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Where did the 2nd year members go this summer?
here's the list
Careers in Finance:
Are you a finance person?
Ask yourself the following questions? Do you like working with numbers
and spreadsheets? Do you enjoy numerical analysis? If the answers to these questions
are "yes," you may like a career in finance.
But finance is a large field so you should also ask yourself the following:
Do you like working in an on-going business, reporting to top management? If so,
maybe consider Finance in a company. Do you like working in a fast paced environment
reacting to the markets? If so, maybe consider Sales & Trading. Do you like
working on large projects in an intense environment but not necessarily with one
company? If so, maybe consider Investment Banking Corporate Finance. Do you like
evaluating company performance and stocks? If so, consider Equity Analysis in investment
management.
There are many careers in Finance. We have grouped some of those careers into categories
here.
Finance in a Corporation: A typical position in a company is that
of a Financial Analyst. Work can be in one of many different departments depending
on the industry and company. For a manufacturer, positions exist in strategic planning,
product development, and division controller's offices. Work can include financial
analysis for feasibility, pricing, cost control, and budgeting to name a few.
Investment Banking: Merger & Acquisitions, Corporate Finance,
Sales & Trading, or Debt & Equity Capital Markets.
Commercial Banking: Credit Analysis or General Management.
Investment Management: Equity Analyst or Portfolio Management.
Actual Summer Intern Experiences:
1) CISCO SUMMER INTERN:
Title: Cisco Finance Summer Intern
Company: Cisco Systems, Inc.
Prior to my internship, several people had characterized Cisco as a very big startup.
Based on my experience, that's partly true in the sense that there's definitely
an entrepreneurial feel in the company's lifeblood. People are excited about their
work. Everyone takes pride in saying that they work for Cisco and being a part of
the high-tech industry. Also, many people I talked with were delighted to discuss
their outside business interests and openly shared their plans for starting new
ventures in the future. Nevertheless, Cisco is a huge company. Headquarters is in
the heart of Silicon Valley—San Jose, California . It's a sprawling campus
with approximately twenty-five identical-looking buildings. The campus boasts top-notch
dining facilities with every kind of cuisine you can think of, several gyms and
basketball courts, and a post office. One other big perk is the unlimited amount
of beverages for you to consume: coffee, tea, bottled water, soda, Crystal Geyser
spritzers, and Snapple. The company certainly knows how to seamlessly run its operations.
Online is the name of the game. New hire information is on the Intranet. You can
order supplies online. Numerous web-based teaching tools are available as well.
I enhanced my understanding of Excel and Business Objects in this way.
I had two concerns going into my summer internship: 1) I had never done Finance
before, and 2) as a Chicago GSBer, I was beginning my internship several weeks later
than the rest of the internship class. Before business school, I had done environmental
consulting and project management for a startup. But I soon learned that the Corporate
Finance class was sufficient preparation for the finance work that I did. Moreover,
as soon as I accepted my offer with Cisco, I asked my supervisor what his recommendations
were for my Spring schedule. He has an MBA from Berkeley and he told me to take
whatever classes interested me. In other words, everything I needed for the job
he assured me I would pick up easily. As for starting later than other interns,
this turned out to be less of a concern because there was another Chicago person
with me and as long as you complete your project by the time you depart, it doesn't
matter when you begin.
I interned with Cisco's Technology Operations Finance Group. This is the group that
oversees all of Cisco's business units (i.e., the product lines such as routing,
switching, wireless, and so on). My main project involved analyzing Cisco's return
policy/warranty spending. The company wanted to assess the viability of a diagnostics
program that would reduce the number of merchandise returns. In order to analyze
this, I cranked out NPFs and ROI, slicing and dicing the information over a number
of different factors like product line, labor, storage capacity, etc. Like I said,
I worked on several other projects over the course of my 12-week internship. In
fact, because of my work on creating standard reporting templates in Business Objects
for one of the business units, I was awarded a bonus at the end of the summer.
Cisco is a great company to work for. As an intern, I felt like people really cared
about our learning experience. Once a week, lunch was brought in for the interns
and executive-level speakers spoke to us about their respective departments and
their responsibilities. One highlight of the summer was a fieldtrip to Pac Bell
Park for a Giants baseball game. As interns, we also had to give presentations to
the executives about our summer projects. Based on this presentation and input from
our supervisors, Cisco extended full-time offers. As much as I enjoyed my experience,
the main reason I didn't accept my offer was because of location. It's important
to me that I live and work in a big metropolitan city. Regardless, I am a huge advocate
in working for Cisco based on my satisfying internship experience.
2) GENERAL MILLS SUMMER INTERN:
Title: Supply Chain Finance Summer Intern
Company: General Mills
Summer is probably the perfect time to be at both Minneapolis and General Mills:
The weather is always sunny and the flexible summer hour gives employees (including
the interns) the maximum opportunity to enjoy the best season of the year.
I started my internship as a senior financial analyst in the Supply Chain Division
at the beginning of June, which was relatively late compared with other interns.
I still remember vividly how exhausted I was after a long day of moving and driving
when I finally arrived at the Corporate Housing in downtown Minneapolis the day
before my internship started. Fortunately I felt much better after meeting my roommate,
a very nice Chinese girl from Wharton, and settled down in my room with a beautiful
view of the entire downtown.
My first day at work was rather routine and administrative oriented. I had to try
really hard not to fall asleep during a series of meetings including two hours of
one-on-one with my direct boss. However, the two projects I was going to work on
seemed really interesting and I was very excited to see a full calendar of intern
events through the entire summer. Once I got all my office supplies in place and
settled down in my cubicle, my 12-week internship officially started.
What I liked the most about my summer experience was not only that I have learned
how to play with spreadsheets or build financial models. But more importantly, by
working with senior level financial analysts and people with years of experience
in the industry, I learned how to approach and analyze financial or strategic issues
from a much broader and more practical view, which is a little different from what
we have learned from GSB. My projects required a lot of interactions with people
across different functions: marketing, strategy, operation and sales, it was very
interesting to see the different perspectives of the business and the industry.
The reasons I chose supply chain for my summer experience were not only because
of my engineering background but also because I think supply chain is a very complex
and interesting area that is the key competence for individual companies. For example,
with the merger of General Mills and Pillsbury, 80% of the projected cost savings
are going to come from supply chain integration. For mature industries like food
or consumer products, supply chain's economies of scale and efficiency is one of
the key factors distinguishing company performance.
At this moment, I still cannot believe how fast the summer went by. Although I was
a little sad saying goodbye to my new friends and the fun summer town of Minneapolis
, I am more excited to come back to Chicago and GSB, to which I truly belong. |
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