It's been a good ride this summer and with just over a week left my internship is coming to a close. I've learned so much this summer about what I want to do with my career, office culture, and the sports and entertainment industry in particular. Since I feel I have learned so much, I feel it is my duty to impart my new found wisdom upon you with my 3 simple easy tips to making the most out of your summer internship.
1. NETWORK- This may seem extremely obvious but it is often done wrong or not enough. I think I have done a pretty good job, but may have not done enough. Some ways to network wrong are:
- Start asking about jobs or connections your superiors have too early in the internship.
- Ask people for a recommendation when you do not have a lot of experience working with this person.
- Suck up. This is my biggest pet peeve. I hate when interns make it a competition with other interns to get on the good side of the boss. And to be honest your boss will recognize this as well.
One way to make sure you do enough networking throughout the summer is to get your immediate supervisor on your side early in the summer. Get them to help you set up with meetings in the company. Also when you see someone you have never met in the company don't be afraid to introduce yourself. Lastly always have your elevator pitch ready. This will allow you to be always ready even when caught off guard.
2. Have fun. Make friends, laugh, and always have a smile on. If you have a positive outlook on your job or at least portray that to your co-workers and superiors, the people in the office will enjoy working with you. This can lead to my first tip which is networking. Because if you are happy people will open up to you and want to help you. No one wants to help the debbie downer of the office.
3. Dress for the job you want. This is a motto that I have stressed time and time again. Appearance and hygiene are two of the most overlook aspects in the office. Wearing a tie or something equivalent for girls if it is not required goes a long way. People recognize it and will remember you. It is subtle touch that separates you from the rest of the pack. Remember, and summer internship is just a 10 week interview. Doing the little things and showing committment will get you the recommendation or job offer you covet.
Best of luck in the future.
Friday, July 30, 2010
Thursday, July 29, 2010
Work-Life Schmalance
Balance, schmalance. Let me start off by saying that work-life balance as an investment banking analyst or associate is next to non-existent. Given the harsh demands of the job, we spend an inordinate majority of our waking hours in the office cranking spreadsheets, memos and pitchbooks.
Our schedules are not our own. We live and breathe at the mercy of work's ebb and flow. Your time is never yours. Carrying a blackberry around may seem cool, but it virtually connects you to work 24/7 and puts you at the beck and call of your superiors.
As analysts right out of college, the hours are still manageable. Young and energetic, ready to pour our souls into our careers, we are fully committed to performing the best we can at work. The story is a little different for associates. At a later period in life, associates are looking to start families, commit to relationships and build a home for themselves. Associates who are thinking of having children, or who have just had children, find little time to give to their families because of their work.
So why do so many people still fling themselves at the industry? Firstly, and I loosely quote a VP, you have to be greedy for money to be in the industry. Compensation is obviously a major draw for most joining the industry. Secondly, and I quote another analyst now - "you get in and you get out". People join for the exit opportunities, whether it be to hedge funds or PE shops. The experience sets you up for life (arguably).
It is a tough decision. I think when you choose investment banking, you are not choosing a job but a lifestyle. You must think about whether you are willing to cede control of your schedule, whether you are ready to lose touch with a few friends along the way, and whether you can handle a family/relationship in addition to work.
Our schedules are not our own. We live and breathe at the mercy of work's ebb and flow. Your time is never yours. Carrying a blackberry around may seem cool, but it virtually connects you to work 24/7 and puts you at the beck and call of your superiors.
As analysts right out of college, the hours are still manageable. Young and energetic, ready to pour our souls into our careers, we are fully committed to performing the best we can at work. The story is a little different for associates. At a later period in life, associates are looking to start families, commit to relationships and build a home for themselves. Associates who are thinking of having children, or who have just had children, find little time to give to their families because of their work.
So why do so many people still fling themselves at the industry? Firstly, and I loosely quote a VP, you have to be greedy for money to be in the industry. Compensation is obviously a major draw for most joining the industry. Secondly, and I quote another analyst now - "you get in and you get out". People join for the exit opportunities, whether it be to hedge funds or PE shops. The experience sets you up for life (arguably).
It is a tough decision. I think when you choose investment banking, you are not choosing a job but a lifestyle. You must think about whether you are willing to cede control of your schedule, whether you are ready to lose touch with a few friends along the way, and whether you can handle a family/relationship in addition to work.
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Box Checked!
Literally posting this 32 minutes after I delivered my final presentation to senior management and with one week to go, it's really impossible for me to realize how time has flown by. I guess just by looking at my presentation, I can see the time I've spent on strategies and executions from day 1 till this morning. And it ended with a lot of drama as the presentation has been rescheduled 5 times (3 times today).
Since it's time for me to wrap up my internship and start thinking about vacation before returning for my final year, I feel blessed for the experience I've had business-wise. Developing a promotional strategy for two top products, leading subsets of programs that are actually being executed, and gaining exposure to business planning processes as a marketing intern is more than I'd ever expect. Of course it all came with a lot of hard work and long working hours but the feeling at the end is that I did my best.
