Alumni Interview: Tasvir Hasan

By Jubi Gauchan, Peer for Career

On a beautiful Saturday morning, I had the pleasure of interviewing Tasvir Hasan, an alumnus of
Baruch who is heavily involved in recruiting at his alma mater. Father to two sweet daughters,
husband to a beautiful wife that he has known more than half his life, and a friendly, kind and
awesome personality, he is currently a Vice President at J.P. Morgan. Read on to find out more!

1. What year did you graduate? What was your major and minor?

I graduated Baruch in 2004 with an Accounting degree. At that time, an Accounting major
was not required to have a minor.

2. Where do you work and what is your current role?

I have worked at J.P. Morgan for 15 years, including four years during college, as a Smart
Start Scholarship/Internship participant. I worked full-time in the summer and part-time
during the school year.

Currently, I am the functional head of the North American Multinational Credit Risk team.
We handle inbound requests for the North-American subsidiaries of companies with
overseas headquarters. Clients come to us when they need loans, or other products / services
that have credit exposure.

3. Could you tell us a little bit about your experience in Baruch? Did you participate in
any clubs or organizations?

While attending Baruch, I worked at J.P. Morgan, which did not leave me with a lot of free
time; however, I was in the Honors Program, and I was a Student Academic Consulting Center
(SACC) Tutor for math, accounting, finance and other subjects. I was also a student
counselor.

4. Please name some steps that helped you to launch your first internship/job.

I graduated high school with an Engineering degree and was very involved in extracurricular
activities. I wanted to keep busy and have a good profile for college applications. In addition
to being the Salutatorian of the school and engineering program, I was the Editor of the
Yearbook and Captain of the handball team. Our handball team won the city championship
and my partner and I won the city doubles tournament as well. I even had my story
published in Newsday and another newspaper.

Towards the end of my junior year, I asked my professor and mentor where I could transition
to outside of engineering, and was advised that I should look into business. That is why I
came to Baruch, and then joined the J.P. Morgan Smart Start scholarship/internship program.

With my engineering background, the internship program managers thought doing something
technology-related would be a good first rotation. I was placed in a role responsible for
testing software and web applications for employees. Thereafter, I wanted to enhance my soft
skills, so I went through a leadership and management curriculum training rotation. In this
program, we assessed the internal and external training courses that were made available to
J.P. Morgan employees.

I knew I wanted to be an Accounting major, so I joined the Corporate Tax department for my
third rotation. It was a very good role, but I realized that accounting is too objective for my
personal preference. Since I wanted something a bit more subjective in nature, I looked into
Finance. Fortunately, I was asked to be a summer analyst for Credit Risk, and I submitted
my resume. I was two out of 40 Smart Start interns that joined a group of six Credit Risk
interns in the Commercial Bank. I really enjoyed it. Early on, I presented my views on why
we should lend money to large corporations, using quantitative and qualitative factors
through SWOT analysis, etc.

I then joined as a full-time analyst in Credit Risk. Although I have not worked outside of
Credit Risk in my full-time career, I have rotated through several industry groups in the
Commercial Bank and Corporate & Investment Bank.

5. What are the qualities that are the most valuable for your current position and your
company?

You have to be diligent, inquisitive, a good team player, and commercial. It is easy as a
Credit Officer to say “no.” However, I think the purpose is to find a way that works well for
everyone. It is about the right risk and return. Credit is a foot in the door for the
relationship, providing you with an opportunity to deliver other products and services.

Currently, I also manage people so have to be thoughtful about what is in their best interests,
and think about the team in general. It is good to be humble – knowing that there are a lot of
people who are smarter than you in certain aspects through experiences or simply smarter by
nature. That being said, it is important to keep in mind the importance of EQ, in addition to
IQ.

It is important to keep an open mind, and understand that we are not always right. We have to
be flexible when thrown a curveball. It is important to not to get rattled when surprises
happen; I see a lot of senior colleagues that stay calm, cool, and collected. As a leader, they
are the face of the team. I think they recognize that if we see them calm and focused, we will
feel more comfortable as well.

