Yale SOM's Newest Students Explore Career Paths
SOM’s new MBA and MAM students got the chance to explore their career interests at Career Immersion Day 2015 on August 21.
Seventy-five professionals, including many SOM alumni, visited campus to offer candid advice and insights across sectors including consulting, consumer products and retail, design and innovation, economic development, education, energy, entrepreneurship, healthcare, impact investment, investment banking, investment management, marketing, media and entertainment, private equity/venture capital, real estate, social impact, and technology.
Follow the conversation:
Investment Banking Panel
Why choose investment banking as a career? It requires a broad set of skills and responsibilities. It puts you in a lot of uncomfortable situations. It helps you grow faster than other careers in just three to four years.
- Anubhav Gupta ’08, Executive Director, Global Consumer Products & Retail, UBS
Finance Club is very useful to help navigate the recruiting process. Make your study teams, practice your elevator pitch with them, and master those interview questions. Most importantly, don’t be afraid to reach out to second-years—they are a very good resource that is free and have gone through the process.
- Patricio Gonzales’11, Investment Vice President, Global Industries Group, Citi
Panelists
Matt Baron ’14, Credit Suisse
Samuel Dostart ’12, Houlihan Lokey
Patricio Gonzalez ’11, Citi
Anubhav Gupta ’08, UBS
Social impact Panel
As someone responsible for hiring, I’m particularly interested in people who are willing to do challenging things that demonstrate that they can believe in something…I’m also always looking for people who have some hard skill—something that they can do really well; it may not even be the thing that I’m hiring them for, but it demonstrates that they can go deep on something…The mistake that I often find is people who have a really broad resume who’ve done a lot of things but they haven't done something either that they can talk to me about that they fundamentally believe in or they haven’t done something that they’ve gotten really good at, that they’re an expert at.
- Henry Fernandez LAW ’94, CEO, Fernandez Advisors
Panelists
Henry Fernandez LAW ’94, Fernandez Advisors
Addison Franz ’13, FBI
Kate Garroway ’12, Fiscal Management Associates
Kimberly Kicenuik ’11, CCS Fundraising
Katie Schindall ’10, EMC
Jason Zahorchak ’12, Equal Justice USA
Consumer Products & Retail Panel
Network, network, network, and know yourself. I relied heavily on alumni, not necessarily for the direct opportunities that unfolded, but for the introductions that led to the opportunities…I knew what I wanted and I knew what I was good at and I knew what I wanted to learn and what I wanted to contribute…and I was very clear and confident in my pitch to any potential employer…I would argue there is a need at every company for SOM talent, and it’s just a matter of matching that need to the right SOMer.
- Darcy Shiber-Knowles ’13, Quality, Sustainability, & Innovation Manager, Dr. Bronner’s
Panelists
Kate Cappelletti ’12, PepsiCo
Mollie Crudden ’12, Unilever
John Eng ’09, Macy’s
Darcy Shiber-Knowles ’13, Dr. Bronner’s
Entrepreneurship Panel
I came to SOM with the intention of starting a company. I’m an engineer, I had worked for technology startups in the past, and it really motivated me to want to create something new of my own. Towards that goal, I worked at the YEI [Yale Entrepreneurial Institute] through the TCP [Technology Commercialization Program] and was paired up with a professor working on a new venture. It was a really amazing experience—this was something extra-SOM that was a really big part of my learning experience here at school..
- Anthony Annetta ’16, Entrepreneurship Club co-leader
Panelists
Anthony Annetta ’16, Entrepreneurship Club co-leader
Rick Hunt ’81, YEI and 77 West Consulting
Kyle Jensen, Yale SOM
Consulting Primer
I would not worry at all about having an in-depth expertise in an industry. If something really grabs you, that’s great, but it doesn’t need to happen. Most of the folks who come into Bain from places like SOM are just super-smart generalists who want to learn, want to grow, and want to solve problems. That’s the focus, so classes around strategy, around marketing, and just across the different sectors are all great preparation.
- Steven Kauderer ’89, Partner, Bain & Company