Panel 2- Spring 2010
Team 2 members:
Kishwar Ahmed
Cecilia Brignole
Stanley Cohen
Nikita Golubin
Heather Khoury
Darlysha Liriano
Diego Paez
Lev Skokin
Irina Yasina
Panel Speakers:
Dana Humphrey, Whitegate PR, owner
Sabrina Algoo, CPA, KMPG LLC, Audit associate
Our Opening Statement:
Good Morning. We are team 2 and today we want to discuss the topic that will affect each and every one of you very soon and that is students leaving college and entering the workforce in today’s world. To my left, is Dana Humphrey. She is the lead Marketing and PR Consultant at Whitegate PR with experience publicizing small and large businesses, artists, musicians, authors and non-profits in the U.S. and abroad, with a specific focus in consumer, professional services and retail industries. Our other speaker is Sabrina Algoo, who graduated from Baruch College in the Spring of 2008 and started full-time at KPMG in the Fall of 2008. Before we begin with questions, wouldyou please tell us a little more about yourselves?
Key Points of Presentation:
1. Sometimes wait a little bit longer for the job you actually rather than taking on any job because it is available.
2. It is important to build your network and being confidemt when negotioating.
3. There are many opportunities and resources out there to help you get started, so make sure you find them and take advantage of them.
4. It is essential to have an open line of communication with the people you work with or for.
5. There are basic skills you need that you have learned in school for your degree, but many companies require on-the-job training as well.
Closing Statement:
We would like to thank our panelists or coming in and sharing their knowledge, experience, and advice with us. Some of the key points from the discussion are: (listed above). We hope this helped you in some way in your future endeavors. Thank you and have a good day.
13 responses so far
I felt that this panel discussion went by a little slow. Although entering a workforce is important to students, the panel selected included an entrepreneur and an intern who received a full time position. This did not really play a solidified role in explaining how entering a workforce would be. At certain times, a speaker would go on and on and it seemed to not really connect with the other speaker. They did not play hand in hand from their experience. Other than that, questions were pretty solid, and the audience seemed to engage in discussions with the panelist. However, selection of panelist should’ve been more carefully selected and the topic could’ve been filtered better.
I thought the topic that your group chose was definitely relevant to the students in the class. Entering into the workforce is something probably all of us are scared of or a little uneasy about. I think there may have been some better panelists that could have been chosen for this topic, and with only two of them it was hard to get a grasp on the aspects of the topic. Two people didn’t provide enough information. Overall, I think the presentation was good and the group did well for only having two panelists.
This topic is very relevant to students. I mean not just in a job, life in general is really about teamwork. I thought the panelist that were present were very informative. The military guys were very interesting. I thought that there were a little too many people on the panel, but it is teamwork after all. It was nice to see people from the student organization there. I thought it gave us a good idea of how much work really goes on in the school and the services that are provided for us are well organized and thought out.
Entering the workforce is a very important topic especially since it relates to all of us directly. I felt that the panel could of been more organized. Since there were only two speakers, it felt like there were way too many questions because each question was answered as a quick response. Also, the questions that were asked kept getting interrupted by the audience asking the questions. I don’t think that there was a good variety of speakers since there was only two so we don’t really get a idea of the different perspective of people entering the work force in the different fields. Overall, I think that this important topic of entering the workforce wasn’t presented to it’s full potential.
What better advice can we get then from people who took similar route as us? Sabrina Algoo was someone who we could relate to since she was both a business student as well as a Baruch student. Dana Humphrey was also great because she represented someone who is working for herself. They gave us both advice on how they started and one of the things that really stuck was the infinite amount of resources provided by the city and the college that would help us get started in our professional career paths. For example, the star career development center (SCDC) provides workshops on things we have been talking about in class: personal pitch, networking, resume, small talk, mock interview..etc. Many students do not take advantage of the SCDC’s resource. The SCDC also provide counseling as well as display internship opportunities on Starr search for students to get their foot through the door. Another thing the two panelists spoke about that stuck in my head was networking. We communicate everyday whether it is with friends, acquaintances, professors, the security guard, or anyone. There is a good chance we will be communicating a lot in our careers. If you are working/interning, you will be exposed to professionals in your field or even consumers. Don’t let this networking opportunity at the workplace slip away!
I think the thing that somewhat hurt this presentation was the lack of a third presenter, but on a side note, it was pretty cool because we were able to have a chance to ask all the questions we wanted to. Good presentation guys.
Entering the workforce is a very important topic which depicts an important aspect of life. I wished there could have been more than two panelists so that more experiences could have been shared with us since its something we can definitely learn from. The questions were brief and short and the panelists seemed a little overwhelmed. Other than that, I think it was a great panel presentation and you guys seemed prepared with many questions which worked to your advantage.
Enter the workforce is an excellent topic. Many of us will be making the transition from a college student to work full- time very soon in such difficult economic times. I know I was immediately interested upon hearing the topic. The material discussed was interesting and relevant however there could have been more organization as to how the presentation flowed.
Even though this panel only consist of 2 guest speakers, it points that these 2 women gave us are really useful information. Also, it allowed our class to ask more questions that we are concerned about. Entering the workforce is not easy as they explained because theres so much to do before you can get to the top. Entering the work force will scare most of us but its also like taking a risk. There was enough time that the guest speakers were able to answer most of our questions.
As stated before a topic geared towards “Entering the Workforce” was an excellent choice given the fact that most of us plan to enter the workforce in the next year or so, if we are not already in it. What really made this group spectacular was the group as well as the panelist ability to put on a great panel discussion with a limited number of speakers. One thing that I took away from this presentation was the importance of organizational culture in today’s corporate environment. As Sabrina stated big corporations like KPMG are not only looking for the best and brightest to work for them, but are looking for people who embody the companies values and ideas. The technical things that you will need to succeed in a career of accounting can all be taught, but value are something that reside within you. As both speakers also stated when entering the workforce and going out for internship one must do their background research. The interviewer is taking the time out to find out more about you so the least you can do is find out more about the job that you are applying for. This will also help you figure out whether the job is right for you or not and if the company embodies your own values. This was an excellent second topic to start off with. the only thing that would of really took this group over the edge would have been more speakers.
Although you lacked 2 other panelists, I thought the topic was definitely an A+. We need to know what it is like entering the workforce. The panelists did a great job giving us advice on what we should do and how to make ourselves presentable. My favorite key point is that you should go into something you believe is your passion and what you value the most. I’m assuming that most of us are graduating within the next year or two, and hearing the panelists point of view is a great experience and an outlook on what we should know and do. Overall, great panel discussion!
I think the speakers that were present at this panel were very engaging and it was especially helpful that Sabrina was just out of college. It really gave me a sense of how things might be like when I enter the real world. Dana was also very helpful because she showed a bit more of what would happen a couple of years further ahead and I felt she had more depth to what she said because she had started her own company.
I think this panel had a lot of great points to share. For example, they made a really great point of being nice to everyone even the receptionist, because you never know who the employer will ask about you and if he/she should hire you. Similarly on our class trip to Fox News they said that the receptionist/secretary is the gate keeper and someone you should be nice to and make an effort to get to know. The only issue I had with this panel is that the panelists were awkwardly sitting next to each other because they didn’t know each other and one of the panelists didn’t do much talking. Overall it was very informative and made me realize that my interview doesn’t start and stop with my employer. It starts as soon as I walk in and ends when I leave.