Building a Career in College

By: Paulina Jankovic

Peer for Career, Majoring in Marketing

As I completed my second year of college, there seemed to be a huge change in what everyone was talking about. Instead of conversations about summer fun, the halls filled with constant chatter of prestigious internships, hard earned jobs, and club leadership positions. And I was struck by feelings of intimidation.I had applied to numerous internships and still did not have a summer job. Tired of watching everyone seemingly progress and succeed, I curtailed my efforts and gave up.It was only a matter of time when all of this disappointment transformed into a new motivation. I realized that I did not want to sit by the sidelines and only watch others progress and succeed in their career paths.

I wanted to be part of the action. I quickly grasped a new mindset that, if you want to achieve something, you need to actively take steps to make it happen. Success doesn’t just fall into your lap.

I knew I wanted to pursue a career in Marketing. To make sure that I prepared, I knew I still needed to gain experience and knowledge in the marketing and sales fields, develop my leadership skills, get more involved on campus, and start building a network of connections.Since then, I have made sure to relentlessly keep trying, with my ultimate goal front and center in my mind.This fortitude has led me to land two marketing internships, and I plan to obtain even more. I have also acquired a sales and marketing position in a company to build a sales background.I am active on campus, holding a position in a student club. To hone in on my leadership skills I joined T.E.A.M. Baruch—Baruch’s on-campus leadership program. I have made sure to engage in any marketing or advertising networking events to gain valuable insight and advice from those already in the marketing field.

I certainly made progress in my career path and aspirations, but there still is a lot more work to do.

If we want something bad enough, we must pave our own paths to success. This valuable lesson learned continues to guide me. Now I know I will not just watch the crowd pass me by, but create my own accelerated path to success.

Owning Your Skills

By: Amanda Ramkissoon

Majoring in Operations Management

Class of 2013

Despite our diversity, Baruch Students all share similar concerns, the most popular being, “How will I get a job without relevant work experience?” In particular, I was worried about how to find a job in operations with little to no relevant experience.

It is this concern that seems to have plagued many business schools. How can a student with no relevant work experience enter the business field? I had to deal with this problem and as a student career advisor I also saw students facing the same challenge.

While there may be many reasons for students concerns over inadequate experience, there are also many easily accessible solutions.

I think my biggest challenge when applying for business jobs was getting into the right state of mind. I found myself comparing myself to other students who already had internships at top notch companies while I had nothing close to that. I needed to convince myself that although I may not have jobs within the business field, I did in fact have valuable transferable skills.

The first step I took was to identify these skill sets.

This can be accomplished by attending one of the many workshops offered by STARR, by finding someone that knows you well and can point these out to you, or that can look at your resume and highlight these areas.
If none of these options are accessible to you at the time, look at your resume yourself and reflect back on what you have done in the past. No one knows you better than yourself. I would like to advise caution here. You need to be comfortable enough to speak on these skill sets and display them during the interview and on the job. So be honest!
For example, many Baruch students have cashier experience and are Accounting majors. When you look at being a cashier, you may think of it is as simply putting money into a cash register. However, as an Accounting student, this displays responsibility in handling cash and performing calculations, responsibility in record management and many other skill sets that are often overlooked.

I am an Operations Management major who recently secured a job at a well-known investment bank with much of my industry understanding based on one finance class. I competed with mainly finance students and my selling point was, “I have an operational mindset that is difficult to develop in a short time span and I can understand finance on the job.”

It’s all about playing up your strengths and using them to help you stand out. This is your time to shine. So don’t sell yourself short.

Preparing for Law school

By Tina Coco, Esq., Pre-Law Advisor

SCDC Correspondent

(As originally published in The Ticker – http://ticker.baruchconnect.com/)

While most people were starting to relax and enjoy summer vacation, Baruch pre-law students and alumni were hard at work and focused on preparing themselves for the upcoming law school application cycle and the world beyond. Over a five-day period during last June, 28 students and alumni participated in the Max Berger Summer Institute program. Mr. Berger, a Baruch ’68 graduate, and Columbia Law School ’71 graduate, has built a remarkable career in law. As a member of the Baruch Board of Trustees, his vision is to help cultivate the amazing talent that exists at the school and bring forward the next generation of leaders. He established the Max Berger Pre-Law Program at Baruch as part of that vision.