Something I really wanted to stress and there's not enough to say about its importance especially for international students coming is the MAP project. As I mentioned in my early posts, because of that I got a shot at interviewing with Hill's Pet Nutrition and ended up working for and impressing them. If it wasn't for that I would still have a job but not something that I would like or get paid for. Yes it would be a free internship! Times are hard and coming from a different country to start a new career requires sacrifices and strong will. Everyone was telling me that it was impossible to get consumer goods internship because I didn't have the proper experience. And yes people got jobs on campus while I was struggling to even get an interview. But in my opinion, that doesn't mean anything. Work hard and go after your dreams, and you will succeed. MAP was my shot at succeeding and I made sure I took full advantage of it. If you think about it, I ended up having a 5 month internship... 2 months working on the MAP project and 3 months working as an intern.
So for all you incoming MBA's out there consider my point of view and see how you can leverage it because time flies and before you know it you will be at the end of your first year still trying to figure out what's going on.
Take care everyone! Enjoy the summer and see you in September.
Since it's time for me to wrap up my internship and start thinking about vacation before returning for my final year, I feel blessed for the experience I've had business-wise. Developing a promotional strategy for two top products, leading subsets of programs that are actually being executed, and gaining exposure to business planning processes as a marketing intern is more than I'd ever expect. Of course it all came with a lot of hard work and long working hours but the feeling at the end is that I did my best.
Something I really wanted to stress and there's not enough to say about its importance especially for international students coming is the MAP project. As I mentioned in my early posts, because of that I got a shot at interviewing with Hill's Pet Nutrition and ended up working for and impressing them. If it wasn't for that I would still have a job but not something that I would like or get paid for. Yes it would be a free internship! Times are hard and coming from a different country to start a new career requires sacrifices and strong will. Everyone was telling me that it was impossible to get consumer goods internship because I didn't have the proper experience. And yes people got jobs on campus while I was struggling to even get an interview. But in my opinion, that doesn't mean anything. Work hard and go after your dreams, and you will succeed. MAP was my shot at succeeding and I made sure I took full advantage of it. If you think about it, I ended up having a 5 month internship... 2 months working on the MAP project and 3 months working as an intern.
So for all you incoming MBA's out there consider my point of view and see how you can leverage it because time flies and before you know it you will be at the end of your first year still trying to figure out what's going on.
Take care everyone! Enjoy the summer and see you in September.
All That Glitters is not Gold
Cliche title for an oft misunderstood metal... but one that has held, and continues to hold tremendous importance to man. As you can guess, I'm on a desk dealing in precious metals, chiefly gold; I will try to explain the mysteries of investing in the metal.
On a simplified basis, gold demand can be split into two broad categories: investment demand and commercial demand. Both names are self explanatory, but to give you a more specific definition, investment demand is comprised of buyers from the financial community - hedge funds, pension funds, mutual funds, anyone looking to speculate or hold gold for the long term. Commercial demand consists of buyers from industry, namely from dental services and car makers. Another important part of this category is made up of individual buyers - India is a huge retail market for gold due to its important uses in their culture, namely in dowries and numerous festivals they celebrate.
Considering both parts of the demand picture for gold, it becomes obvious that it is viewed both as a commodity as well as a store of value. This stands in contrast to other metals which are mainly used as industrial materials. Consider as a short example gold's main rival - silver. Silver is constantly mined and consumed as an industrial metal, and this can be observed in its price, which trades in double digits, compared to gold which trades in triple digits. Also consider that gold is hardly ever consumed as most of it is held physically as jewelry or in bars, to be converted into value later. This means its supply is mostly fixed, while demand fluctuates according to investment and commercial demand.
Thus, gold essentially becomes a currency - which harks back to the era of the gold standard, or the Bretton-Woods agreement. From that legacy, and the metal's cultural history of being a material valued by all, gold today fills the modern role of a currency of last resort, a hedge against inflation, or a hedge against the US dollar. All three roles are extremely similar and are based in a common line of reasoning - should paper based currencies, as they are doing now, continue to be printed freely to stimulate global economies, the fiat currencies of America and Europe will slowly lose their value, making gold even more valuable as the hard asset holds its value better than the paper asset.
Ultimately, the physical gold custody trade is an armageddon trade and is definitely a tail risk event... but it never hurts to be prepared does it?
On a simplified basis, gold demand can be split into two broad categories: investment demand and commercial demand. Both names are self explanatory, but to give you a more specific definition, investment demand is comprised of buyers from the financial community - hedge funds, pension funds, mutual funds, anyone looking to speculate or hold gold for the long term. Commercial demand consists of buyers from industry, namely from dental services and car makers. Another important part of this category is made up of individual buyers - India is a huge retail market for gold due to its important uses in their culture, namely in dowries and numerous festivals they celebrate.
