“You've got to tell Baruch students to stop making LinkedIn requests when they have no other relation other than a shared alma mater.” —recent message sent to the GCMC from a Baruch alum. How many times have you heard that the best way to find the untapped job market is through effective networking? Have you wanted to go to networking events, but been so busy with school and your job that time hasn’t yet permitted it? Well, one of the best ways to get started with building your network, at the convenience of your schedule, is by using connections you build through having a profile on LinkedIn. Check out these tips to help you get started! I have a profile, but I’m not really sure how to maximize the way I am using it. After building your profile, which is essentially a “resume on steroids,” you need to start making connections. Who are these people? They are your friends and your classmates. They are people you are working with in your internship or job. They are curren...

Alexei (Alex) Penn is a Finance and Investment major graduating with his MBA from Zicklin in May 2013. Prior to pursuing his degree at Baruch, Alex worked as an electrical engineer for four years with clients including the New York City MTA and Amtrak. In the summer of 2012, Alex interned with the Better Business Bureau of Metropolitan New York (BBB), an organization dedicated to building trust within marketplaces where transparency between businesses and consumers, as well as charities and donors, is essential. We recently sat down with Alex to talk about his internship, his experience at Baruch and what advice he has for new students coming to Zicklin pursuing their graduate business degree. Q : Alex, thank you so much for taking the time to meet with us. We’d love to dive right into your summer and what your responsibilities were at the BBB? Alex Penn (AP) : It’s really great to get the opportunity to have this discussion, thank you. At the BBB, I worked as a financial chari...

A Baruch graduate, Mr. Luciano (Lou) Centanni has built an incredibly impressive career in public accounting at Grant Thornton that has spanned more than two decades. Currently, he is Audit Partner and Partner-in-Charge of the Northeast Region International Business Center for the firm, and has worked with both public and private companies around the globe on various initiatives, such as mergers-and-acquisitions and introducing European companies to capital markets in the United States. Recognized for his success, Lou was named by the Long Island Business News as one of Long Island’s 40 rising stars under the age of 40 in 2006. Lucy Lu (MS Accounting) had the privilege of sitting down with Lou in his midtown office to talk about his career journey, his successes and accomplishments, and his thoughts on the impact students can have through a career in the accounting industry. Q : Mr. Centanni, thank you so much for taking the time to talk to the Baruch graduate student community...

Each summer, the GCMC creates an engaging summer reading list of novels, blogs or articles published within the last year. Let us know how you would rate these works and send in your review to be posted in one of our upcoming issues! Private Empire: ExxonMobil and American Power by Steve Coll In Private Empire , Steve Coll investigates the largest and most powerful private corporation in the United States, revealing the true extent of its power. ExxonMobil’s annual revenues are larger than the economic activity in the great majority of countries. In many of the countries where it conducts business, ExxonMobil’s sway over politics and security is greater than that of the United States embassy. In Washington, ExxonMobil spends more money lobbying Congress and the White House than almost any other corporation. Yet despite its outsized influence, it is a black box… read more Boomerang: Travels in the New Third World by Michael Lewis From the bestselling author ...

Miranda Ran  Wang shares her interning experience at PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), the largest accounting and business consultancy firm in the world: "My internship with  PwC  was an exceptional learning experience. Our group - Market Information & Data Analytics - is a unique team within the firm dedicated to analyzing and distributing market information to  PwC  engagement teams in over 158 different countries. Through my internship, I was able to learn and apply different kinds of technology tools to process large volumes of fund data and generate reports for our engagement teams.  My role in the team was to assist senior analysts with the pricing of derivatives swaps such as interest rate swaps, credit default swaps and FX forwards. One thing I learned is that it is important for any intern to be proactive and take initiative. Although the seniors in the group are incredibly busy, they are also very helpful and open-minded. Do not b...

Séverine shares her interning experience working at OneWorld Inc .: “Working at  OneWorld Inc . has been a very interesting and exiting experience for me.  OneWorld  is a small enterprise that partners with leading pharmaceutical, diagnostic and device companies to design, develop and deploy global information-exchange solutions across the continuum of healthcare delivery. Learning about a new and highly regulated pharmaceutical industry is challenging but critical in understanding the big picture. As part of the Research & Development team, I am directly involved in making strategic decisions, developing new trends and products and studying new market opportunities. I have the opportunity to develop my project management skills by working directly with several outsourcing partners. I am building direct client relationships by training them on key programs and applications customized for them by  OneWorld . My business acumen and communication skills have co...

