MBAs Gear Up for Summer, 2013

Now is the time to prepare for interviews

Most MBA students know that to secure the right job in financial services, you can't stroll out of the classroom, jump into an interview suit, and glide into a round of interviews.  Preparation is critical. You don't secure the dream job with a few practice sessions of the elevator speech.

One of the best ways to gear up and prepare for the rigors of recruiting season is to have a useful framework, one that you can use to formulate a strategy, demonstrate expertise, and express a self-brand. The goal is to get from campus to a significant summer internship in finance in investment or corporate banking, investment management, private equity, asset management or corporate finance.  Indeed in the post-crisis environment of 2013, the world of finance has emerged from the abyss, but opportunities continue to be fleeting, segmented and scarce.  Approaching interviewing season with strategy, framework, optimism and unbridled confidence can go a long way. Not to mention a proven mastery of technical skills.

The Consortium Finance Network hosted its second annual fall webinar on "Internships and Recruiting" Dec. 11 to help first-year Consortium MBA students in finance plan for the upcmoing interviewing season and emerge with offers from their top-choice institutions.  CFN hosts Camilo Sandoval, D-Lori Newsome-Pitts and Tracy Williams welcomed panelists Eric Lane and Mark Santos, recent Consortium graduates and led an hour-long discussion to launch the 2013 recruiting campaign.  For the MBA students participating, panelists provided stories and advice from their own successful campaigns to win job offers.

Lane is an associate in M&A and equity finance at Loop Capital in Chicago, a mid-size investment bank. Santos is in corporate finance at Dell, the computer company. Both entered business school at the height of the crisis and were able to use effective strategies to get from campus to positions in finance during a time when it seemed as if nobody was hiring.
 
CFN's framework for approaching interviewing season revolves around the MBA student demonstrating competence, experience or expertise in five pillars:

(a) background, 
(b) interest, 
(c) drive, 
(d) capability and 
(e) insight.  

The financial institution, whether it's Morgan Stanley or Loop Capital, is evaluating the candidate, in most cases, in those five broad categories. The successful candidate demonstrates excellence across the board throughout the process. The process includes information interviews, first-round interviews, and call-back, on-site interviews.

CFN, during the webinar, showed how MBA students, in numerous ways, can show excellence in each area.  Knowing that interviewers, for example, are seeking to detect interest and drive, MBA students should seize the process, demonstrate interest and drive and do it frequently.

Lane advised MBA students to look beyond the better-known institutions, the bulge-bracket firms such as Citi and Goldman Sachs, and explore working, too, at niche firms, regional firms, and boutiques.  Loop Capital is an example, as well as such firms as Lazard, Greenhill, M.R. Beal, and Evercore. Opportunities may exist outside the well-worn paths and may afford visible, broad roles for first-year MBA associates.

Santos advised MBA students interested in finance to take steps even beyond financial institutions and examine roles in corporate finance, corporate development, M&A and strategy within client companies--the industrials, the manufacturers, and the technology companies, such as, say, Dell, IBM, Pepsico or Eli Lily.  The companies have critical roles in corporate finance and ultimately choose to work directly with investment banks for advice or financing.

The formal interviewing season for MBA summer internships usually starts immediately after fall exams. The process accelerates in January. Major financial institutions have already identified some candidates they covet and desire to see on interview lists. They will inform some of them they have been invited to interview on "A" lists.  Candidates not on these lists can still seek interview slots in other ways. Smaller firms and corporates proceed with a different recruiting agenda and timetable-- partly because they have fewer slots and opportunities. 

Second-round interviews, where MBA candidates are brought on site, can occur from mid-winter until early spring. Many MBA graduates have told legendary stories about their interviewing experiences--often unique, sometimes memorable--to convince a Goldman Sachs, Credit Suisse, or Wells Fargo to hire them. Some have told about enduring sessions to show how they "think on their feet," how they would manage a trade or deal transaction, or how they would respond in a market crisis.


