College targets assistance to alumni in financial services
Help Skidmore students and alumni! Join the Skidmore Career Network!
|
In face of continuing turmoil in the financial services industry, the offices of
Alumni Affairs and Career Services are pointing alumni in that sector to resources
that may be helpful during a time of transition.
An estimated 30,000 to 40,000 financial services jobs have been eliminated in the
collapse of Lehman Brothers, the sale of Merrill Lynch to Bank of America and other
recent events on Wall Street. Knowing already of several Skidmore alumni who have
been affected, Director of Alumni Affairs Michael Sposili and Director of Career Services
Michael Profita today emailed to alumni in financial services Web links to a number
of resources that might be helpful.
First on their list is the Career Network ? a database of alumni and parents who
have agreed to answer questions about various career fields. Just go to the main Skidmore Web site and search ?Career Network.? You?ll need a user name and password to access the database.
To get one, drop a note to Career Services at cdc@skidmore.edu.
They also encourage alumni to:
- connect with the Skidmore Business Network, which gives Skidmore alumni working in business, finance, marketing, public relations, law and directly-related fields a proactive and efficient way to connect and network with each other;
- register with Career Services to receive a jobs newsletter;
- join the ?Skidmore College Connections? group in LinkedIn;
- access Career Services JobCentral, a listing of job opportunities, job fairs and other career resources.
Last Sunday, Sept. 21, Career Services and Alumni Affairs teamed up in offering ?Wall
Street 101,? a program in which five alumni in financial services offered their perspective
on career options and job search strategies. Alumni participating in the program included
Megan Almond ?97, vice president for human resources, JP Morgan Investment Bank Operations;
Scott Bornstein '91, senior trade analyst, Oppenheimer Funds, Inc.; Michael Glickstein,
?03, MBA student at New York University; Brett Olson ?92, senior vice president for
Lehman Brothers, and Carly Chase '08, analyst for Goldman Sachs.
Not surprisingly, the panelists reported the current hiring climate to be very challenging
but noted that a few firms were still adding staff and pointed out that such retrenchments
in the past have always been followed by more robust hiring. Urging the student attendees
to exercise patience and be flexible and resourceful in their job searches, alumni
advised students not only to focus on high-profile analyst positions, but to consider
alternate pathways, such as finance positions at other types of corporations, economic
consulting, back office positions, accounting jobs and entry level jobs with mutual
funds.
All of the panelists emphasized the importance of networking via Skidmore?s Career
Network and LinkedIn. Carly Chase ?08 noted that she accessed her very competitive
track at Goldman with help from another panelist, Mike Glickstein ?03, after attending
?Wall Street 101? in 2006.