
Feature | 02/20/2019
2019 Economics Undergraduate Career Forum Schedule
What can you do with an economics major? Almost anything! Join the economics department for a series of career talks and office hours, as well as two career panels moderated by our faculty. You’ll hear from guests with diverse backgrounds and have a chance to ask questions and network with our guests. What do they have in common – an economics major! This program will be of interest to all students who are considering work in the fields of our guests.

Feature | 01/17/2020
Week of Jan 13 Newsletter
Things just haven't been the same without you! As you get back into the rhythm of the semester, keep an eye out for upcoming ECO events and networking opportunities on Handshake. On the 24th, the ECO will be holding an Internship Panel with Econ upper-level students who have successfully gone through the recruiting process. Drop by for snacks and straightforward advice from your peers. The ECO offers individual advising to majors. You can sign up through Handshake for appointments if you've taken the brief pre-req workshop. The next pre-req worksho will be held this Friday, January 17 at noon in Monroe 120. Sign up at the links.
ECO Internship Panel
Join us and a panel of economics majors at the ECO's Spring Internship Panel as they discuss their recruitment experience, the internship search process, on-the-job experiences, and their next steps. The program will include 30 minutes for the panel, 15-30 minutes of formal Q&A and then 30 minutes of networking with the panelists. We will provide snacks for attendees at the networking portion of the program.
Sign Up Here
Upcoming Events
ECO Orientation for All Economics Majors; Job and Internship Workshop- Pre-Req for Advising (Sponsored by the ECO)
Fri, Jan 17 12:00 pm EST - 12:50 pm EST
Monroe Hall, Room 120
Sign Up Here
ECO Internship Panel (Sponsored by the ECO)
Fri, Jan 24 12:00 pm EST - 1:30 pm EST
Monroe Hall, Room 130
Sign Up Here
UVA Spring 2020 JCPenney Suit Up!
Sun, Jan 26 6:00 pm EST - 9:00 pm EST
1639 Rio Rd E, Charlottesville, Virginia 22901
Sign Up Here
2020 Spring Job and Internship Fair (Engineering and University-wide Career Fair )
Wed, Jan 29 10:00 am EST - 3:00 pm EST
Thu, Jan 30 10:00 am EST - 3:00 pm EST
Newcomb Hall (Student Center)
Sign Up Here
2020 DC IMPACTLink Interviews - PSG Day in DC
Fri, Feb 7 9:00 am EST - 5:00 pm EST
1779 Massachusetts Avenue Northwest, Washington, District of Columbia 20036, United States
Sign Up Here
Deadline for resumes is January 20th
Employers Recruiting at ImpactLink in DC
- American Enterprise Institute
- Center on Budget and Policy Priorities
- Cleary Gottlieb
- FEMA
- Hanover Research
- KaBOOM!
- Keybridge Communications
- National Endowment for Democracy
- Tesla Government
- US Department of Justice/Antitrust Division
- Y Analytics, PBC
Jobs & Internships for Econ Majors
Jobs on Handshake
1/28: Financial Planning and Analysis Associate, Ciena (Hanover, MD)
1/30: Account Executive, E. W. Scripps (Baltimore, MD)
1/31: Business Development Representative, Quorum (Washington DC)
1/31: Marketing Associate, CRC Companies (Arlington, VA)
2/1: Private Equity Operations Intern, Broadtree Partners (NYC)
2/8: Venture Capital Analyst, Blisce (NYC)
Jobs Selected from External Boards
1/17: Royster Lawton Fellowship for Entrepreneurship and Social Impact
1/20: Strategy and Innovation Summer Associate, The Capital Group Companies Inc (L.A., CA)
1/31: 2020 Summer Leadership Academy, Accounting and Consulting Group LLC (Atlanta, GA)
3/1: Market Data Analyst, Bloomberg (Princeton, NJ)
3/1: Finance Leadership Development Program, Johnson & Johnson (New Brunswick, NJ)
Summer Internships and Jobs found at WayUp

Feature | 08/12/2016
A Must-Read for Job Seekers from the NACE
A Must-Read for Job Seekers from the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE)