Considering both parts of the demand picture for gold, it becomes obvious that it is viewed both as a commodity as well as a store of value. This stands in contrast to other metals which are mainly used as industrial materials. Consider as a short example gold's main rival - silver. Silver is constantly mined and consumed as an industrial metal, and this can be observed in its price, which trades in double digits, compared to gold which trades in triple digits. Also consider that gold is hardly ever consumed as most of it is held physically as jewelry or in bars, to be converted into value later. This means its supply is mostly fixed, while demand fluctuates according to investment and commercial demand.
Thus, gold essentially becomes a currency - which harks back to the era of the gold standard, or the Bretton-Woods agreement. From that legacy, and the metal's cultural history of being a material valued by all, gold today fills the modern role of a currency of last resort, a hedge against inflation, or a hedge against the US dollar. All three roles are extremely similar and are based in a common line of reasoning - should paper based currencies, as they are doing now, continue to be printed freely to stimulate global economies, the fiat currencies of America and Europe will slowly lose their value, making gold even more valuable as the hard asset holds its value better than the paper asset.
Ultimately, the physical gold custody trade is an armageddon trade and is definitely a tail risk event... but it never hurts to be prepared does it?
DMB Hits Nationals Park!
(BBA, Washington Nationals Baseball Club)
Hello everyone! So the last time I posted, I explained a typical day at Nationals Park. However, from my last post until now, it has been anything but typical here at the stadium. Last Friday evening, we had the Dave Matthews Band concert here at the Park. Sounds cool, right? Yeah, it was...but it was also a lot of work for my department. This concert was my department’s biggest event this summer. Luckily for us, the Nationals were on the road for 10 days and we had the All-Star Break, so we didn’t have to worry about games and could just focus on the concert.
We put in long hours and worked extremely hard. There were some minor “catastrophes,” but at the end of the day, the concert was amazing and was a huge success. We even got to watch Dave Matthews Band perform in a suite, which was a lot of fun. It was also nice just to sit and watch after a long day of work. But after the concert ended, we were back to work making sure cleanup was on schedule. Besides the 108 degree weather, one of our biggest problems with the concert was protecting the field. Once the concert ended, we had to get the cleanup started right away so we could remove the covering on the field to allow the grass to finally get some air! Sounds funny, but working with a baseball team, the grass is almost like one of the players.
Looking back on the concert, I would do it again in a second. I loved seeing my hard work and long hours help create an amazing show that was enjoyed by 40,000 fans. Now that the concert is over, our department is exhausted, and it is kind of nice to have the team back home for a 7 game homestand. Home games are like a break for my department, because they follow a very similar structure and routine. After a hectic week with the concert, it is nice to have a “Typical Day @ Nationals Park.”
I cannot believe I am starting my 7th week here with the Nationals. After this homestand, I only have about a week and half left of my internship. I guess time really does fly by when you’re having fun. I look forward to updating everyone on my final weeks here at Nationals Park.
PS: check out DMB’s concert schedule…maybe he is coming to your town!Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Wrapping up!
As I get closer to the end of my internship, it’s a good time to think about what I’ve learned during this time. One thing I did well was insisting on getting to know the manufacturing and R&D process. After my request, a Company tour was organized and I was able to visit the application labs and the manufacturing plants. I confirmed that I love to visit operation facilities in order to get a better picture of the process but I would rather spend most of my time at my office. I also learned that different projects keep me excited. The possibility to interact with people is also key for my ideal job, I wouldn’t want to be isolated. On the other hand, one thing I could have done better is networking prior and during my internship. For instance, the Division General Manager is a Ross alumn. I wish I had contacted him before.
In order to present results for my projects, I will do one presentation for each one of them, before my manager and the project sponsors. After that, I will do one presentation for the higher management, on my final week. It would be a very good opportunity to gain visibility and show my work. I need to excel at both the presentations and the networking in order to leave the positive impression I want to leave. And I will be leaving soon, next August 13th will be my last day.
Eleven weeks, which seemed like a long period at the beginning of my internship, are coming to an end so fast! In a nutshell, and without a doubt, I can say it was a good experience! I meet good people, enjoyed a nice city and formed part of a company with a promising future. I would love to have the opportunity of returning to FMC. But I hope, whatever happens, I will get what it’s most convenient for my future… both my personal and my professional life.
I’m off to Colombia after my presentations and my internship are done. After a short vacation, I will be finishing my second year of the MBA and then it’s back to real life. It’s my last post here, so bye for now!!
In order to present results for my projects, I will do one presentation for each one of them, before my manager and the project sponsors. After that, I will do one presentation for the higher management, on my final week. It would be a very good opportunity to gain visibility and show my work. I need to excel at both the presentations and the networking in order to leave the positive impression I want to leave. And I will be leaving soon, next August 13th will be my last day.
