Let’s just say that clubs are probably one of the best parts about Baruch, and I’m barely one month in. This is especially true for the Finance and Economics Society, the first club I committed to from the start. One of the tasks given was to familiarize myself with STARR, which even before becoming a freshman I heard it worked as the “to-go platform for finding a job.” One of the requirements other than posting your academic info (graduation date, GPA) and your professional info i.e. your resume and cover letter was to take a few personality assessments which can help narrow down your career choices based on what you chose. These included assessments of tasks within a job that I’d like to do, my attitude towards work i.e. whether I’m a problem solver, more social, rational, systematic over adaptive etc. and typically if you answer these kinds of assessments over a larger period of time truthfully, consistent results are to be expected.
And they were. I was classified as a more conventional and investigative person, a person who likes to solve problems and would do well in business, accounting, hard sciences, administration and technology. I then proceeded to attend a workshop under FES which was named “Lifecycle of an Internship,” presented by the club’s president, Verina Hanien. What the presentation covered included all the stages of an internship at the big financial firms and how to make the most of them via networking, etiquette and feedback. I was familiar with what the processes of an internship were as I actually attended one this summer – right before I became a freshman – and had something to compare it to with similar results. I did realize I wasn’t proactive enough, but that was to be expected as I didn’t understand its importance until I stood out to gain more from active networking. That said, I do hope to incorporate these findings sooner or later. FES’ last career workshop which included Capco making a company appearance was more reflective, because the activity incorporated a case study which I felt comfortable doing by adding value to the discussion. Still, I have at least hundreds of days to prepare for my future career and even more to understand what I’d like to do in the long run.