Feature | 09/20/2016
ARTICLE - ALUM’S APP ASPIRES TO BECOME ‘THE AMAZON OF HEALTH CARE’ IN ASIA
"University of Virginia graduate Dato' Chevy Beh envisions his startup, BookDoc, transforming health care in Asia just as tech behemoth Amazon has transformed retail around the world.
BookDoc, which Beh founded in Malaysia in 2015, offers a free mobile app and online platform to help patients quickly identify, and get an appointment with, nearby health care providers. The concept was inspired by a good friend who called Beh for help after contracting dengue fever in Malaysia and struggling to find a doctor who could treat him quickly" -Caroline Newman
Click here to read the rest of the article.

Feature | 08/12/2016
What Color Is Your Parachute?
Article on: Are You a Parachute Counselor, by Dick Bolles
This article captures the essence of the book and students may want to read it independently, or follow up by checking out the book in its entirety.

Feature | 08/24/2018
Opportunity to Attend Davos and the World Economic Forum!
The Credit Suisse Research Institute (CSRI) Academy Challenge is underway and we didn’t want your candidates to miss out on an outstanding prize:
This year's winner will get the incredible opportunity to take part in the Credit Suisse Event at the 2019 edition of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland where you can engage in discussions on the most pressing global issues with the world's top leaders.
The CSRI Academy Challenge is set over 2 stages and open to all university students and recent grads interested in shaping the global agenda.
See all the available prizes here. Enter stage 1 of the Challenge until September 30!

Feature | 01/09/2023
AEA Distinguished Economic Education Award presented to Charles Holt
The AEA Distinguished Education Award acknowledges excellence in economic education at a national level. Recipients are able to demonstrate a sustained and impactful contribution to several areas of economic education. These areas include teaching, the development of curriculum and pedagogy, scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL) of economics, mentoring of students and young faculty, and service at the institution, regional, and state level.
Charlie is one of the outstanding teachers of the University of Virginia Economics Department. His undergraduate class in Experimental Economics is always oversubscribed by a factor of two. His experimental lab in the basement of Monroe Hall involves additional students in the production of economic knowledge and has become an academic hangout for our most talented students, both graduate and undergraduate. Charlie treats his students like colleagues, involving many in his research.
Beyond the grounds of the University of Virginia, in the broader sphere of experimental economists, Charlie is a star – in part because of the way his research has been applied in the classroom. Charlie’s publications influence not only the field but also the teaching of experimental economics – not to mention the real world of auction design. Charlie’s book, Markets, Games, and Strategic Behavior (Princeton Press) is a model of teaching state of the art material in a way that reflects crystal clear pedagogy.

Feature | 12/22/2016
ARTICLE-THINGS YOU SHOULD REMOVE FROM YOUR RESUME IMMEDIATELY
"Hiring managers rarely have the time or resources to look at each résumé closely, and they typically spend about six seconds on their initial fit/no fit decision. If you want to pass that test, you need to have some solid qualifications — and the perfect resume to highlight them."-Tayyiba Iram
Click here to read the rest of the article

Feature | 01/31/2022
2021 Summer Paper Award Winners
The 2021 Snavely Outstanding Summer Paper Prize was awarded to Joe Anderson (not pictured here), for Institutional Strategies and Debt Maturity; Yang Yu, for Venture Capital and the Dynamism of Startups; and Ritika Gupta, for Can Affirmative Action Influence STEM Choice and Math outcomes? Each winner received a cash award and certificate in recognition of their achievement. Congratulations and keep up the excellent work!