Eleven weeks, which seemed like a long period at the beginning of my internship, are coming to an end so fast! In a nutshell, and without a doubt, I can say it was a good experience! I meet good people, enjoyed a nice city and formed part of a company with a promising future. I would love to have the opportunity of returning to FMC. But I hope, whatever happens, I will get what it’s most convenient for my future… both my personal and my professional life.
I’m off to Colombia after my presentations and my internship are done. After a short vacation, I will be finishing my second year of the MBA and then it’s back to real life. It’s my last post here, so bye for now!!
Don’t Make Me Cry
MBA, News Corp. Hey all, this is a sad day for me, Roy Hills, and is most likely an even sadder day for you when you learn the news I am about to break. This blog post will be my last for this summer, although I do still have three weeks left in this internship. I will give you a moment to let it soak in and please don’t get all teary eyed. Okay now that we got that out of the way, I wanted to recap how my internship has evolved from my expectations and goals into what it ultimately has become.
Initially, coming into my internship at News Corp, I was told that I would be doing digital sales strategy and most likely working for Fox News. Now digital sales strategy can mean a whole variety of different things. For me, it has meant everything from being tasked to help the sales team to strategize on how to sell advertising space to increasing the efficiency among the sales teams and how they interact with different players and databases within the organization. I have looked at demographic data to determine advantages that Fox News offers over its competitors and highlight potential advertisers to the sales teams. Additionally, I have also looked at different ways to help maximize monetization from advertising of new emerging digital platforms such as mobile. The variety of projects and the constant change of landscape in the digital field is what I have enjoyed the most about working for News Corp.
News Corporation’s philosophy has always been about making money, which is good thing since that is the reason why most companies are in business. This philosophy really carries through to all divisions within the company. With this in mind, I will be looking back at the many trends I have researched within the emerging digital media advertising space and report on my findings. This report will be my “vision” of what the website can do to further increase its future revenue. Oh yeah, I also got “promoted” or more accurately I am just going to be doing the job of three people. I am taking over next week for an employee taking off to Mexico and a retiring intern, in addition to doing my own job. Should be fun! :-) (Yep, that is a smiley face)
Initially, coming into my internship at News Corp, I was told that I would be doing digital sales strategy and most likely working for Fox News. Now digital sales strategy can mean a whole variety of different things. For me, it has meant everything from being tasked to help the sales team to strategize on how to sell advertising space to increasing the efficiency among the sales teams and how they interact with different players and databases within the organization. I have looked at demographic data to determine advantages that Fox News offers over its competitors and highlight potential advertisers to the sales teams. Additionally, I have also looked at different ways to help maximize monetization from advertising of new emerging digital platforms such as mobile. The variety of projects and the constant change of landscape in the digital field is what I have enjoyed the most about working for News Corp.
News Corporation’s philosophy has always been about making money, which is good thing since that is the reason why most companies are in business. This philosophy really carries through to all divisions within the company. With this in mind, I will be looking back at the many trends I have researched within the emerging digital media advertising space and report on my findings. This report will be my “vision” of what the website can do to further increase its future revenue. Oh yeah, I also got “promoted” or more accurately I am just going to be doing the job of three people. I am taking over next week for an employee taking off to Mexico and a retiring intern, in addition to doing my own job. Should be fun! :-) (Yep, that is a smiley face)
IBM's Consulting Model
IBM continues to surprise me: this time with its super-collaborative culture. I see multiple partners working on deals together, bringing business for different groups at the company. They are able to position services throughout the lifecycle of initiatives: starting with strategy setting to implementation to business process outsourcing. In addition, they tap into an enormous range of in-house software products and technologies available to create industry-edge capabilities for clients.
Many projects at IBM have large-scale technology implementation aspects to them. My group – the Strategy & Transformation practice – usually comes in at the beginning of a project to lay out strategic direction, business case, high-level design and transformation planning. I am currently advising the corporate communications team of a global manufacturer in integrating messaging and brand-building across all regions under a global umbrella. I am redesigning the organization, designing processes for content creation and localization, defining governance framework to maintain consistent brand image, and creating strategies to win the hearts and minds of stakeholders. I hate to admit it, but a big part of my work on this project is MO. I’m building upon concepts in that class to deal with real-world challenges. I am very impressed by the detailed transformation methodologies used by IBM, which dive deep into stakeholder management and communication methodologies (remember EIS simulation?).
As you decide which consulting firm to work for, two important factors are location and work-life balance. IBM is extremely flexible in terms of location. You can stay wherever you want as long as you can fly Monday-to-Thursday to your client. That gives you immense flexibility in terms of moving around with your partner. Also, you can work from home on Fridays if there are no events or meetings, which can help offsetting the travel fatigue and balance the work-life equation a little bit.
