that. Learning about the work going on at Teach for America’s headquarters and its internship opportunities was truly an experience. It was incredibly interesting to hear about the organization’s challenges and its plans for expansion, as well as how it has created partnerships with top organizations in order to enable future leaders to defer graduate school admissions and job acceptances for the two years they can spend teaching.

Along with partnerships like that, Teach for America has employed quite an adaptive strategy in attracting new talent. What was once one person visiting over 100 schools to find corps teachers has turned into a one-on-one personal experience to find those who would be a perfect fit. This is an organization that is truly in touch with and embraces what it is and for what it stands, which is something key to successful marketing. I’m so glad we had this opportunity.

After our visits, one of my classmates, Cherub SIngla, and I took a side trek of our own: we hopped the ferry to visit the big lady in green–The Statue of Liberty. Even though I’m originally from NJ (yes, I’m a bridge and tunnel gal), I’ve only gone to Ellis Island. Seeing Lady Liberty was amazing. I can’t wait to upload my pictures for you all to see.

-S

7:45am - Sara giving us a pep talk pre-company visits.

I’m sitting in a Starbucks with Shawn Sullivan, taking a break until the Alumni Mixer at 5:30. We had an early start but we had two great company visits this morning. We were all really impressed with Teach For America’s presentation. Teach for America is a nonprofit organization that is working to end educational inequality by recruiting the country’s “most promising future leaders” to commit two years to teaching in urban and rural public schools.

Alice Lunsford, Director of Talent Recruitment, and Allison Rogovin, Managing Director of Recruitment, spoke with us about how our MBAs would benefit this ever-growing nonprofit organization in staff roles, instead of the two-year corps teacher roles. Curious as to how Teach For America recruits for the corps roles, Emily Hedgpeth asked how the organization attracts graduates who may get high paying job offers right out of college or graduate school. Allison told us of their new initiative to partner with leading companies, such as Goldman Sachs and Google, to provide a two-year deferment if a student is offered a job. With this, the student can still be a corps member, something they would really want to do, without losing the opportunity to work for such strong companies. 

Shawn and I are really looking forward to meeting all the GW alums tonight. After the mixer I will be eating dinner with an alumna and two other current first-years. Shawn had her dinner with an alum last night. She met with Bryan Stoller, GW BBA of 1999, who is a director in consumer card-marketing at American Express. Shawn had communicated with Bryan prior to the trek, so she was excited to meet him in person. Having experience in grassroots marketing and interest in consumer product marketing, she was interested in talking with Bryan about marketing from a service perspective. Since American Express is typically seen as a financial company, she was surprised to hear Bryan describe American Express as primarily a marketing company. Moreover, we all receive direct mailings from various credit cards and often throw them away, yet  Shawn was surprised to discover that this is a significant revenue-generating activity for American Express. The company does significant research to ensure that its direct mailings are targeted, which contributes to their success rate.

Well, I’m off to mix and mingle. Until next time!

–Brianna

Sherri here.

It’s been a long and wonderful day. This morning/ afternoon, excitement mounted as we neared NYC on the Bolt Bus. During the ride up, the first-year MBA students decompressed as we wrote our final paper for our first module (yay—we’re done!) and continued to research the companies we’ll be visiting in The Big Apple. (We also may have sneaked a peak or two at the menus for some of our alumni dinners tonight—delicious!)

It worked out for me that my alumni meal is going to be a breakfast on Friday. I’m a morning person (despite the time of this posting), so I’m even more excited. I cannot wait to meet with my alumni contact and hear all about what she does. My concentration is marketing, and my meal is with Carol Engel who has done some incredible work in the field.

But first we’ll wake up bright and early tomorrow to visit a top-tier financial institution and Teach for America. How lucky am I? What an incredible hands-on learning opportunity this is.

Tomorrow is going to be an amazing day. I can’t wait to tell you all about it.

Zach Parham, Paul Knight, Eran Goudes

Eran here.  Just got back from my private dinner with alumnus Paul Knight from Thomas Weisel Partners. Paul treated Zach Parham and me to a very nice evening.  Zach and I were both impressed with Paul and his background and learned a lot from speaking with him.  According to Mr. Knight, networking is key during these tumultuous times.  For those graduating in May, it will be challenging to secure the job of your dreams right out of college, but Paul believes that the bottom is near (though he was hesitant to say).  

After leaving the restaurant, Zach and I said, almost simultaneously, that we had a great dinner and a great conversation.  Paul Knight is an MBA graduate of 1985. The same year as Tom di Galoma, who has enthusiastically embraced GW MBA students and is not only hosting us for a full two hours tomorrow at Jefferies and Co. Inc, but has also just hosted Justin Bakewell (second year) and Bianca White (first year) for dinner, and plans to make it to Morton’s tomorrow for the alumni mixer.  In short, Tom is going out of his way for MBA students.  

I had the chance to speak with Justin Bakewell after his dinner and Justin had nothing but good things to say.  Justin’s takeway was that alumni are truly willing to contribute time and effort to help facilitate the success of current MBA students.  I couldn’t agree with him more…

Have a good night and even a better tomorrow!   

Eran.

Brianna here, first-year MBA at GW, writing from the Bolt Bus on my way to New York City! Thank goodness for free WiFi. It’s a beautiful day, and I couldn’t be more excited.

Yesterday, the first-years finished up our first set of exams. We are the inaugural class for a new curriculum at GW that has a greater focus on ethics, global business, and leadership. With the new curriculum, we are on a 7-week module schedule, so the trek falls during a mini break before we start up a new set of classes on Monday. A career trek to NY seemed like a lovely way to spend my time during this break.

I think most of my classmates are in NY already because almost everyone is eating dinner with a GW alum tonight. My alumni dinner isn’t until tomorrow night, so I’m just heading up now. But I’ve got my new suit in my new garment bag packed away below the bus, and I’m ready to go!

Tomorrow the “Marketing/Other” group (I’m concentrating in HR and Organizational Development) will be meeting with a leading bank and with Teach for America. We’ll have a break for lunch and for informational interviews, then in the evening we will have an Alumni Mixer with over 50 GW alums living in the NY metro area. It should be a really good time.

Stay tuned for upcoming posts from this exciting and fun trek!

–Brianna

Eran here.  Still trying to figure out how to upload videos on this blog.  We’re eight trekkers on one bus.  We stopped for a rest somewhere in MD and as we re-boarded the bus, the Vamoose bus unloaded its passengers, and two of the MBA trekkers were spotted – Brian Wachtel and Brendan Covington…So, we’re about half an hour away from the Big Apple.  Some have taken the time to nap, some are taking the time to write a paper that is due tomorrow.  Others are researching some companies and listening to financial podcasts.  Some of us are “sleeping,” and with the way their heads are moving, they almost look like “head bobbers.”  The high tech bolt bus is connected to the internet and we’re loving every minute of the IT revolution.  See you in NY!