Vanguards of Global Finance

Daylong event pairs alumni with students interested in finance careers

How do you break into a finance career, and what are the best strategies for ongoing success? These are burning questions on the minds of business and economics majors everywhere. Dickinson students who attended a daylong session at a global financial firm's U.S. headquarters recently received some excellent roadmaps to guide their journeys.

Coordinated by Lina Vu '09, with Darrell Pacheco ’12 and Jean-Yves "Rockko" Rwakazina ’05, the outing was the latest in a series of Career Center events centering on Vanguard Group, one of the largest investment management companies in the world. Seventeen students, representing several majors, attended.

The day included an address by representatives from Vanguard’s human resources department; a networking luncheon with a keynote address by Spyro Karetsos ’96, director of enterprise risk management; mock-interview sessions with several Vanguard alumni; and a "hot-seat interview," during which each student had an opportunity to answer one interview question and receive feedback from the entire group.

There also was an afternoon panel discussion covering many different angles of the career-search and establishment process. Moderated by Pacheco, the discussion featured three alumni at different stages of their careers at Vanguard—Andrew Shuman ’11, Bob Geiger ’86 and John Montgomery ’10—as well as A.J. Harnak, a Vanguard information systems engineer, and Krysti Oschal ’17, a double major in environmental studies and economics and an officer in Dickinson’s Student Investment Group.

Matthew Ferry ’17, a history major with a double minor in Arabic and educational studies, signed up for the trip to explore finance-career opportunities for social-science majors. It was one of several Career Center sessions he has participated in since coming to Dickinson two years ago.

Ferry said that he appreciated the chance to explore new career avenues and extend his professional network to include Dickinson alumni in the field.

“Dickinson has a wonderful alumni network that is more than willing to aid Dickinsonians in their professional development,” he added. “The care and attention that Vanguard's Dickinson alumni took in creating this event really demonstrates that.”

Learn more

• International Business & Management
• Alumni in Action: Business and Finance
• “How I Landed a Job With the Vanguard Group”
• "Sound Advice"
• “A Bullish Year”
• Latest News

Published November 12, 2015