Many projects at IBM have large-scale technology implementation aspects to them. My group – the Strategy & Transformation practice – usually comes in at the beginning of a project to lay out strategic direction, business case, high-level design and transformation planning. I am currently advising the corporate communications team of a global manufacturer in integrating messaging and brand-building across all regions under a global umbrella. I am redesigning the organization, designing processes for content creation and localization, defining governance framework to maintain consistent brand image, and creating strategies to win the hearts and minds of stakeholders. I hate to admit it, but a big part of my work on this project is MO. I’m building upon concepts in that class to deal with real-world challenges. I am very impressed by the detailed transformation methodologies used by IBM, which dive deep into stakeholder management and communication methodologies (remember EIS simulation?).
As you decide which consulting firm to work for, two important factors are location and work-life balance. IBM is extremely flexible in terms of location. You can stay wherever you want as long as you can fly Monday-to-Thursday to your client. That gives you immense flexibility in terms of moving around with your partner. Also, you can work from home on Fridays if there are no events or meetings, which can help offsetting the travel fatigue and balance the work-life equation a little bit.
Sunday, July 25, 2010
Amazon: Work Hard, Have Fun, Make History
I can definitely check the first two off the list. Am I making history? Time will tell I guess, but I sure hope so! So my last month at Amazon just began this week. Time really has flown by. I have learned a lot about Amazon through other interns, the frequent speaker series (where Senior VP talk about their teams and careers), and through speaking with Ross alumni at Amazon. It seems that each team has its own sub-culture, but the common theme at Amazon is “casual intensity”.
Intensity: Everyone is very passionate about the customer, their work and their business segment. People work very hard and are very absorbed in their work. People love to get involved in different aspects of the business. For instance, engineers brim with ideas for solving business problems and marketing managers get involved with the technology architecture and bug fixing. I also love the meeting culture here. Meetings longer than 30 minutes are unusual. Attendees focus on the topic at hand and so meetings are very efficient. In fact, efficiency and frugality are also a common theme at Amazon, which contributes to innovation at every step.
Casual: In a nutshell - T-Shirts, Shorts, Sandals, Wii games, and Dogs. The culture at Amazon is very casual. On a sunny day, I often see people play Frisbee or picnic in the parks at work. People come to work in shorts and t-shirts and sandals (and that’s not just on Fridays). Even senior management dresses very casually. We have bi-weekly happy hours at work at the end of Friday that one sub-team puts together. And once in a while we have Happy Hours on other days for no reason except TGIF. There were local brews, dart boards, a Wii game set-up on a big projection screen and a heated discussion about Ninjas vs. Pirates at an impromptu Happy Hour organized by our senior VP just a few days ago. And, I also appreciate how dog friendly the company is. Employees can bring thier dog to work. In fact there is an off-leash dog park on campus, and every reception has a jar of dog cookies. There seems to be one dog for every 6 employees here at Amazon. My floor has gone to the dogs, said a colleague when introduced to two new puppies in the past month.
Here is a hilarious video by Woot, a recent Amazon acquisition that touches upon the company culture:
Intensity: Everyone is very passionate about the customer, their work and their business segment. People work very hard and are very absorbed in their work. People love to get involved in different aspects of the business. For instance, engineers brim with ideas for solving business problems and marketing managers get involved with the technology architecture and bug fixing. I also love the meeting culture here. Meetings longer than 30 minutes are unusual. Attendees focus on the topic at hand and so meetings are very efficient. In fact, efficiency and frugality are also a common theme at Amazon, which contributes to innovation at every step.
Casual: In a nutshell - T-Shirts, Shorts, Sandals, Wii games, and Dogs. The culture at Amazon is very casual. On a sunny day, I often see people play Frisbee or picnic in the parks at work. People come to work in shorts and t-shirts and sandals (and that’s not just on Fridays). Even senior management dresses very casually. We have bi-weekly happy hours at work at the end of Friday that one sub-team puts together. And once in a while we have Happy Hours on other days for no reason except TGIF. There were local brews, dart boards, a Wii game set-up on a big projection screen and a heated discussion about Ninjas vs. Pirates at an impromptu Happy Hour organized by our senior VP just a few days ago. And, I also appreciate how dog friendly the company is. Employees can bring thier dog to work. In fact there is an off-leash dog park on campus, and every reception has a jar of dog cookies. There seems to be one dog for every 6 employees here at Amazon. My floor has gone to the dogs, said a colleague when introduced to two new puppies in the past month.
Here is a hilarious video by Woot, a recent Amazon acquisition that touches upon the company culture:
More Than Halfway Through!
It kinda feels like our HR staffer’s reading this blog. Within about 24 hours of my last post, I started getting staffed on projects with my preferred groups. These were not just ordinary, run-of-the-mill pitches and such - I’m talking about the more sought after live IPO and LBO deals. Now that we’re sort of over the hump of the summer internship, things are starting to gain momentum. The mid-program reviews came up during the week and while there were loads of positives, some of us realized that being strongly opinionated is a useful trait on Wall Street. I was therefore encouraged to demonstrate that I have pretty strong ideas on just about everything.