Throughout it all, successful candidates in the past had a few things in common:  a clear goal, a workable strategy, and a useful framework, all on top of networks, mentors, and special ties inside some institutions. Most successful candidates also had a passion for finance, boundless knowledge about markets, trends and products, and glowing confidence.

During the webinar, panelists and hosts reminded students of the importance of demonstrating knowledge and polishing it with rational viewpoints about markets, past transactions, and economic trends. An informed opinion shows candidates have thought about the topics of the moment and conveys leadership potential. Panelists also reminded students to concentrate on how to stand out and differentiate among others vying for the same spots. Demonstrate excellence, but distinguish yourself. However you look at it, it's a competition.

The webinar presentation and recording will be available to students who registered for the event and to others upon request (through the CFN's Linkedin page).

Tracy Williams

See also:

CFN:  Internships and Recruiting, Fall, 2011
CFN:  MBA Job Hunting, No Need to Panic Yet, 2012
CFN:  The Toughest Interviewers, 2012
CFN:  Mastering Technical Skills, 2010

Networking Resources

• It’s Not Who You Know, But Who Knows You, Presented by Dr. Benjamin Ola. Akande - Webinar playback

• It’s Not Who You Know, But Who Knows You - Webinar slide deck

• Follow Dr. Akande on Twitter @Benjamin_Akande and @WebsterU_Biz

• Consortium MBA: http://www.makeyourcareermove.com/

• Follow The Consortium on Twitter @cgsm_mba and @racheldelcau

• Connect with Consortium members on LinkedIn:

      Finance | HR | Energy  | Marketing & Branding | META | Health Care | Social Responsibility

Networking: It's Not Who You Know, But Who Knows You

Join us for a Webinar on May 5

Space is limited.
Reserve your Webinar seat now at:
https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/557520768


In this webinar, Dr Benjamin Ola. Akande will offer sage advice on the most productive and effective way to network for success. The presentation is sure to be filled with great antidotes, compelling stories and valuable take-a-ways such as “Find meaning in every conversation.” Dr. Akande concludes this presentation with the advice to “remember that networking is not about who you know, but who knows you.”

Dr. Akande is the Dean of the George Herbert Walker School of Business & Technology at Webster University.

This event is brought to you by the Consortium Finance Network, a special interest group of The Consortium for Graduate Study in Management.

Title: Networking: It's Now Who You Know, But Who Knows You

Date: Wednesday, May 5, 2010

Time: 5:00 PM - 6:30 PM CDT


After registering you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the Webinar.

System Requirements
PC-based attendees
Required: Windows® 7, Vista, XP, 2003 Server or 2000

Macintosh®-based attendees
Required: Mac OS® X 10.4.11 (Tiger®) or newer

Microfinance II: On the Ground in the Philippines

In 2007, Clint Wilson, a San Francisco-based entrepreneur, spent time in the Philippines exploring Internet cafes and the region 60 miles north of Manila. He studied the area, the markets, the population, the risks and challenges and decided to embark on his idea.

His idea was to launch an Internet cafe and use that as the basis for his microcredit business model. Soon he and his wife Cristy, a native of the Philippines, launched CnC Partners, a microfinance business with operations in the Philippines and in San Francisco. His wife's family would assist in the getting the business off the ground in Bamban, a small, under-developed city north of Manila.



Wilson presented his business model Feb-4 in Part II of a microfinance webinar series sponsored by the Consortium Finance Network. (Part I in January focused on the history and basics of microfinance.)

During the session, he explained how he cultivated the idea with help and inspiration from his wife and her family in the Philippines and how he painstakingly researched the marketplace and the potential customer base. He had many goals:

(a) to be competitive and profitable in offering Internet services via a newly built cafe in Bamban,

(b) to reinvest profits directly back into the business to grow it and permit him to expand into microcredit activities,

(c) to provide employment for locals, and

(d) to help the regions where CnC operates in social and economic ways.