6. Could you tell us about the challenges you faced when you first started your
internship/job?

The internship started in my freshman year of college. I went from being a laid back high
school student to coming into a professional work environment. For the first couple of days, I
thought it was okay to go with my shirt un-tucked. My manager pulled me aside and said that
was not okay.

Everybody has specific roles and responsibilities, some of which are less interesting, but
you need to remind yourself of the bigger picture. You need to remind yourself that this is
part of delivering solutions to your colleagues and clients, and then it becomes more
meaningful.

Getting adjusted to the business world, breaking out of my shell, and understanding the
bigger picture were important things I learned early on.

7. What are some tips that you would give to students for a successful recruiting
experience?

Come prepared. It will help if you know who you are meeting with, know what they are
doing, and what the hot topics are in that industry/profession. Have your 60-second pitch; and
do not talk too much about yourself unless you are being asked for more information. It is
important to sell yourself in a smart way, but don’t overdo it. Ask the professionals about
themselves too.

Don’t take it personally when people don’t connect with you right away. It sometimes
depends on the kind of day that they’re having, or other things that are going on in their lives.
Always keep a smile on your face.

Don’t be shy in a networking environment. People are there to help you. If things don’t go as
you want them to, don’t take it personally.

I am a big believer that everything happens for a reason, so be yourself, do the best that you
can, be honest, and you will find yourself in a place where you are meant to be.

8. If you were to give one advice to Baruch students, what would it be?

Be yourself and challenge yourself to be the best person you can be. Competition is definitely
big in any job, let alone finance. I think we should just compete with ourselves. Just try to be
better than who you were yesterday and that’s something you should never regret or feel bad
about. I think a fitting way to end this would be to paraphrase a quote from Bernard M.
Baruch himself: You don’t have to blow out the other person’s light to let your own shine.

Alumni Interview: Cheng (Kevin) Chen

By Jubi Gauchan, Peer for Career

On a chilly December evening, I had the pleasure of interviewing Kevin Chen, an alum of Baruch who graduated in June 2013. He majored in Finance and minored in Natural Sciences. As many stars of Baruch are, all through college life, he was heavily involved in various leadership activities and has interned in many different companies. He was also a former Peer for Careers and is currently working at New York Life Investments. Read on to find out more!

1. What year did you graduate? What was your major and minor?

I graduated in June 2013. My major was Finance and I minored in Natural Sciences.

2. Where do you work and what is your current role?

I work in New York Life Investments, which is the investment arm of New York Life Insurance Company. I am currently an Associate in the Strategic Technology Investments Group, which is essentially the corporate venture capital team at NY Life. My team invests in technology start-up companies as well as venture capital funds. We have a mandate of bringing innovative technology companies into NY Life and we introduce their technology to the firm.

3. Could you tell us a little bit about your experience in Baruch? Did you participate in any clubs or organizations?

I had a great time at Baruch. It is a great bang for the buck!

In freshman year I was still debating on whether to focus on pre-med or go into Finance. Then in my sophomore year, I joined TEAM Baruch and then Peers for Careers. At the same time, I started to explore different clubs. I joined Beta Alpha Psi and became an Assistant Treasurer. I was also in the Bio-Med Society. I also started a non-profit on campus called Baruch Operation Smile. We were a student club arm of the non-profit called Operation Smile, where they provide free procedures for children in developing countries born with cleft lips. I was the President and Co-founder. For my sophomore year, I was recruiting members and building out the operations and then mainly focused on developing it further during my junior and senior year. We originally started with 4 members and then by the time I passed on the baton, we had 40 members. Besides that, I was also the Chief Operating Officer for Financiers without Borders.

4. Please name some steps that helped you to launch your first full time job?

The Peers for Careers program got me started with career development and prepped me with all the skills necessary to get my first internship at JP Morgan in the Baruch Extended Finance Internship Program. I was working there through most of my sophomore year. Then, I moved to Bank of America to explore a wealth management internship. After that, I went back to JP Morgan after finding out about an opportunity from fellow Peers: the Inter-year Operations Program, where I worked as a part-time Analyst for the rest of my college life. In between that, for summer during my junior year, I interned at Société Générale in Emerging Markets Trading. After that, I joined the investment management program at New York Life Investments full-time.
In sum, the Peers program combined with the experiences of club life and starting my own club on-campus built a strong foundation for me that helped me obtain all the internships. Then, all the internships built up the right skills that helped me to market myself as a suitable and competent applicant.

