Month: November 2017

For the last blog, I went to a Starr Career Development Center Workshop with two of my friends. In this dining etiquette workshop, I learned the proper table manners that need to be follow during an interview. Typically, after the first round of interview, you will be contact for a formal food interview. In this interview, your’re expected to act a certain way to make a good impression. First, we were served food. I expected a full course meal but maybe my expectation is too high. We were served a buffet style of food but they ran out of pasta before we gotten our food, that’s kinda sad. At a formal dinner, the table was set up with multiple spoons and forks. Each course have its own utensils and we started with utensils on the outside and work your way in as the meal goes on. Keep in note that water is always place on the right. After you sat down, you should place the napkin on your lap and if you want to leave to use the restroom, place the napkin on right of your plate. In such interview, she suggests not bringing a bag, if you brought on, don’t hang it on your chair but to put it behind your back. However, the way I was taught was different from what the speaker said. I was told to place your bag on the floor to your left. Perhaps there’re different ways. She also mentioned that when ordering, we shouldn’t order neither the most expensive dish nor the cheapest dish. We order something that’s medium priced. In addition, males can either keep their blazers on or off but females must keep it on. Most importantly, don’t order any alcohol even if the employer asks you to because you don’t want to get drunk make a fool out of yourself. Also, the host should always pay. Overall, this workshop was informative and helpful for me in the future if I were to go to a formal food interview. Not only so, it will also be useful if I go eat at restaurants that require formal attire. 

For the career event, I attended a Dining Etiquette Workshop for learning the proper manners and expectations of a formal food interview. I went with 2 of my friends for company and we all seemed to enjoy the event and also take away much knowledge and wisdom of this particular situation of a dining interview. Most of the time, people have to encounter interviews over food with their proposed employers. In this workshop, we learned what to do and what not to do during this formal meeting in a restaurant. We entered in a room with a buffet style speech. First, we were served food and we brought back our plates, while the guest speaker, spoke about the manners and expectations. She mentioned the different types of forks, knives and spoons that were placed, and that there is a certain order of eating, by using each utensil from the outside in. Then, she also mentioned that we should only order something from the menu that is medium priced or match the same price of the employer so that the respect is that you’re not taking advantage of their money. Also, her tip with clothing is that males should either take their blazer off or leave it on, but stick to one option. However, ladies shall not remove their blazers. We also cannot order any alcohol, even if the employer asks, because it is a test, since the interview is formal, and not casual enough to have alcohol with it. Lastly, her opinion with money is that the interviewee, or us, would never request to take the bill, or leave a tip. It is the employer’s job to do that. Overall, I think this event allowed me to be more knowledgeable not only for the interview, but also in general when I’m eating out at a formal place or meeting. 

My future career goal is to become a Certified Public Accountant. To help me to better understand the exact day to day life as a Certified Public Accountant, I decided to interview one. I interviewed Michael DiNoto, a Senior Associate in KPMG’s Metro Audit Practice. KPMG is a big accounting company and one of the Big Four auditors. I thought I could get some real insight into what I may be doing in the future by interviewing Michael DiNoto. First I thought it would be helpful to find out some background information about him. I asked him where he went to college and what his major was. He had went to Baruch and obviously his major was Accounting. He has received a BS in Accounting and MS in Taxation from Baruch. He has been licensed as a CPA in NY. I had also asked him what influenced his decision to go to Baruch and become a CPA. He told me he knew he wanted to go into business at a young age, and that in his junior year of high school he decided to become an accountant. While he was researching business schools with a good reputation for Accounting majors, he found Baruch. He thought there was no better option because it is perfect for him major, has a reasonable tuition, and would be a great way to get used to the city by the time he got a job there. One of the most interesting things he told me was the amazing internship he had gotten through Baruch. I always though internships offered little to no salary but he informed me that his internship with KPMG paid him over $50,000 a year. He also told me that his mother was an Accountant as well but she retired quite some time ago. Michael said she was a big influence in his decision to become an Accountant. I asked him what he did day-to-day as a CPA. He told me that he usually goes to the client site with a team from his firm, and brings his laptop. Then he usually stays there for a week sometimes longer and goes through all of their financial statement accounts and performs testing to make sure their financial statement accounts are correct. Then he and his team have meetings with different departments and with the controller or chief financial officer to understand their business better and to get all of the supporting documentation they need from them. I asked if there are any major perks of being a CPA and he said the best part is being able to travel. Being a CPA, he’s traveled for work many times. But he also gets 5weeks vacation every year and this allows him to travel wherever he wants to as well. He says that being a CPA is very stressful at times, but he does not regret his job choice and feels very lucky to be working for such a great company as KPMG. I found this interview to be very helpful and gave me great insight into my future career choice.

On October 30^th, 2017, I went to the Internship Seminar held by Michael Kalish, which is a career development workshop. I participated this workshop to help advance my goals in my career because internships look well on resumes and allows me to gain experience.

I learned that there are unpaid, paid, credit, and zero-credit internships. Paid internships usually involve businesses and profit companies are required to pay or give credit. Credits must be approved by professors and related to your major. Unpaid internships are generally volunteer work for nonprofit organizations, while paid internships are to be paid minimum wage. Zero-credit internships are on the transcript and you need at least twenty-eight credits, 3.0 GPA, and must be accepted to one of the three schools. Also, they are treated like a class since they have a syllabus, orientation, final, etc. To apply for internships, you can go to STARR search, the SCDC bulletin boards, fairs, and through networking.

I learned that once you get an internship ask questions, be dependable, have enthusiasm, follow regulations, take initiative to learn by asking people, make a journal, and network/keep in touch. Keeping in touch would people would allow them to remember you and they can give a good review or recommendation on future jobs/another internship. Furthermore, a journal will help you remember and add what projects you completed onto your resume. Taking initiative is actively asking questions and reporting whenever you finish a task and awaiting another one. This will show that you really want to learn and is enthusiastic about your internships, but also asking questions is important.

Additional resources that were suggested were the Mock Interview Module – to test and record your interview skills, Vault – to research companies, Focus-2 test– for personality and job assessment, and STARR search – for postings for internships and workshops.