One of the Citi Group Penn State alumni, Krishna Nadella gave a presentation of current Wall Street banking situation and career search strategy last week. It’s has been a priceless opportunity to get insights from the people who directly deal with sub-prime products, witness the asset write down and involve in the major Citi Group issues in the recent couple of months. 

For the 1^st year MBA, it is valuable to grasp the big picture of sub-prime mortgage and related such product with current finance class topics. For the 2^nd year students, in such difficult market situation, opinions from real bankers regarding to career search strategy in finance industry is crucial. During the conversation we all had the same question–what’s our value to the company when facing economy recession and people lay-off? Krishna gave us a great example of how he reacted effectively and efficiently to this situation.  

In addition to his working experience, he shared a lot of personal experience in job searching. He had strong interest in banking, and moreover, he had strong will to get a job in Wall Street. I was very impressed that during his MBA, he went to New York biweekly to meet with alumni and learn about career in Wall Street! His effort in continuously building network during his MBA and his career distinguished himself from other strong competitors in the market.  

It’s great time for me to meet with alumni who is so truthful. The next step is to improve my networking and work harder.     

-Paul Wang

 MBA Class of 2008

Paul wang is a second year student who has strong interest in investment and portfolio management. Originally from China, he believes that there is huge potential in China financial market and he would like to contribute his knowledge to the improvement of that market.

On March 27, 2008, Nat Stoddard, Chairman of Crenshaw Associates, was
a guest speaker for the Smeal MBA Program’s Personal Development
Series. Over a casual lunch, several dozen Smeal MBAs were treated to
Mr. Stoddard’s own fascinating career history and the history of
Crenshaw Associates, specialists in career management for senior
executives. Mr. Stoddard’s personal and industry-gleaned wisdom will
almost certainly prove invaluable to all those who attended this
interactive and informative luncheon. Most saliently, Mr. Crenshaw
noted that while many MBA students are focused on getting A job or
getting THE job when they leave school, it is most advantageous to
focus instead on one’s desired end result, and to search for positions
that are clearly on the path to that result. This shift in thinking
was, for me, a simple one to make, and has helped me already by
enabling me to hone in on precisely where I’d like to do my internship
– saving me time in my search efforts. Mr. Stoddard’s simple speech
is sticking with me and, I am sure, will shape what career moves I
take this summer and as I move to plan to leave Smeal next year.

Mary Gorman

MBA Class of 2009 

Mary Gorman managed a global supply chain the fashion industry for six
years before coming to Smeal for her MBA. She is concentrating in
Supply Chain Management and Corporate Financial Analysis and Planning.