5. What are the qualities that are the most valuable for your current position and your company?

The qualities would be the ability to take initiative, being able to work without being given directions, taking ownership of projects, multi-tasking and developing professional skills such as how to interact with people. All these are important especially at work where I meet with entrepreneurs and have to work with different types of people.

6. Could you tell us about the challenges you faced when you first started your full time job?

It was a new team so there was no procedure to follow. In a lot of big companies, there is always a predecessor before you, who would give you the documentation of what to do and describe your day-to-day job duties. However here, we had to help build the process for it from scratch, which was extremely exciting.

Transitioning into full-time was also different. The transition from Intern to Analyst or Associate where you get more responsibilities and you have to think about where you want your career to go were some things I had to deal with.

Initially, I had wanted to be a trader so all the steps I took in college was to prepare for that role. Thus, getting into the venture capital field was not my original intention. However, when I stumbled upon the job, I found it to be very interesting and enjoyable.

7. If you were to give one advice to Baruch students, what would it be?

Be open to opportunities. Never look down upon an opportunity because it is a job that you do not like. You never know what doors might be opened next from there and where it might lead you to. Thus, jump on any opportunities that you find and do not be afraid to do it.

Time to Move on

By Yahya Khan, Peer for Career

As 2014 comes to a close, so does my undergraduate career. I came to Baruch four years ago as a freshman, ready to embark on an exciting and transformative journey. Now, that journey is at an end; I will graduate at the end of this semester, and with it ends an era of my life. I have been lucky enough to land a full time offer with a large financial services firm and I will start my employment shortly after graduating. While I am glad to have obtained meaningful employment and excited to commence a new chapter in my journey, I am also saddened by the end of a significant phase of my life and by the radical change that it heralds. I have had the opportunity to discuss these particular feelings with many of my peers as well as mentors that have already traversed through this particular canyon, and now I want to share a few insights that might be useful.

1. Time is precious. Transitioning from college to a full time work life normally leads to a reduction in disposable time. The ability to have free time and how we choose to spend it becomes increasingly valuable. With work weeks approaching 50-60 hours and sometimes even more, a major change that many entry level professionals go through is prioritizing their relationships, friendships, and who they choose to spend their time with. This can have both positive and negative outcomes: it allows us to curate our lives and allocate time to what we perceive to be the most important or enjoyable endeavors, but it deprives us of those chance encounters and “out of the box” activities that can lead to personal growth.

2. Motivation at work. Once the initial excitement of starting a new job wears off, it is important to deploy mechanisms that keep the initial spark alive. One of the key ways of doing so is to have self- assigned goals and challenges that motivate the desire to work and to improve. For many of us starting careers in large, global organizations, it is sometimes hard to envisage the impact our work creates or its importance to others. Therefore, in order to remain motivated and passionate, it is important to have definite, measurable goals and to understand the larger picture of why our work is important.

3. Charting a life course. Life in college follows a structured path. Students are generally familiar with what they need to do in order to achieve good grades and to be successful in academic life. The transition to a work life disrupts that orderly existence. While responsibilities and activities at work might be structured and assigned by someone else, a person’s own career trajectory is completely defined by their own accomplishments and desires. Therefore, it is important to take a step back from the day to day humdrum of life and think about what our own definition of “success” is, what we want to achieve in life, and how our current employment aids that effort.

The end of my time at Baruch is both nostalgic and exciting. I am delighted by the friendships and relationships I have had in my time here and by the plethora of life experiences that I will take away from this institution. However, I am also saddened by the thought of leaving so many friends and fond memories behind. In conclusion, regardless of how I feel about this change, it will happen, and the best I can do is to equip myself with the right tools and go out in the world ready to take on the next challenge.

