Welcome to Insider Tips, a recurring feature on the Career Center blog. We’re asking students to share insight about our finance and consulting events. The following tips are about our Finance Networking Night from recent graduate, Billy Wang. Finance Networking Night is an virtual opportunity for Tufts students of all class years and majors to network with Alumni who work in finance. Here is the event information, link to register, and Billy’s tips for a successful event:
Tufts Finance Networking Night – Virtual: Tuesday, April 4th from 6:00-8:15pm
NOTE: Please register in Handshake for the event here to receive a confirmation email along with the meeting link.
Three Questions with Billy Wang about the Finance Networking Night
How I prepared for the event?
The night before the event, I spent an hour or two looking up the panelists on LinkedIn, paying close attention to their area(s) of expertise. I highly recommend doing this before networking events, since it narrows down the list of panelists to a select few who can give more specific advice related to your area(s) of interest. This way, you can focus your time during the event on speaking with those panelists, and you can also ask more informed questions. Also, always overdress—it can only help you (I always wear a suit and tie).
How did the event go? And what did I get out of it?
Although I had already secured an internship by the time I attended the event, the connections that I made there were nevertheless invaluable. I spoke with senior traders who gave me great advice on how I could prepare for my role post-grad.
What would I have done differently? OR What was my biggest learning outcome from participating?
I would have tried to learn more about how each panelist’s firm/team operates. While these companies – banks, hedge funds, proprietary trading shops (prop shops) – may seem very similar, they tend to each have their own style/culture/strengths (e.g., excelling in a certain investing strategy or product) which can be a good indicator of where you might be a good fit and thus where to network/recruit.