Feature | 02/20/2023
Expert: Changing Demographics Force Changes to Social Security

Feature | 10/02/2021
Perks and Benefits 101: Explanations and Questions to Ask Before You Take the Job
by Erica Sweeney at The Muse
Once you’ve found a job and company that you’re really excited about, salary might top your list of priorities. But while salary is important, it’s only part of the overall offer. To get the full scope of what you’ll really earn at a job, you need to factor in the perks and benefits that a company offers, too.
“Look at it as more of a package than just a job with a paycheck,” says Leslie Slay, senior vice president of employee benefits services at Woodruff Sawyer, an insurance brokerage and consulting firm.
Compensation traditionally includes non-salary benefits like health insurance and retirement plans. And many companies also offer perks—including flexible schedules, educational opportunities, and wellness programs—to support employees in other ways. “More and more, perks and benefits are becoming integrated together” to support employees in a more holistic way, says Bobbi Kloss, director of human capital management services at Benefit Advisors Network.
On average, a benefits package makes up about 30% of an employee’s total compensation in the U.S. So it’s definitely worth paying attention to the perks and benefits a company offers as you’re looking for a job in addition to the salary.
Employee benefits and perks can be confusing, though. In fact, about a third of all workers and 54% of millennials said they don’t understand the employee benefits they signed up for, according to a 2020 survey by Voya Financial. So as a job seeker it’s often up to you to ask a prospective employer plenty of questions to make sure the benefits they’re offering meet your needs.
Better understanding the benefits and perks you’re offered will help you make the best choice about which job offer to accept. To help guide you, here’s an overview of 15 common employee perks and benefits you might come across as you look for your next job:
1. Health Insurance
Health insurance pays (or helps pay) for your medical expenses as they come up in exchange for a premium, or money paid—by you and/or your employer—to the insurance provider each month. Health insurance plans typically cover doctor visits, prescription drugs, emergency care, and certain medical procedures.
Health insurance plans vary from company to company and you’ll likely have a few to choose from. Some companies pay the full premium on their employee’s behalf, but usually you have to contribute to the cost with a certain amount that comes out of your paycheck before taxes. You may have some other out-of-pocket expenses, too, such as copays when you visit your doctor. Many insurance plans also have a deductible, which is an amount of money you’re responsible for paying before your health coverage kicks in. Make sure you’re aware of these costs before you choose a plan to enroll in.
And to ensure a company plan meets your needs, Kloss suggests checking that it covers treatments for any medical conditions you have or prescription medications you take, and that your preferred doctors are in the plan’s network.
If you have dependents (most commonly children or a partner you support financially) or plan to soon, you should also check that the plan will cover everyone and how much it will cost you. For example, a company may pay 100% of your health insurance premium but you may be stuck paying the full premium for everyone else in your family (which can add up fast). Read more about what all those health insurance terms mean here.
Find jobs at companies that offer health insurance
2. Dental and Vision Insurance
Dental and vision insurance cover your dental and eye-care needs. Dental insurance typically covers routine exams, cleanings, x-rays, and some portion of procedures like root canals and fillings. Vision insurance generally covers eye exams and prescription lenses.
Many employers offer dental and vision insurance, either as part of health insurance or as separate benefits. But whereas some employers cover a portion or all of the costs of health insurance, most companies require you to pay in full for dental and vision insurance, Slay says.
Just as you would with health insurance, check if the plans will let you keep your dentist and eye doctor (if you’d rather not switch) and cover any pre-existing conditions or treatments that you need.
Find jobs at companies that offer dental insurance, vision insurance, or both
3. Flexible Spending Account
A flexible spending account (FSA) allows you to put pre-tax money aside to pay for the year’s out-of-pocket healthcare costs, like over-the-counter medications, copays for doctor visits, medical devices like crutches or blood sugar tests, or vision and dental care needs like glasses or contacts. Your employer may also contribute up to $500 to your FSA without you contributing anything (they can match you dollar for dollar on top of the $500), so be sure to check if a company will pay into your account before determining your own contributions. Total FSA contributions are capped at a certain amount each year (for example, they were capped at $2,750 for 2021).
Find jobs at companies that offer FSA accounts
4. Life Insurance
Life insurance is an insurance policy that pays a set amount of money to your chosen beneficiary (or beneficiaries) when you die. If you’re just starting your career and don’t have any children or others who depend on you financially, life insurance may not seem necessary. But it’s still something you should consider, Slay says—especially if your company covers your full premium.
You decide who you want to leave the money to, such as your parents or another family member, to help cover funeral costs, for example. You could even name your favorite charity as the beneficiary.
Find jobs at companies that offer life insurance