Lessons Learned: An International Student’s Story

By Jubi Gauchan, Peer for Career

My journey as an international student in the USA has not been easy. It has been a road fraught with difficulties and heartbreaks. In a world where many people come into New York knowing what they want to become, I was the exact opposite! I had just given up on my dream that I had since I was six, of becoming a doctor due to the enormous costs of medical school. Thus my first steps into NY: no idea what I wanted to major in, experiencing the brutal cold and not knowing anybody here. It was a start afresh after living for 18 years in Asia.

I was initially attending another college before transferring to Baruch during my sophomore year. Thus, I was one of the newest newbies you could find at Baruch: an international student and a transfer student!

Coming to Baruch was an eye-opener. To quote our President, we have our “own mini-UN” here, filled with people from all over the world speaking so many different languages! The potpourri was intimidating, but awe-striking. As a sophomore still, I had no idea what I truly wanted to major in. I was torn between accounting and finance. That first semester, I became a commuter student, going for classes and then heading back home. Time was just ticking by and I still had no clue as to what I wanted to major in. Also, I barely knew anyone. I knew that this soon had to change.

By chance, I happened to come across a brochure for the Rising Starr Sophomore Program (RSSP). I decided to challenge myself and break out of my comfort zone and applied. I had no confidence that I would even get in as they were targeting the best sophomores at Baruch. As luck would have it, I got into the program where I met so many bright people who were in similar situations as me (not knowing their exact major yet) but very much involved at Baruch. Looking at them as an inspiration, I took up the offer of joining Baruch’s oldest Honors society, Sigma Alpha Delta, in order to become more active on campus and get to know more people.

Long story short, one step led to another and I ended up joining T.E.A.M. Baruch. Through there, I met the most wonderful people on campus- people who are my closest friends at Baruch- and learned even more about leadership. After the general leadership training, I underwent another semester of rigorous training to be in the Peers for Careers program. Meanwhile, my year long journey with RSSP and the Starr Career Development Center helped me to decide upon my major.

It was a daunting task to finally decide that Finance was going to be my major. I was afraid. As an international student, it would be even more difficult to land a job in Finance, and all my international friends were pushing me to do accounting because of the perception that accounting is recession-proof. Regardless, I went with my gut and declared Finance as a major. Now came the tough part: finding an internship. With no prior finance-related work experience and little knowledge of the finance world, I took my major classes and went to events, workshops and career fairs. As I challenged myself more, I faced setbacks and triumphs and grew more as a person. Soon, after countless hours of preparations, I finally landed my first internship which then created even more opportunities for me.

Now in my senior year, as I look back, I see that all these years have been extremely challenging but equally as rewarding. In my journey as an international student, I have found these lessons helpful and I hope you find use of them too:

1) Never follow the path most traveled. Listen to your heart, find your own path and create your own opportunities. Believe that you can make it happen. Believe in yourself!

2) There will be days when you feel like nothing is going right in the world for you and everything seems to be unattainable. At that point, take a deep breath and just go do something else for that moment, such as watching your favorite TV shows, going for a long run, or talking with your close friends (which always helps!) Soon enough, you will find that the tasks you have to complete are not as daunting anymore.

3) Always be humble. There are so many people from different backgrounds that one can learn from, be they your professors, your peers, or the many people who keep our school running. Everybody has their own life stories that we can learn something from.

4) Do not burn bridges. Nobody will remain where they are at this particular point of time. Life is a roller coaster ride of ups and downs. There may come a day when they are in a more favorable position than you. At that point, it is not the words that you spoke that they will remember, but the way you made them feel.

5) Always be grateful for the opportunities you have. Take advantage of being in one of the greatest cities in the world and at Baruch! Also, never consider something as beneath you, for every experience- good or bad- helps you to grow as a person and leads you to the next step in your journey to success.
In conclusion, regardless of our backgrounds, in our challenging world today it is all too easy to get caught up in our fast-paced lives and forget that we do not live forever. Hence, live each moment to the fullest. I will leave you with one of my favorite quotes by Steve Prefontaine:

“To give anything less than your best is to sacrifice the gift.”