While many students walk into their first investment banking jobs clueless about the inner workings of financial services firms, the Dartmouth organization Women in Business gave its members a competitive edge Friday with a job-shadowing trip to New York City.
The trip was completely funded by Goldman Sachs, which hosted the 27 women for an alumni-student conference at the firm. Students learned about the organization's structure and procedures while they networked with current employees.
Students shadowed about 20 Dartmouth alumni at Goldman-Sachs within the Equities; Fixed Income, Currency and Commodities; Investment Management; Human Capital Management and Technology divisions, according to WIB's secretary, Vivienne Wei '07.
"It's interesting because I actually got to see what exactly those [business] terms mean," Wei said. "I shadowed Vito Menza ['04] in the equities division, and he explained to me what exactly he did, pitching ideas to his clients, analyzing stocks and monitoring the market."
Although many students expressed interest in finding out more about investment banking, the division was off limits due to confidentiality issues. Instead, Karen Hart '01 presented an initial public offering workshop, in which she ran through an investment-banking case study of the Polo Ralph Lauren IPO.
According to Wei, the idea for the event was conceived during a Wall Street panel discussion that WIB organized in January. Hart, who works at Goldman Sachs and participated in the panel, mentioned the possibility of such a trip. Since then, WIB Corporate Relations Chair Karen Kramer '06 worked with Goldman Sachs representatives to coordinate the event.
The trip was immediately attractive to the WIB officers, as they hope to increase awareness of business in the Dartmouth community through the strengthening of a Dartmouth women and alumni network, according to the mission statement.
"The girls now know that there are other exciting things available," Wei said. "We wanted to bring awareness to women who didn't know what their options might be."
The appealing aspects of the program led to more student interest than could be accommodated on the trip, Wei said, forcing them to selectively accept applications only from people who were affiliated with WIB or have attended WIB events in the past. Preference was given to sophomores in preparation for corporate recruiting next year.
Instead of being a limiting restriction, the trip allowed Wei to realize that a liberal arts education could actually be a boon to a corporate career.
"A liberal arts education doesn't hurt you, and you don't even have to be an econ major," Wei said. "It prepares you to have the skills and adaptability to work in such a fast-paced environment."
Marlene Labastida '07, who participated in the shadowing day at Goldman Sachs, said the trip gave her a better understanding of the financial world.
"I think Women in Business did a great job arranging this trip to allow women that are interested in finance to find out more about what these jobs entail," Labastida said. "It was a great opportunity that exposed me more to the range of jobs in the corporate world."
WIB will next feature a consulting panel Thursday in Carson L01 and hopes to plan similar New York trips in the future.