Ever since my senior year of high school, I’ve been fascinated by the financial industry. In AP Economics, one of my classmates’ dads came in to talk about his career as a CFO, and that really stuck with me. It motivated me to start exploring different paths in finance once I got to Wesleyan. A few of my hockey teammates recommended I join the Wesleyan Investment Group (WIG), so I went to the first meeting.
At that meeting, I was introduced to the idea of networking and how important it is—not just for learning from others, but also for building relationships that could help me down the line. I even created my first Google spreadsheet to track networking conversations. I’ve continued using that same spreadsheet ever since, updating and expanding it as my connections have grown and as I’ve gotten more detailed about what I record.
Today, I still track every conversation I have with people across different roles and industries. One piece of advice from an early WIG meeting was to stay up to date on what’s happening in the financial world. To do that, I start most mornings by reading three articles on different topics—something happening in the markets, changes in monetary policy, or recent strategic moves companies are making.
Keeping organized notes on my conversations and staying informed about the industry has made a huge difference as I’ve started exploring full-time job opportunities as a senior.
