Last week November 9th, I attended the Majors and Minors Fair, which was taking place in the multipurpose room in the Newman Vertical building. The fair was comprised of  alot of different majors and minors that Baruch offered and they all had welcoming representatives that knew alot about their major or minor. When walking around some of the major/minor tables were so empty I felt bad.  The table had a few representatives who were giving out handouts with information on if they were going to be the one teaching the class and what courses needed to be finished in order to sucessfuly graduate. Most of the representatives were able to answer every and any question that the students crowding around had.  I first was approached by the African American  minor which taught about the economic changes of the minority latino and blacks which was very interesting and something I might consider. My main minor that was on my mind was music theory or graphic design  and i spoke to  different representatives to get an overal understanding of what I would be required to do in the minor. After all of my questions were asked  I felt very satisfied that I was able to pursue my passion for music theory and or graphic design while focusing on my COMPUTER INFORMATION SYSTEMS major.  I felt confident that I  made the right decision pursuing  the CIS major and I’m excited to see what type of information is waiting for me in the major and minor classes.  The fair had undoubtedly helped me gain useful knowledge about the course I plan on taking and I’m glad that I took the time out to go and visit the fare. This was a very eye opening fair and I recommend everyone to go check it out before deciding to declare your major/minor.

I recently attended this career workshop that helps individuals craft better resumes in order to land jobs. I chose this event because it really caught my attention, especially since I have not written a resume of my own yet. I was a little nervous at first because I felt like I was the only who hasn’t written their own resume yet. I was able to meet a lot of new people at the workshop. however, to my surprise, there were also multiple other people who haven’t written a resume yet or even know what to put on it. This brushed away my nervousness and made me feel a little more comfortable. The workshop itself was really helpful and the instructor was really kind. She went at a pace that allowed everyone to fully understand what you should be doing when writing a resume. Half-way into the workshop, I have already learned so much new information. The best part was that I was not overwhelmed by information, instead, I grasped them and fully understood. I realized that writing a resume is so much more than just writing what you did in your past. If you want a winning resume, there are plenty of tricks and little tips that will help you land a job. One of these little tips and tricks that I learned is that you should build your resume around the company you want to work at. An example of this is if you want to work for a tech company, you would not want to put being a waiter at a restaurant as one of the main things in your resume. Instead, you want to put accomplishments or jobs that you have done that relate to technology like winning a robotics competition. Attending this workshop not only taught me more about resumes, but removed my previous opinion that these workshops were a waste of time. I look forward to attending more of these to not only better my chances at a job, but also to better my future.

Today, I decided to attend an event by PRSSA which had partnered with the STARR Career Development Center called “Going Solo” to give us three entrepreneurial speakers that had come to share their experiences working alone as a corporate CEO. Before the actual presentation started, we were encouraged to pick up some of the offered food and settle down. The actual presentation was very interesting, the three speakers introduced themselves and began to give us some insight onto who they were, their experience as the boss of their own company and how they got there. Steve Rose was the first of three to speak about himself and his company, The Rose Group. He mentioned mainly the transition from being an employee before forming his own company and his experience as senior positions at leading agencies. The second speaker, Melissa Daly, spoke of her long time experience of twenty years on communications as well as the formation of her company, MFD Communications. Prior to her forming her own company, she had worked at Goldman Sachs as the vice president of Corporate Communications. She also had experience working with the Brunswick Group. The final student was a Baruch Graduate named Jenna Guarneri, founder of JMG Public Relations. Her story to success was one that resonated with me especially. She had worked 7 days a week, she was a student two days, but the rest of the week she was working. Originally, she worked at a public relations agency before breaking off in 2015 to form her own public relations group and becoming the CEO. Overall this workshop was very enlightening, Guarneri was a real eye opener, knowing that a former graduate was able to build her way from the ground up is very impressive and shows how hard work could lead to amazing results in the way she had years prior.

On the night of the 27th of the October, me, Carmine from fro, and Moe went to the Muslim Business Association Speed Networking Night, I initially only viewed it as me fulfilling my fro class requirements, but I quickly saw all the connections I could make and took a real interest. We met with people from some of the biggest companies in Manhattan, including Blackstone, J.P Morgan, IBM, Goldman Sachs, EY, Etrade, and North Shore LIJ. The night started with the main speaker, a recent NYU graduate who owned a couple businesses, giving a speech about the things he experienced in business school, and in the real world. He spoke about the difficulty he faced trying to find an internship, where he had to get a list of NYU alumni working in the biggest businesses in the city, and began the meticulous process of emailing all of them, attempting to add more people to his network, and score an internship. After the opening speech, we got food and then sat down for some speed networking. Before the event began, the explained to us the concept of speed networking, we (the students) would remain in our seats throughout, while every 8-10 minutes the professionals moved to the next table. We were able to meat a plethora of people, from different companies, and different backgrounds. One of the most memorable conversations we had was with a financial advisor from EY, who had actually dropped out of Baruch, and then later in his life gone to Queens college to finish and receive his MBA. He told us that, regardless of what stage we are at in our education or career, if we don’t think the thing we’re doing is right for us, we should change it. This event proved very informative and fun, I really like the concept, and was able to make some connections.

