Job Hunt Update

As this blog and b-school wind down, I thought a final post regarding employment would be important.

It was a difficult decision, and I had several opportunities to consider...but I took a buy-side research analyst job with Victory Capital Management - the asset management branch of Keybank. This means that of all places to relocate to, the Fiancee and I are moving to the Cleveland, OH area. If any of you are there or headed there, feel free to drop a line.

I've enjoyed writing over the past two years, but it is time to move on to the next chapters - namely employment, marriage, and hitting 30. Time to get a dog...

I'm outta here.

I jinxed it...

I knew we wouldn't last long up there at #1. Few do. Good game Sparty. Go Bucky!

The Man

We're ranked #1!!!!!

In hoops, not MBA rankings. Wisconsin (aka Wisky, aka Sconnie, aka Bucky, aka Madtown) has the #1 team in the land in the AP poll. The [assistant] coaches poll still ranks us #2. No matter...we play OSU on Sunday after playing MSU tomorrow. It's going to be tough to win these games on the road, but Go Bucky! First #1 in history...

In another note, I am not sure if I mentioned on my blog that Bo Ryan talked to the MBA class last semester about leadership. It's always interesting to listen to non-business people that have the special knack for public speaking in a way that no business person can. It's clear that what these coaches deal with - the big business of alumni, recruiting, ESPN and the wonderful sports media are awfully challenging.

Job Hunt Update

I don't know when Business Week does its survey of MBA job hunting or whatever clever title they give it. I can tell you this - this year is strong. My marketing counterparts, in general, have multiple, multiple job offers already. Even in Finance, they're starting to ...update...Reggie Bush is ridiculously good, but back to the point...Even in Finance they're starting to drop like flies. In Investment Management, once bonuses are paid (and most are getting 'em this year) the market will open up more than it currently is.

I currently have no job offer yet, but I'm being picky. Who wants "a job"? No, how about "the job?" Of course, that could change come April.

It's hunting season - as in hunting for jobs

The fall recruitment kick has been in full-swing for the past month and I've finally ramped my search efforts up to the sending 2 resumes per day threshold. Campus recruiting appears a bit stronger this year, too. The MBA job placement and salary stats have suggested this and it still looks true.

So far I've learned that the sell-side gig probably doesn't fit my personality very well - I'm always trying to think of ways to beat "the market" not ways to tell others how to do so. I've also learned that job hunting in this business parallels that of acting or dating - it's a numbers game...and you just aren't sure which day your A-game comes out. Plus, alot of people want to hear one thing or the other and, well, you just might not say that one thing.

So "we" keep pluggin' away ("We" represents myself and the soon-to-be Mrs. -> wow does that sound weird). Perhaps an offer will come soon, or perhaps there'll be a post-bonus season bonanza. Either way, I'm still quite optimistic. Behavioralism would then suggest that means there's quite a bit of time to go :-)

Jump Around at UW

I posted this on my other blog, too, but I thought it would also be fun to put it up here, since I've not made a post on this site in some time. If you want to get an idea of what it is like inside Camp Randall between the 3rd and 4th quarters, click play. The video quality isn't the best, but the floor is shaking, so give the guy a break...

I'm probably somewhere in the middle of it all.

I passed!

I passed Level 1 of the CFA exams!

Woo hoo!

Zoom Zoom Zoom without the Vroom-Vroom

Is this roadster cool or what?

Internship Update

Prompted by a comment from KV, I thought I'd talk a little bit about my internship.

First off, I'll say that our Alumni Network (especially my program - since it has 35 years of history) had alot to do with me landing the job in the first place. That's not to say I wasn't qualified, though. IM is an interesting industry. I've blogged about that before.

At any rate, the job is very cool. I'm the "Hedge Fund Intern" and I am employee #18, I think (10 are investment people). Most of the day I am running screens, calling companies, writing up investment ideas, or defending them. Everday I'm reminded that I made the right decision to be where I am.

I am also getting a chance to see the Private Equity world from the inside. I had no idea really what PE was like before coming to bschool. Having been a GE trained engineer it would have been difficult. There is some irony in that in order to be around new technologies on a weekly basis, I had to move from engineering to finance. To quote the McD's commercial - I'm lovin' it.

No, No, No, NOOOOOOOOO!

Maybe it's just me, but I find this list to be ridiculous.

Boston Recap

The gf and I went to Boston for the long weekend / her birthday. Atop the Prudential Center after dessert she cried as she graduated to fiancee. Pretty excited about that!

As for Beantown - it was great to us. We did most of the touristy things, and a few not so touristy. Back Bay / Copley Square was pretty cool at night - lots of restaurants and bars. Thanks to the Chilli Duck for some good Thai food, and The Globe for giving us a menu as a momento of our trip.

Thumbs up for the Boston Duck and the USS Constitution tours, both which were way cooler than I could have imagined. The Sam Adams tour isn't bad either, if you like beer. Oh yeah, and go see Fenway if you get the chance...hopefully you'll get Steve as your tour guide!

Here's a picture of Ralphie - our traveling dog - and John Harvard's statue.

CFA - All Day, Everyday

Not that I don't already know most of the material on the CFA Level 1 exam, but I am spending the last weeks heading into it making sure I know the material. I'm putting in 8-12 hours a day - going over the stuff with a fine-toothed comb. It's not actually as bad as you might imagine, since most of the material is interesting (not the Tax stuff, however...)

Fortunately, there is a fun trip with the gf to Boston coming up later this week where I can forget about it for a few days. Beantown - here we come!

Easy Mac

Easy Mac with vegetables - one of my favorite meals on a b-school budget. 10 times better than ramen, at only 2 times the cost :-)

A Quick Thought

I really hope that the gentleman on State St. playing the 5 gallon buckets with his drumsticks is using the money in his tip cup to buy some drums.

ASAP Placement from UW-Madison

Placement this year at graduation for ASAP'ers is quite strong. Places employing ASAP '06 grads:

Fidelity - buy side - Boston, MA (2)
UBS - sell side - NYC, NY (2)
Heartland Advisors - buy side - Milwaukee, WI
American Century - buy side - Kansas City, MO
Waddell & Reed - buy side - Kansas City, MO
State of WI Investment Board - buy side - Madison, WI
Passport Capital, LLC - buy side/hedge - San Francisco, CA
McDonnell Investment Mgmt. - buy side - Chicago, IL
Green Street Advisors - buyside - Newport Beach, CA

There are still a couple to go, but the remaining students are close to finding homes. For a list of firms that employ UW-Madison ASAP grads: http://www.bus.wisc.edu/asap/employers/firms.asp

As for my class, 2007, 9 of 11 of us have internships, and there may or may not be a 10th hiree here in a couple of weeks.

So things look pretty good, and the rumor is that the incoming class of 2008 is taking shape very nicely. This will be the third class that is part of the MBA program, but I believe the 38th ASAP class to come through UW.

In the meantime, the new MBA building project has begun. The adjacent building - where the new building will be created - is being demolished as I type.

Great things happening here at UW!