5. Disability Insurance
Disability insurance offers compensation or income replacement when you’re unable to work because of an injury or illness that’s not job-related. “I can’t tell you how critical disability insurance is; it protects your paycheck,” Slay says. Disability insurance is usually optional, but worth looking into, she says—just find out what your employer offers and what it will cost you. Some policies are fully paid by an employer and others require you to pay some of the costs in the form of a paycheck deduction, Slay says.
There are two types of disability insurance: short term and long term. Short-term disability insurance varies according to your plan, but typically covers you if you’re out of work for less than six months and on average pays about 60% of your regular salary, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Most long-term disability insurance lasts for 10 years or less (but some policies last until you reach retirement age) and covers about 60% of your annual earnings.
Find jobs at companies that offer short-term disability insurance, long-term disability insurance, or both
6. 401(k)s
A 401(k) is a retirement-savings plan that’s commonly sponsored by your employer. Plans can vary, but generally you contribute to the fund as a pre-tax paycheck deduction and pay taxes on the money when you withdraw it during retirement. Many companies match employees’ 401(k) contributions, either dollar for dollar, where they put in what you put in, or with a partial match—for example, adding 50 cents for every dollar you contribute, up to a certain percentage of your salary. Yearly employee 401(k) contributions are capped (the limit is $19,500 for 2021), but the employer match doesn’t count toward the limit.
Retirement may seem like a long time away. But Slay urges early career employees to contribute as much as they can to their 401(k), especially if there’s an employer match. The match can help you grow your savings faster and if you’re not taking advantage of it, you’re essentially leaving money on the table that your employer is offering to give you. Plus, in an emergency you may be able to pull money out of your 401(k) before retirement (and without paying a tax penalty) for certain expenses, like buying a home or paying medical bills.
Some companies have taken a new approach to employee retirement benefits recently to meet their workers’ current needs, Slay says. For example, some help employees pay down student loan debt by making direct payments to their lender, while others make a larger 401(k) contribution to employees currently paying off student debt.
Find jobs at companies that offer 401(k)s or 401(k)s with company match
7. Paid Time Off
Paid time off (PTO) can include paid holidays, sick leave, federal and state holidays, personal days, and vacation days.
Typically, the amount of PTO offered by your company is based on how long you’ve worked for them, and you accrue more PTO over time (for example, if you get 15 days of PTO per year, that means you accrue about 0.058 hours of PTO for every hour you work, or roughly 10.5 hours of PTO per month). If, say, you’re looking to start a new job right before a holiday or planned trip, you might want to ask the company if it has a policy about using PTO before you’ve technically accrued it.
How a company offers PTO varies, too. For example, some designate a separate number of personal, sick, or vacation days, which is sometimes required by state law. But, Slay says, more employers are lumping all PTO in together to make taking off easier for employees. Some companies even offer unlimited PTO.
Time off is an important factor in your overall compensation, so make sure to ask about how many PTO days you get. Often, you can negotiate your PTO, Slay says, particularly since the pandemic has shown more companies the benefits of giving their workers more time off. “PTO is one of those areas where you can ask for things that are a little different and you might get them.” Also, be sure to check if you can carry over unused PTO into a new year and whether you’ll be paid for any unused days when you leave the company.
Find jobs at companies that offer paid holidays, paid vacation, personal and sick days, or unlimited vacation
8. Family and Medical Leave
The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) is a U.S. law that enables employees to take unpaid leave for certain family and medical reasons. Employees can take up to 12 weeks off for the birth or adoption of a child, a family member with a medical condition who needs care, their own health condition that prevents them from performing job functions, and other reasons.
Under this law, your job is protected and your health insurance continues during this leave. Companies with more than 50 employees are required to comply with the law and you’re eligible if you’ve worked for the company for at least 12 months and meet other requirements. If you’re considering going to work for a smaller company, be sure to find out their policies for family and medical leave.
Find jobs at companies with more than 50 employees
9. Parental Leave
Parental leave enables employees to take off following the birth of a child, an adoption, or the arrival of a newly placed foster child, or for a child otherwise needing parental care, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. Though the FMLA requires some employers to offer unpaid leave in these instances, there’s no broad guarantee of parental leave in the U.S.—which means it comes down to the employer.
More than half of U.S. employers offer paid new child leave to women, and 45% offer paid new child leave to men, according to a 2020 study by the Society for Human Resource Management and Oxford Economics. However, specific policies vary for the companies that do offer parental leave, so find out about a prospective employer’s rules if you plan to start a family soon, Slay says. Ask whether the leave is paid or unpaid, whether your job will be there waiting for you when you return, and how much time off you’re allowed.