We had our volunteer day a couple of weeks ago and I went straight to the event from an all-nighter at work. I had a lot of fun as it involved all summer interns in the New York area and caught up with some old friends. The downside was that we were somehow required to return to the office (yes it was a half-day event) and I was running on empty the rest of the day.
While we investment banking interns started out meeting at local Tribeca hot spots, we’ve had to devise new ways of incorporating a social element into our demanding schedules. We now find ourselves ordering and eating dinner together while working late (making believe we're in some swanky restaurant), getting into lively debates on just about any random topic (who happens to be the strongest intern?) or trading oldies and rap tunes at 3:00 AM (anyone remember “Can’t touch this”/MC Hammer?). It might sound a bit sad, but it’s pretty much fun and we’re getting to know each other in a more unstructured manner. On the other hand networking with the full time associates and more senior bankers goes on apace during the day. 2 weeks ago, I had lunch with a very senior banker and found that our paths had crossed at a former client company of mine in Oklahoma - shows how small the world has become.
We had our volunteer day a couple of weeks ago and I went straight to the event from an all-nighter at work. I had a lot of fun as it involved all summer interns in the New York area and caught up with some old friends. The downside was that we were somehow required to return to the office (yes it was a half-day event) and I was running on empty the rest of the day.
While we investment banking interns started out meeting at local Tribeca hot spots, we’ve had to devise new ways of incorporating a social element into our demanding schedules. We now find ourselves ordering and eating dinner together while working late (making believe we're in some swanky restaurant), getting into lively debates on just about any random topic (who happens to be the strongest intern?) or trading oldies and rap tunes at 3:00 AM (anyone remember “Can’t touch this”/MC Hammer?). It might sound a bit sad, but it’s pretty much fun and we’re getting to know each other in a more unstructured manner. On the other hand networking with the full time associates and more senior bankers goes on apace during the day. 2 weeks ago, I had lunch with a very senior banker and found that our paths had crossed at a former client company of mine in Oklahoma - shows how small the world has become.
Saturday, July 24, 2010
The last few weeks
The last 10 weeks seem to have flown away. It has been a busy 10 weeks, although I had my fair share of fun activities. The last few weeks are going to be a scramble, to tie up a lot of information processing together into a synchronized deliverable.
I am preparing for a presentation to my entire team in the last week, and that involves a lot of work with meeting the team and getting feedback on my work over the last week. The idea is to build a foundation for your work before you go into your final presentation and building consensus is especially important when working on the strategy team.
Last weekend was a mix of fun and work. On Saturday, four Rossers left early in the morning for Friday Harbor for a whale watching tour. I was blown away by the trip and the experience of being in the middle of the ocean surrounded by a pod of whales was surreal. Sunday however was at work, where I was pulling stuff together for my meetings on Monday. Then again, I was able to fit in breaks from work. Wednesday evening, I went to the IMax in downtown Seattle and was blown away by Inception.
My roommate, who is from Ross and an intern at Microsoft as well had a fantastic experience last week. He was attending the World Partner Conference at Washington DC. It was a fantastic experience where he learnt how crucial partners are for Microsoft’s enterprise offerings, the kind of products partners build on top of Microsoft’s offerings and their expectations from a partner conference. To top it all, he attended a keynote by Bill Clinton.
Speaking of famous speakers, we have had the chance to interact with the CVPs of all of Microsoft’s divisions. Last week is the grand finale, with Steve Ballmer speaking to us. These sessions have been great learning experiences, based on the career experiences of each one of these leaders and hearing about their vision of Microsoft.
This is my last post, and hopefully I will see you all back in AA starting September.
I am preparing for a presentation to my entire team in the last week, and that involves a lot of work with meeting the team and getting feedback on my work over the last week. The idea is to build a foundation for your work before you go into your final presentation and building consensus is especially important when working on the strategy team.
Last weekend was a mix of fun and work. On Saturday, four Rossers left early in the morning for Friday Harbor for a whale watching tour. I was blown away by the trip and the experience of being in the middle of the ocean surrounded by a pod of whales was surreal. Sunday however was at work, where I was pulling stuff together for my meetings on Monday. Then again, I was able to fit in breaks from work. Wednesday evening, I went to the IMax in downtown Seattle and was blown away by Inception.
My roommate, who is from Ross and an intern at Microsoft as well had a fantastic experience last week. He was attending the World Partner Conference at Washington DC. It was a fantastic experience where he learnt how crucial partners are for Microsoft’s enterprise offerings, the kind of products partners build on top of Microsoft’s offerings and their expectations from a partner conference. To top it all, he attended a keynote by Bill Clinton.