A staff of 10, including members of his wife's family, operates the new Bamban (Luzon) cafe. But this wasn't supposed to be just another cafe offering access to computers or just another one of the many such businesses that fail in the Philippines. Clint wanted to be unique, creative in ways to spur traffic and to give people an exciting, rewarding and interesting reason to go to the cafe.

He would charge for time on the Internet at the cafe (about 20 pesos/hr), but CnC would offer an array of other services, products, and enticements--games, English lessons, courses for adults, prizes and other products (even access to rental apartments, on its property).

Clint highlighted how kids today come to the cafe, hang out, establish Facebook accounts and learn by diving into Cyberspace. CnC provides an environment conducive for learning, he boasted. The fee is not necessarily prohibitive, because CnC offers discounts, permits bartering, and has a points system for access for high-volume users.

Clint said this is part of a long-time dream, which started in the 1990's, he said, "when he was on a 60-mile bike trip in China" and explored the countryside and economic development. This led to a graduate-school thesis on a similar topic and ultimately led years later to the formation of CnC--whose objectives are both financial and social.

In the presentation, he used a photograph of an improverished neighborhood alley in Bamban and told how it has inspired him to use his business to do his part to develop the area and to improve the fortunes of the inhabitants in the area.

With the Bamban cafe, CnC intends to reinvest profits to (a) build other smaller cafes with similar attractions and (b) build a viable, broad-based microcredit organization. Hence, one business will create profits and capital to be used to invest in and build the microlending organization.

CnC is growing the microcredit side in various ways. It is involved in a "rice project" in the southern Philippines, where it makes large loans (50,000 pesos) to farmers, who lend to other farmers and build a lending hierarchy based on business trust and relationships. Profits from this endeavor would, yes, be reinvested to support expansion of the Internet-cafe business.

CnC will also explore (and exploit) other existing microfinance models--e.g, Kiva, Riskebiz, etc., all ways to funnel microloans from those who want to support to those who have specific 30-day needs.

CnC is also growing the microcredit side in another way--via Facebook. It has built a Facebook page, "CnC Cafe' Microcredit Alley" with over 1,500 fans. "Fans" (or clients, borrowers, participants, and/or sponsors) can meet via the page and apply for loans or help facilitate lending. And similarly to the cafe', CnC will offer attractions to boost business--discounts, airline tickets, etc.

Some participants in the webinar were interested in opportunities in microfinance in the long term, but also for this summer. Or more specifically, "Are there opportunities for MBA's to work as interns for CnC?"

Clint was encouraging, because an organization like CnC can use MBA talent and energy. CnC will hire interns this summer and hopes to have at least one intern from the U.S. thereafter every three months. His firm offers not only on-the-ground business and financial experience, but a cultural experience with social action.

CFN will post Clint's presentation for more people to review. If you have specific questions or comments about his experiences, his business model, and opportunities, reach out to him via http://www.linkedin.com,/ through the CFN group in Linkedin, or by contacting Rachel Delcau (delcaur@cgsm.org) at the Consortium.

Tracy Williams

Microfinance 101: The Basics and The Benefits

As part of a series, the Consortum Finance Network sponsored a webinar Jan. 21 focusing on microfinance--a popular financial term, but not covered comprehensively in business schools, if at all. Suhail Awan, the chief technical advisor in microfinance at UNDP, gave an hour-long presentation entitled, "Microfinance: Introduction and Opportunities."



Awan approached the session as a b-school seminar to those with interests in the subject, but without in-depth background. Many know microfinance to be lending in small amounts to those in less-developed regions, but Anwan's presentation went far beyond that.

He was successful in covering two centuries worth of information in 60 minutes and getting listeners up to speed on an important topic. Participants included CFN members, Consortium students and alumni and others interested in the topic. Awan is based in Yemen and is an expert in the topic based on years of experience in the field.


In the first half, he provided basics and offered a history lesson. What is microfinance? What is the difference between microfinance and what we hear also as "microcredit"? How did both evolve through the years?