Find jobs at companies that offer maternity leave, paternity leave, or both
10. Remote Work Options
Remote work gives employees the freedom to work from home or anywhere else outside of a traditional office setting, either full time or part time in a hybrid schedule. The COVID-19 pandemic made remote work a necessity, and it was such a hit with workers that many have said they’ll quit their jobs rather than go back to the office. Employers realize that remote work has benefits for them, too, such as opening up a much broader, more diverse talent pool to hire from, so many organizations plan to allow remote work in some fashion post-pandemic.
While more employers will be offering fully or partially remote positions after the pandemic off the bat, the ability to work from home is something you can likely negotiate, Kloss says. “I think employers are recognizing after COVID that they can be more flexible in those areas than they ever thought possible.” So find out whether you’ll be able to work remotely some or all of the time and what the company’s policies are for remote work schedules, virtual meetings, and communication. Also ask whether they provide equipment or stipends for internet, phone, or other expenses for remote workers.
Find jobs at companies that offer remote work opportunities
11. Flexible Schedules
A flexible schedule is when your employer allows you to work hours and days outside of the traditional nine-to-five, Monday-to-Friday schedule. For instance, you might work 10 hours a day, four days a week or set core hours when you’re available, such as 9 AM to 1 PM, and have flexibility the rest of the day to complete your work whenever you’d like. Like with remote work, the pandemic led more companies to offer flexible schedules to accommodate different work styles and time zones as well as employees who have children or other caretaking responsibilities.
Flexible schedules are another perk that you can likely negotiate—just make sure you and your employer both come away with a clear idea of which days and times you’ll work.
Find jobs at companies that offer flexible work hours
12. Wellness Programs
Workplace wellness programs aim to improve an employee’s mental and physical health and offer more resources beyond health insurance. Wellness programs have traditionally included health screenings and tools to help people lose weight or stop smoking, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation.
But organizations have taken a broader, more holistic approach to their wellness programs in recent years by offering individualized supports that take into account an employee’s emotional, social, physical, and financial needs, Kloss says. Wellness-based perks—such as fitness subsidies, meals, and access to mental wellness apps and counseling—are becoming more common.
Even more so than with other perks and benefits, wellness program offerings vary widely, so find out the specifics of what a company offers and consider how it meets your needs.
Find jobs at companies that offer wellness programs, fitness subsidies, on-site gym, and meals
13. Education Benefits
Most companies offer some type of education benefit, including access to online courses, on-the-job training, tuition reimbursement for continuing education, and learning and development stipends to cover educational expenses.
If you’re just starting your career, these programs can help you succeed long term by keeping your skills fresh, which could increase your chances for promotions or raises, Slay says. Education benefits and perks also signal that a company values and invests in its employees and their growth. So be sure to ask what a company you’re planning to work for offers if education is important to you.
Find jobs at companies that offer access to online courses, tuition reimbursement, or learning and development stipends
14. Mentor Programs
Mentor programs pair you with someone at your company who’s more experienced and can answer questions and offer guidance to help you advance in your career. “Mentorship is huge,” Slay says. Mentors can serve as advocates to help you navigate the technical and political parts of a job as well as you build and expand your network.
Mentorship programs help employees feel valued, create a culture of learning and increase job satisfaction and productivity, Slay says. So find out whether a company provides formal or informal mentoring and what their programs entail.
Find jobs at companies that offer mentor programs
15. Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Programs
Diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs and initiatives encourage the representation and participation of different and often underrepresented groups, such as women, people of color, people with disabilities, and the LGBTQ community. The programs may include mentorship opportunities, targeted recruitment efforts, and employee resource groups (ERGs).
As with many employee benefits and perks, some DEI programs are more robust than others. So it’s a good idea to find out the specifics of what a company offers and how it aligns with your values and needs, rather than just noting that they’ve ticked the box in offering a DEI program.
Find jobs at companies that offer diversity and inclusion programs
Before you accept a job offer, make sure you have a good grasp of the company’s benefits and perks and how they fit into your overall compensation structure. Ask plenty of questions to get all the details of how each benefit and perk aligns with your needs and negotiate to get what you want. Keep in mind, too, that when you’re searching for open jobs on The Muse, you can set filters so you’ll only see open positions at companies that offer the benefits and perks that matter most to you.

