What's up Life After College?

Dear Reader,

There this voice in my head that tells me what to do and what not to do. It dictates my actions and the words that come out of my mouth. Sometimes it tells me not to do something, even though I should have. And other times it tells me to say something, even though those words weren’t the correct ones to say. A strong, genuine self finds its foundation in the destruction of his initial character. You fail to succeed. You get hurt to grow stronger. You experience pain to build a tolerance. You fear to become fearless. The impulse to “good” should judge what you do or not do. But not only what’s good and socially sound. What’s right for you and your life should judge every action you set forth and every word you project. Man is blind to his shortcomings. Observers trying to decide what a man is like look closely at his actions. But when our inner voice tells us to strive to become better than we are, everything around us becomes better too.

The “j” in jobs is for “joy”. Do you like what you do? Which parts of your job make you happy? Which parts are a dreadful waste of time?  If you see your life more fluidly as a commitment of playful responsibilities, there is no reason work has to be a source of dissatisfaction.

The Market. Pinterest and Zoom went public. Both are trying to price at “the higher end of their price range” just like Lyft and most likely Uber when it goes public as well. The US trade deficit on trade in goods and services narrowed 3.4% in February. With Disney’s new streaming service, Netflix says, “we don’t anticipate that these new entrants will materially affect our growth because the transition from linear to on-demand entertainment is so massive and because of the differing nature of our content offerings.” Netflix is investing over $12 billion to create new content this year. Most Financial stocks recently released earnings and beat estimates. The Federal government collected $1.6 trillion in income taxes this year and paid out $2.19 trillion in outlays (social security, national defense, Medicare, income security, health, education…). Slow things drive us crazy because the fast pace of society has warped our sense of timing. US Retail Sales for March increased by 1.6%. 3 unconventional tools the government can use during a recession: buy both corporate bonds and equities to own a percentage of the country’s entire stock market, tolerate more inflation, and the Fed distributing money directly to citizens in the hope that they would spend it.

Mueller Report. Robert Mueller is an American lawyer and government official. He was asked to be the special counsel in the Russian investigations to see if there was collusion between President Trump and Russia. Mueller found at least 10 cases of possible obstruction of justice. Trump tried to remove Mueller, curtail Russian investigations and prevent public disclosure of evidence. “Our investigation found multiple acts by the president that were capable of exerting undue influence over law enforcement investigations…” Mueller couldn’t establish Trump committed crime.

Life After College. What job you have and where you work are likely to impact most aspects of your life for decades to come, so it is important you get the best job that you can get. Before you even begin applying there are a few things you need to do. First, make sure you update and clear all of your social media profiles. Recent studies show that 70% of employers check the applicant's social media accounts. Next, you want to research the company to ensure that the company is a good fit for you and to better market yourself to your future employer. Look into the job description, their corporate values, or the company’s mission statement to find what they look for in employees. Use this information to update your resume and tailor your cover letter for the specific position you are applying for. Lastly, try to find the hiring manager and contact them directly so you are not just another faceless piece of paper in an otherwise indifferent stack of applications.

Marketing Yourself. When drafting your resume make sure to focus on having a functional design and including only relevant content. Keep the colors and font simple so the hiring manager can easily find what they are looking for. As a vernal layout, you want to have your name and contact information at the top, an executive summary, employment history in reverse chronological order, an education section, and a technical skills section. Under your name, be sure to include the URL for your LinkedIn or other professional inline profile to ensure the hiring manager can easily find you. Instead of including the generic objective statement include an executive summary that explains who you are and what you are looking for. Treat it like a “30-second elevator pitch”. When listing your previous jobs be sure to include company descriptions, what your role was, and any projects you may have pioneered or worked on. When writing your accomplishments to be sure to use the “result by action format”, write what you achieved followed by how you achieved it. Don’t forget that during the initial hiring process your resume is all that your employer will have to go off of, be sure to put in the time to better market yourself and ensure you stand out. Be yourself and be honest. The recruiters are skilled in knowing if you are faking your skills and personalities. 

For those of you in school, trying to break into the world of finance, and everything in between. The key to doing well lays in preparation. The first step is knowing yourself. This includes, but also goes beyond your resume. You need to be able to extensively discuss everything you've included on your resume. If you can't talk about it for a substantial amount of time, don’t include it. You need to know your strengths, your weaknesses, and how those align with what the company needs for the proper position. The next step is to truly prepare for any and all technical questions. This isn't really something that you can cram for. This is the type of preparation that takes months. You need to know information about finance in general, and possibly specific information regarding the role.For example, if this is a position regarding investing, you better know, roughly, where the DOW, S&P, and NASDAQ are. Know what the Fed has been up to. Have a prediction based on where you think the market and/or economy is going to head in a given timeframe.
Sites such as Glassdoor allow you to read information about specific interviews from candidates that have already gone through the process. They can give you information regarding the types of behavioral, the specifics of the technical questions, and a general feel of the interview. Below are some questions that I have personally been asked during interviews?
-        Tell me about a time in which you had to deal with conflict within a team? How did you approach it and what was the outcome?
-        What is your greatest accomplishment and why?
-        What is the federal funds rate right now? Where do you think it’s going?


Keep Climbing,

The Alchanati Campbell and Associates Team