Awan described how microfinance dates back to the 17th-18th centuries when community or regional groups came together to provide loans in rural areas to support farming, especially in Ireland and Germany. Over time, microfinance evolved from farm-related loans to expanded efforts to support those in poor regions around the world. Until the 1990's, microfinance's primary goals were social--to "alleviate poverty and suffering" and to increase "productivity and incomes" to those in poor regions and in agriculture.


Awan explained how modern microfinance sprouted, based on the extraordinary contributions of and principles implemented by Dr. Muhammad Yunus in the 1970's, who formed what is now Grameen Bank and later won a Nobel peace price for his efforts.


Awan told how by the 1990's, as commercial institutions learned of both the social and economic benefits, microfinance's goals were expanded to include generating financial returns, as well. This was due to the large number of commercial interests involved (including private investors, fund groups, and commercial banks).

Commercial banks had not been pioneers in the field because they historically avoided the perceived high risks in these loans. (Anwan reminded participants that these "high risk" loans in some areas have had better performance than other commercial lending.) Since the 1990's, many commercial banks, he said, have become participants by "downscaling operations" in certain consumer-related businesses to accommodate microfinance activity.


Banks, institutions and funds learned returns could be reasonable and risks could be managed. Awan said, "There is a focus on a double bottom-line" (a focus on financial returns and social benefits (as measured by "social performance indicators")).

Microcredit is a subset of microfinance. While microcredit refers to lending activities, microfinance today now covers an array of financial services, including providing money transfers, savings and investments vehicles, and insurance to those in the target groups.

During the session, Awan described current issues and challenges in microfinance. For example, "Africa remains the biggest challenge," he said. Balancing on the spectrum between achieving social goals and financial returns will always require attention; many believe it is possible to achieve both.

Anwan also delineated many ways people can pursue in interest in microfinance if they have it--in a career, or as participants, contributors, lenders or volunteers. Because of the novelty of interest and because microfinance is not widely taught as a rigorous discipline in universities, the field hasn't always attracted people in numbers or with sufficient talents.


One of the best known business-model examples is Kiva, the microfinance organization that matches specific borrowers, who tell their stories on its website, with institutions, organizations and individuals who want to participate and lend. Anwan explained how Kiva has been effective.


For those interested in details of the presentation (including a recording or other information), please contact Rachel Delcau at the Consortium at delcaur@cgsm.org. Anwan welcomes follow-up questions.



In Part II of its microfinance series, CFN will present an actual case study Feb. 4 at 6 pm EST. Clint Wilson, based in San Francisco, head of CnCpartners, will explain the business model behind his microfinance organization and will show how those interested can follow up. His business focuses on microcredit and other microfinancial services in the Philippines. Those who are interested should register in at http://www.linkedin.com/ in the CFN group or contact Rachel Delcau.


Tracy Williams

Career Management and Job Search: 2009 Style

Remember the old days of looking for a job--when you combed through the want-ad pages of the newspaper or conducted a massive letter-writing campaign with sleek stationery and piles of envelopes...and then waited for replies?

Those days are gone. The process has gone electronic and proceeds swiftly--with Company websites, recruiter sites, job boards, Google searches, and now professional and social networks (Linkedin, Doostang, Facebook, etc.). The Consortium Finance Network wants to help you make sense of it all or help you exploit these technical advantages.

CFN will sponsor a webinar Wednesday, September 9 at 7 pm EDT on how best to conduct your search electronically or navigate more effectively in Cyberspace. Jason Alba, CEO of JibberJobber.com, will host the session. Beyond electronic tools for a current job search, he'll focus, too, on ongoing career management.

JibberJobber is a special website to help professionals manage their careers. Jason also authored the publication "I'm on Facebook, Now What?" and produced the DVD "Linkedin for Job Seekers."

Register for the session at RSVP: http://bit.ly/pallA.

CFN hopes this will be the first of a series of webinars on relevant topics in career management, finance, and diversity. Other webinars are on the drawing board, but if others have ideas, share them with us.

Tracy Williams