The program kicked off with a two-day Mock Trial Competition held at, and in conjunction with, John Jay College and their pre-law students. Baruch participants won over $20,000 in scholarships to attend either John Marshall or Suffolk Law Schools. Participants found the experience rewarding and exhilarating. Day three of the Institute consisted of a diagnostic LSAT Exam conducted by Nicolay Siclunov, Senior LSAT Instructor and NYC Development Director, at PowerScore Test Preparation. Participants took a sample law school admissions test under the same time constrains as the real test. Questions and answers were explained in the afternoon portion of the program. Day four included a Mock Contracts 101 law school course taught by Baruch’s Department of Law Prof. Valerie Watnick. Prof. Watnick started the class by showing students an example of the Socratic method still used in many law schools. The class was followed by a special luncheon presentation from Joseph Fan, a Baruch ’09 alumnus, on the topic of “What Law School is Really Like”. Joseph is currently a 3L student at Cornell Law School. The afternoon concluded with “Writing an Effective Personal Statement” conducted by J.Y. Ping, a Harvard Law ‘10 graduate & CEO of PreProBono. Students honed their writing skills through intensive writing workshops focused on assisting them with developing their personal statement and other law school application essays and addenda. On day five, students toured Fordham Law School and had their questions answered by Kate Cunningham, Associate Director of Admissions.

This January, the Max Berger Pre-Law Winter Institute will include a large law firm visit, a LSAT logic games workshop, law school visit and much more. Applications are due on Friday, November 30, 2012 and can be found on the Starr Career Development website at http://www.baruch.cuny.edu/careers/law/law_activities.html.

Past program participants have gained entry into the nation’s top law schools including Stanford, NYU, UPenn, Cornell, University of Virginia, University of Chicago and Boston College of Law. For further information on Baruch’s Max Berger Pre-law Program, or to make an appointment for pre-law advising, please contact Tina Coco, Pre-Law Advisor at [email protected].

Making the Most of a Phone Interview.

By: Robert Smith

Peer for Career, Majoring in Marketing and Advertising

And it was over in the blink of an eye. I just completed my first phone interview in basketball shorts with my laptop open while Facebook was glaring in my eyes. I was left wondering, “Did I answer that question right?

This question holds great weight, especially when you have no real way to judge how well you’ve done. With no real indication of how I did, I was left in limbo until I got a rejection letter a couple of weeks later.

After this phone interview, I have participated in a few other phone interviews with a fair amount of success. Based on my experiences and some of my friends, here are some tips that I believe can help you successfully complete many phone interviews that lie ahead.

Dress for success: I’ve been told to dress up as if you’re sitting in front of the person. You are more likely to act the part. Go all out and dress for the job you want.
Ask for clarification: If you didn’t hear or understand something, respectfully asks the interviewer to repeat the question. Use the handset if possible to have your hands free.
Find a quiet area: Interview in a place where there is no background noise. Also, find an area where there are no cell phone service problems. It can be really frustrating to have 2 dropped calls in less than 5 minutes.
Be resourceful: Have your resume and company information in front of you. Glance at it every now and then to ensure that you are answering the questions in the most accurate way possible. Also, it paves the way to ask really good questions.
Have a written list of questions: You can refer to these during the interview and make notes on the employer’s responses.
Take notes as you go: This will help you remember what was said and it can be information helpful for the thank you note or upcoming in-person interviews.
It’s just an interview: Don’t make it bigger than what it’s supposed to be. Don’t over analyze the interviewer’s long pauses. This pause is normal since the employer is without any visual cues and he or she may need a moment to take notes.