Séverine shares her interning experience working at OneWorld Inc .:  "Working at OneWorld Inc . has been a very interesting and exiting experience for me. OneWorld is a small enterprise that partners with leading pharmaceutical, diagnostic and device companies to design, develop and deploy global information-exchange solutions across the continuum of healthcare delivery. Learning about a new and highly regulated pharmaceutical industry is challenging but critical in understanding the big picture. As part of the Research & Development team, I am directly involved in making strategic decisions, developing new trends and products and studying new market opportunities. I have the opportunity to develop my project management skills by working directly with several outsourcing partners. I am building direct client relationships by training them on key programs and applications customized for them by OneWorld . My business acumen and communication skills have cons...

Michael Goldman shares his experience interning at Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia , a diversified media and merchandising company linked to the Martha Stewart brand:   " Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia is a wonderful place to work as an intern. The finance department has a number of very experienced financial services professionals, whom I learned a great deal from. I also had the opportunity to work alongside some Ernst and Young associates when they came to do one of their audits. Additionally, Martha often brings in fresh produce and organic eggs from her upstate farm and distributes them at the corporate office. Plus you can get free VIP tickets to the Martha Stewart show. Just a few general tips for those who are interested in getting an internship. Broaden your scope; although the Baruch job board is a wonderful source for getting an internship, there are many other places you should look. I actually found my position through LinkedIn. Brush up on your Excel...

 “The Power of Networking” At the beginning of our MBA career and throughout the journey, one of the most common terms we hear is “Networking.” Networking in school means to tap into our resource of colleagues in classrooms to discover and capitalize on opportunities. It is through effective networking that I landed my internship at Ji mmy Jazz . Jimmy Jazz is a retail company with over 120 stores throughout the country. I work as a Human Resource Associate with the corporate HR department of the company. The best part of my internship is the great learning experience it provides; I get to put conceptual knowledge into practice. I learn in my HR classes the culture of the company and how it effects the employees- at Jimmy Jazz , I get to experience this first hand. The culture of my department is casual and open which allows me to ask and learn on the job which is the primary purpose of my internship. My long term career aspiration is to work as a re...

Veselina Hristova interned at Redcats USA, an online retailer of men's and women's plus-size apparel in addition to home, outdoor and lifestyle products. Verselina shares her experience in an interview with Kathy Kim, a graduate assistant at GCMC. Describe in detail your duties as an intern with Redcats USA. Leverage product ranking spreadsheet to help improve performance of individual categories  and products over time. Name product titles in more SEM friendly terms. Analyze and report customers’ feedback about the web site. Analyze monthly Omniture reporting on top products, top categories and marketing promotions. What did you consider to be the most positive features of this job? Everyone treated me as part of the team. I was given real tasks and assignments that were contributing to the better performance of the whole team. My manager was always available for me. He was willing to explain and to have me involved in the working process. Please desc...

Neli Desai, an MBA student in the field of Finance and Information Systems, has been interning with HBO, one of the largest premium cable television networks in the United States. Read what she has to share about her experience: “The positive features of working at HBO primarily are the work culture, work life balance that they provide and the enthusiasm with which every team member works.  My manager was very flexible with respect to my timings as they had to match my college schedule.  The team was very encouraging and welcoming and they trained me in a very short span of time.  They were very friendly and provided guidance at every step. The weekly meetings helped me understand the process quickly.  Good rapport with the manager was also an important feature that was responsible for the high quality work.  Project meetings and team lunches helped make interaction easy.  Since my job mainly required analyzing data, the theories and concepts from ...

Tal Givon is a final year MBA marketing student who has been interning with TriPlay, an innovative multi-faceted technology company focused on providing globally-available multimedia services to consumers. This is what she has to share about her experience so far: “I am very fortunate to be interning for TriPlay at such an exciting time for the company. TriPlay launched MyMusicCloud, which makes your music available on every device, in late 2011.  I lead the product launch marketing wise: the project started with marketing research to explore the competitive environment, differentiating MyMusicCloud against competitive giants such as Amazon Cloud player, Google Music and Apple’s iCloud and identifying our target market. At this point we formulated the messages we wanted to convey, and selected media vehicles to distribute our word, while adjusting our tone according to the medium.  In a short while I have accumulated hands on experience in social media such as Faceb...