Several weeks ago I showed up to the Muslim Business Association networking event. Although I showed up a few minutes late, I still was able to catch the key points of the event. What interests me the most about networking is how each individual needs to market themselves in such a way that doesn’t seem forced, or in other words fake. Networking isn’t about finding new connections to use for your own personal gain, rather, it should be viewed as a mutual benefit. If you meet someone at a networking event then you should just be yourself and not try too hard. It doesn’t even necessarily have to be a networking event. It can be anywhere: the gym, at a restaurant, or even in the elevator. The whole idea behind networking is pitching your personal story that others can relate to and expand upon in conversation. Having attended a veterans networking program, I have come to learn a lot from the business sector. For instance, speaking with the other veterans, who have completed college and have earned their master degrees and MBAs, has shown me the general path I need to take in order to be successful. Every single one of the people I have networked with have told me that their path has been anything but easy. Their arduous journey was that more resembling a zig-zag like pattern than a straight line as most people may wrongly assume. I believe  in the idea of who you know rather than what you know. Of course, thats not to say you can know everyone and be completely incompetent. Also, another thing to consider is that when you do finally click with someone, wherever it may be, keep in touch with them! Just because you get their business cards doesn’t mean that they’ll necessarily remember you after a few weeks or even as little as a few days! You have to consider, they too have busy lives and may not always remember you if you reach out to them only when you need them.

I believed this was the most interesting one out of the three events I had to attend. I went to a STARR Career Development Center today called “Going Solo” which featured three guest speakers who are all founders of companies. The free food really helped brighten up the environment because I was expecting to starve until 3 since it took a while to finally find an interesting workshop like this. We had Jenna Guarneri, a Baruch graduate who is the found of the JMG Public Relations. She talked about how when you work in public relations you should always be at your A game and that you should have a set of skills ready for when you graduate to go out and find a job. She also told us about how much work she had to put in during her school year like working 7 days a week and told us it is going to be tough in the beginning but in the end it’s worth it as she started her own company. Melissa Daly, the found of MFD Communications worked at Goldman Sachs, a place I know most Baruch finance students want to work at. She told us that writing skills and communication skills are really important and that is what most employees are looking for. Steve Rose, the founder of the Rose Group said that he founded his company during the economic bubble which was extremely hard because of the bad economy. He told us about the struggles he faced and that his family was there to back him up to finally open up a company. Before this workshop, I focused mostly in majoring in Finance but after this, I found marketing and public relations to be more interesting and may take a look at those majors too. This workshop has made me feel more confident if I ever want to open up my own company thanks to the advice given.

P.S. I forgot to bring my handbook so I had to make do with this.

On October 19^th, I went to a Starr Career Development Center workshop with my friends. It was the Spotlight Series: Careers in Start-Ups. There were many freshmen that went to this workshop, which is good because we got to learn about this topic early. The instructors were twin brothers, which is a fun fact. They started by introducing themselves and sharing their experiences by telling us that they both started work at a finance company after they graduated and they both passed the CFA exam. They are the kind of people that I want to become because I want to be major in finance too. Yet they did not stay long at the company but chose to learn new skills and joined a start-up company, which led to the workshop. There are different stages of companies – the idea stage, validation stage, seed stage, and growth stage. For sure, the growth stage is the most stable, and the seed stage usually gives us more profit, but along with more risks. A start-up company only needs two kinds of people: the product side – people who can create products, and the business side – people who can find customers. Therefore, when you decide to join a company, know what you want first, and know where your skills can lead you to. In addition, they gave us some tips about networking, and suggested that we go to the career fair to build networks, no matter how it goes, just to let people remember you. Even though I am still a freshman, it will never be too early to build up my network and do research to prepare for my future.

Overall, I had learned a lot from the workshop because the instructors shared a lot of their own experiences, ideas, and techniques, which were very persuasive. This Careers workshop really helped me on forming a general idea and gave me directions for looking for jobs in the future.

A couple weeks ago I attended the Muslim Business Association with my fellow classmate Saad and our friend Mo, who’s in another freshman seminar class. All three of us dressed in work attire to attend the event on networking. I learned more than I expected at this event, which was overwhelming. I talked to about six or so people who were currently employed in different business companies. Majority of the workers were from Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan. Everyone had a different background: different jobs, different majors, graduating from different colleges. At the beginning of the event, a man who attended NYU Stern, told us his story and struggle with entering into the business world. Intending to obtain a degree in investment banking, this man applied for several internships while he was at NYU. Being in this highly competitive field, he was able to get no internships and ended up reevaluating what it is he wanted to do with his life. He switched to a business major and explained to the audience how he had to network himself in order to get his foot into the door. He was persistent as he individually emailed hundreds of NYU alumni for advice. He wasn’t going around asking for a job or internship, but just for insight on what other people have gone through and what they would recommend.

What stood out most to meet at this event was a discussion we had with a woman from Goldman Sachs. She explained to us how when she went into this one interview she had no experience outside being a waitress. She had recently graduated from a fellow CUNY school and was competing against other people from more prestigious schools. At the interview she explained how her experience as a waitress at Applebee’s showed she was ready for the business world. Initially scared and shy when she began her job at Applebee’s, she adapted to the situation and developed people skills that allowed her to be successful and capable of associating with customers. The interview went well for her and she got the job. The point of her story was to show how we are more prepared than we think, we just need a story to explain capabilities.