Speaking of famous speakers, we have had the chance to interact with the CVPs of all of Microsoft’s divisions. Last week is the grand finale, with Steve Ballmer speaking to us. These sessions have been great learning experiences, based on the career experiences of each one of these leaders and hearing about their vision of Microsoft.
This is my last post, and hopefully I will see you all back in AA starting September.
Friday, July 23, 2010
Mid-point at Harley-Davidson
It’s been over 5 weeks at Harley-Davidson, and I can’t believe how fast the time’s gone by. I had a mid-term review this week, which went well (I think!), and I am now revving up for the last leg of my internship.
There are 2 companies in Milwaukee that everyone recognizes and wishes to be a part of – Harley-Davidson and The Miller Brewing Co. The Miller headquarters is just opposite the H-D headquarters, and that’s where we went for the ‘insider’ or ‘hard-hat’ tour of the Miller Brewery. We were taken to the plant, where we saw the bottling and packaging process. The best part of the tour was the free beer, of course, but what made this even better was that we got to go to the employee bar inside the corporate office! Imagine having a bar inside the office, where all employees get absolutely free beer everyday! Apparently even the conference rooms out there have taps! How people ever get any work done, I wonder!
Milwaukee is enclosed by Lake Michigan on one side, and that part of Milwaukee is very popular for its scenic beauty, beaches and jogging treks. The COO of H-D hosted an event for the LDPs (Leadership Development Program) last week at Bradford beach. The COO, Matt Levatich, is an LDP alumnus himself. The LDP program provides many such opportunities where the LDP interns and current incumbents (full-time employees currently undergoing the rotation) get to network with the leadership team. I met a lot of interesting people at the Bradford beach social, and tasted the famous Milwaukee custard.
The Harley-Davidson Foundation works with many non-profit organizations to support the communities in which the company has facilities. We met with Gail Lione, the President of the Foundation, who has been closely associated with the LDP program for many years. The work that the HD Foundation does is phenomenal, and what is especially impressive is how just 4 people manage to accomplish so much. In all companies that I work with, I always look for a strong community involvement, and opportunities for employees to volunteer. I followed up with Gail after the meeting, and volunteered at a local public school to read to young children. I was paired with a 6 year old girl by the name of Shakira, and we spent about 30 minutes reading a story book. She was absolutely adorable, and after the session, she drew a picture of me with lots of hearts around it, and wrote ‘I love you’ and gave me the picture. I now hang the picture proudly at my desk!
Well, as you can see, an internship at Harley-Davidson is a fantastic opportunity to be part of a prominent program, along with the challenges and perks that come with it. I don’t remember the last time I’ve enjoyed working so much, and it promises to get better with a trip to Sturgis planned soon! More details about that, and my attempt at learning to ride in my next blog. Have fun riding!
Thursday, July 22, 2010
Company Culture at Thomson Reuters
I'd have to say one of the biggest contributors to my rewarding experience this summer has been the culture at Thomson Reuters. In a way the culture is very paradoxical: competitive but friendly, independent but unified, fun but serious, laid back but intense. This may be difficult to grasp--I'll drill down further.
The people at Thomson Reuters have been nothing but welcoming, helpful, and warm from the outset. Whether approaching managers with questions, scheduling meetings with executives, or working in teams, everyone has been nothing but kind and approachable without exception. It seems like everyone is genuinely happy to be there, and treats eachother as such. I scheduled informational interviews with 2 senior level executives this month, both of whom made time in their schedule for me, gave well over a half hour to converse, and offered to help find an opportunity for me when I graduate. That's hospitality.
Thomson Reuters competes in a very crowded and cut-throat business where many players share an enormous market. Needless to say there is a very competitive mindset at the company, especially towards the big competitors (Bloomberg, etc.). However, Thomson Reuters also does business and partners with many of these very same competitors, creating an ironic, mutual love-hate relationship for employees.
Everyone on the strategy team is a lot of fun. Whether at after-work events, meetings, birthdays, or conference calls, everyone seems to joke around and have fun a good amount. But just as fast as the funny switch is turned on, it can be turned off. When an important project or assignment arises, the intensity immediately picks up and everyone works hard to make sure everything is perfect to the last detail. It's the perfect blend of intensity and laid-back attitude.
Overall, everyone really seems to buy into the company's goals, missions, and claims. No matter who you speak to within Thomson Reuters, they will tell you it is an incredibly exciting time to be an employee, filled with new product launches, industry chaning dynamics, and unprecedented growth. That kind of rhetoric is absolutely contagious, and everyone feeds off of senior management's optimism on a daily basis. That's a culture that I feel comfortable in. One where I can be myself and contribute in a unique way, but also share a common goal to be the best in the business.
Alex Weiss (BBA 2011)
The people at Thomson Reuters have been nothing but welcoming, helpful, and warm from the outset. Whether approaching managers with questions, scheduling meetings with executives, or working in teams, everyone has been nothing but kind and approachable without exception. It seems like everyone is genuinely happy to be there, and treats eachother as such. I scheduled informational interviews with 2 senior level executives this month, both of whom made time in their schedule for me, gave well over a half hour to converse, and offered to help find an opportunity for me when I graduate. That's hospitality.
