Spotlight on Career Exploration
Investment Banking 101 at Jefferies & Co.
Published in February 2011 E-Newsletter
Jefferies & Company, Inc. has been a partner of Futures and Options since 1997, when their municipal securities group began hosting an intern each summer as part of the Urban Leadership Fellows Program. On February 16th, the bank expanded their commitment to our mission when their investment banking division welcomed a group of our pre-interns, interns and alumni for an informative career exploration program – "Investment Banking 101."
Interns Davon Dirton and Anthony Castillo at Jefferies & Company.
Michele Vespi, Head of US Recruiting for Jefferies, opened the program by welcoming the students to the firm and leading an activity to break the ice. Michele then introduced Matt Remsen, an analyst in Jefferies M&A group, who walked the students through a PowerPoint presentation covering the basics of investment banking. Special thanks to Matt, who clearly put a lot of thought into the presentation. He contrasted traditional vs. investment banking and then discussed the range of services offered by an investment bank, including debt & equity raising, M&A advising and restructuring advice.
Panel of five Jefferies analysts participate in Q&A.
Following Matt's presentation, Laura Barkin moderated a Q&A with a panel of five analysts – Matt, Mike McCarthy (Healthcare), Monica Jamaluddin (Financial Services), Christine Hwong (M&A) and Celso Goncalves (LatAm). The panel answered questions about their path to investment banking, the people they looked to for advice during college, recommended classes, and the best and worst parts of their jobs. After the panel, Michele energized the room with a lively quiz and prizes. She then opened the session up to allow students to ask the panelists questions, and we closed with a chance for the students to network with all of the Jefferies volunteers.
The event was a tremendous success, and Futures and Options extends a huge thank you to the Jefferies US Recruiting team – Michele, Laura and Alyssa Murstein – for hosting our students in a well planned, fabulously executed career exploration program. Our students walked away with a solid look into the life of an investment banking analyst, and they capitalized on a fantastic opportunity to hone their networking skills.
To learn more about becoming a Futures and Options business partner, please contact Keleigh Karl, Corporate Partnership Manager, or call 212-601-0002.
Pfizer Opens Its Door to Futures and Options
This July, 30 Futures and Options summer interns from The Frederick Douglass Academy were welcomed at Pfizer, Inc. Thanks to the efforts of our board member Ozias Moore, Team Leader, US Vendor Operations and Savitri Basavaiah, Director, Primary Care Strategy & Innovation, the interns were treated to a morning of career exploration activities with a cadre of more than 20 Pfizer volunteers.
Pfizer volunteer Nadia Johnson and Futures and Options student Shayla Russell.
The Pfizer Career Exploration Day was top notch! The interns met in Pfizer's state-of-the-art conference center for a presentation on the pharmaceutical industry and Pfizer's history. Following this excellent introduction to the industry and company, a panel of volunteers who work in various departments – legal, medical affairs, finance, customer engagement and sales, strategy, promotion and vendor operations – shared stories about their education and career paths as well as their jobs at Pfizer. In addition, they were terrific advisors! The interns received valuable suggestions about college majors, the importance of being open and having a positive attitude and other worthwhile tips about what it takes to successfully choose a career. The remainder of the morning was filled with engaging activities run by the volunteers, who conducted mock interviews, critiqued resumes and led a breakout workshop on networking skills.
The interns walked away from this experience more knowledgeable about Pfizer as well as more prepared for their next real interview, as well as with a new appreciation of the value of networking. We are tremendously grateful to everyone from Pfizer who volunteered and gave their time and expertise to our interns, who were happy to share their thoughts about the day with us:
"I now have an interest in perhaps working for Pfizer or applying for the internship in December. I was always interested in the medical field, and hope to either become a doctor or biomedical engineer, just hearing the panel speak of their experiences made me even more confident going into very hard fields. I think more children my age would benefit from an event like this, where they get advice, learn networking skills and talk to people who may have had some of their struggles."
-Mykaya Nixon
"I gained a whole different perspective on the pharmaceutical field. I'm also leaning towards becoming a doctor but the pharmaceutical field has really caught my attention whether I become a pharmacist or a biomedical engineer."
-Joseph Aduboffour
"As a college freshmen I plan to study pre-pharmacy so the Pfizer field trip was especially important to me. The best part of the Pfizer trip was the panel. They were very informative and seemed very intrigued by the students. Additionally the resume critiquing and mock interviews were very informative. I learned how to speak about myself properly and sell myself on paper. The Pfizer field trip to me was a total success, and the lunch was an extra bonus."
-Jaimi Ross
"This opportunity to me was one in million, so I will like to sincerely thank everyone who had a hand in the event. From the event I learned that networking is key and essential. It increases one's chances of getting a job in their field. Before the event, I was already interested in the medical field, specifically dentistry. Attending the event made me surer and more intrigued about studying dentistry."
-Oluwatoberu Jaiyesimi
"I was very much interested in the fact that most of the panelists were involved in so many different fields before tapping into Pfizer. That just goes to show that you don't have to know exactly what you want in life and you don't have to be stuck doing one thing for all your years. It's good to branch out and explore outside your comfort zone."
-Jasmine Mark
