Finance & Consulting
Scroll through the blog posts and stories below to learn more about Hamilton student and alumni experiences in this industry, and then use our check out our links to various resources on the right side of the page. Finally, meet with your career advisor and explore the Career Center curriculum to learn how to network with alumni to discuss your interests and learn more about their work.
Finance & Consulting Blog
Preparing for a Career in Finance
By Jason Kauppila '21
November 14, 2022
![Jason Kauppila '21](https://s3.amazonaws.com/mediacdn.hamilton.edu/images/4:3/400/jasonkauppila21png.png)
Tags Finance & Consulting
After a great four years at Hamilton, a variety of internship experiences, and a two-month, post-graduation period of enjoying my last summer break, my first nine weeks at Goldman Sachs have been great. I’ve particularly enjoyed learning the functions of my role with my incredible team, completing orientation and a licensing exam, studying, and catching up with fellow Hamilton alumni here in the NYC office. The transition to the working world definitely required an adjustment, but it’s been exciting, and so far I feel prepared to navigate this new environment with the skills I learned at Hamilton!
Getting here, I definitely felt unprepared and uncertain at times, the same feelings I am sure many of you beginning the job search have. Here is some advice on exploring a career path with confidence and not letting those feelings get in the way:
- Leverage the Hamilton network. Although Hamilton has no finance major, the amount that you can learn from Hamilton alumni in finance is incredible (this likely applies to other fields as well). Do your research, ask meaningful/prepared questions, and take frequent notes. I talked to a great deal of alumni about their jobs, how they got there, and what steps I could take to position myself for future job opportunities. I started talking to alumni my sophomore spring, and suggest you start to think about it around then or A.S.A.P. (maybe a bit earlier for finance/consulting). And always follow up with a thank you note!
- Lean into the new material, especially the confusing parts. Although all of my specific coursework taught me about the subject at hand, my Hamilton liberal arts education taught me – more than anything – how to think and learn. With various financial concepts I would always consider the bigger picture before diving into the details. What is this product trying to achieve? How do the buyers benefit? How do the sellers benefit? Contextualizing what you learn in examples and in the real world is really important. The real world is complex – don’t be too hard on yourself when learning about an industry.
- Always look at the positive. I made plenty of mistakes, asked a lot of dumb questions, felt confused often throughout my process, and that’s okay. Once you accept this, you can turn those feelings of self-doubt into formative experiences that will make you even better the next time around. Got a rejection email or an interview went poorly? At least you got some feedback! I’ve experienced rejection and still managed to get my foot in the door because of persistent curiosity and the strength of my Hamilton network. Keep going, you got this!