Thomson Reuters competes in a very crowded and cut-throat business where many players share an enormous market. Needless to say there is a very competitive mindset at the company, especially towards the big competitors (Bloomberg, etc.). However, Thomson Reuters also does business and partners with many of these very same competitors, creating an ironic, mutual love-hate relationship for employees.
Everyone on the strategy team is a lot of fun. Whether at after-work events, meetings, birthdays, or conference calls, everyone seems to joke around and have fun a good amount. But just as fast as the funny switch is turned on, it can be turned off. When an important project or assignment arises, the intensity immediately picks up and everyone works hard to make sure everything is perfect to the last detail. It's the perfect blend of intensity and laid-back attitude.
Overall, everyone really seems to buy into the company's goals, missions, and claims. No matter who you speak to within Thomson Reuters, they will tell you it is an incredibly exciting time to be an employee, filled with new product launches, industry chaning dynamics, and unprecedented growth. That kind of rhetoric is absolutely contagious, and everyone feeds off of senior management's optimism on a daily basis. That's a culture that I feel comfortable in. One where I can be myself and contribute in a unique way, but also share a common goal to be the best in the business.
Alex Weiss (BBA 2011)
Hi guys,
My internship is almost over. Two more weeks to go!! Yes!! I didn't realize that time does fly by~ So far, the internship has been a blessing. 1) I made 30 new mba friends, who are from all over the world. 2) My team members are fun too hang out. 3) I totally forgot about Korean working culture. 4) Re-learning about the importance of the communication
1) Seoul Trip
One weekend, my fellow intern friend and I decided to take 8 international mba interns to Seoul. Well, they were sick and tired of Suwon, where is full of factories and not a fun place to hang out.
Even though, the end of the trip, we walked more than 6 hours, we were proud that we toured the most of the northern parts of Seoul. We stop by the loyal palace, the inner city stream, the president house, a traditional street, and the shopping mall. Let me know, if you interested.
2) Project members
The more and more I work with my teammates. I am falling in love with them : ) They are all smart people, and they are classic mba students. They know when to work and when to play. They know how to work efficiently. Hopefully, I learn most of their merits before the internship is over.
3) Korean working culture
I cannot not reveal about the internship. But one thing that I want to share about the culture is 'passive, passive, and passive!!' But it is better than when I was working in Korea.
4) Re-learning about the importance of the communication
Due to our project mentor's crazy schedule, of course super busy, we, mba interns, could not talk to him about a week. Well, to be honest, we felt bad to bother him. Due to this mis-communication, we ended up reworking on 2 weeks' worthy of marketing research in 3 days. Isn't this crazy??!! I guess that I got affected by 'passive, passive, and passive' Korean culture. Wake up! Byung!!
Talk to you guys later
byung
My internship is almost over. Two more weeks to go!! Yes!! I didn't realize that time does fly by~ So far, the internship has been a blessing. 1) I made 30 new mba friends, who are from all over the world. 2) My team members are fun too hang out. 3) I totally forgot about Korean working culture. 4) Re-learning about the importance of the communication
1) Seoul Trip
One weekend, my fellow intern friend and I decided to take 8 international mba interns to Seoul. Well, they were sick and tired of Suwon, where is full of factories and not a fun place to hang out.
Even though, the end of the trip, we walked more than 6 hours, we were proud that we toured the most of the northern parts of Seoul. We stop by the loyal palace, the inner city stream, the president house, a traditional street, and the shopping mall. Let me know, if you interested.
2) Project members
The more and more I work with my teammates. I am falling in love with them : ) They are all smart people, and they are classic mba students. They know when to work and when to play. They know how to work efficiently. Hopefully, I learn most of their merits before the internship is over.
3) Korean working culture
I cannot not reveal about the internship. But one thing that I want to share about the culture is 'passive, passive, and passive!!' But it is better than when I was working in Korea.
4) Re-learning about the importance of the communication
Due to our project mentor's crazy schedule, of course super busy, we, mba interns, could not talk to him about a week. Well, to be honest, we felt bad to bother him. Due to this mis-communication, we ended up reworking on 2 weeks' worthy of marketing research in 3 days. Isn't this crazy??!! I guess that I got affected by 'passive, passive, and passive' Korean culture. Wake up! Byung!!
Talk to you guys later
byung
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Summer time: make friends outside the campus
(MBA, Amazon)
The timing for talk about my lifestyle in Seattle could not be better. The summer has finally picked up. With it, several new outdoor opportunities arise. As I write this post I look outside my window at the high of the 15th floor with a beautiful sunny view of the sea where several sailboats gently heels. I have to admit that Seattle is treating me well.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)