Feature | 05/01/2020
Devaki Ghose Wins Graduate Student Award at EIIT Conference
In October 2019, Devaki Ghose won the Graduate Student Award at the 2019 Empirical Investigations in International Trade Conference for her paper "Trade, Internal Migration, and Human Capital: Who Gains from India's IT Boom?" A link to past student prize winners can be found here, https://www.freit.org/EIIT/2019/GradComp.php .

Feature | 02/09/2018
Econ Alum Alex Turowski Plays with Data for a Living! And He Wants You to Too!
2010 economics alumnus Alex Turowski is the new Partner Success Lead at New Engen in Seattle, Washington. What does this mean? Alex plays with data for a living at New Engen, a digital marketing optimization and design firm.
After building a successful career in Search Engine Optimization with Merkle (formerly RKG) here in Charlottesville, Alex was lured to New Engen in Seattle to lead their Partner Success team.
The firm boasts solid, fast growth and has become an industry leader with clients such as TUMI, Volt Athletics, and Man Crates and partners such as Shopify.
Alex is hiring an entry level analyst and the posting is on Handshake. If you'd like to reach Alex directly, please write to him at https://www.linkedin.com/in/alex-turowski-3b500647/
New Engen is a performance-driven marketing technology company accelerating customer growth through digital marketing optimization. By integrating proprietary software with teams of experienced marketers and data scientists, New Engen helps clients solve some of their most complex digital marketing challenges. The company’s powerful technology solution ignites growth at companies across industries, geographies and maturity. New Engen is headquartered in Seattle with offices in Dallas, New York, San Francisco and Washington, DC.

Feature | 08/12/2016
Brexit and Your Next Interview
Be prepared to discuss Brexit in your next interview. The question will surely come up and you will want to be fully prepared to discuss it knowledgeably.

Feature | 12/18/2019
Newsletter Week of December 16
As finals draw to a close, we here at the ECO are thinking about what information would be most helpful to share for your use over winter break. So, we’ve compiled a list of odds and ends, some of which are job postings and others that are resources related to the job search, like this article about practicing your virtual interviewing skills. We are sharing these resources with you as one long Holiday List at the bottom of the newsletter - our holiday gift to you. It’s your last chance to sign up for our Economic Policy Trek to D.C. (Jan 9th-10th) when we will visit think tanks/research centers such as Brookings, AEI, and the Center for Global Development. Scholarships are available based on need. Click here for more information. Registration closes Wednesday, 12/18 at 12:00pm. Finally, the winner of the $25 Starbucks gift card for responding to our surveys is Francesca LeFrancois.
Jobs & Internships for Econ Majors
Jobs on Handshake
12/27: Research Associate at Economists Incorporated (San Francisco, Washington DC)
12/31: Consultant, Center for Healthcare Economics and Policy (Washington DC)
1/31: Finance Analyst, E*TRADE (Arlington, VA)
1/31: Finance Summer Intern, E*TRADE Financial (Arlington, VA)
1/31: Treasury Analyst, Nodal Exchange (Washington DC)
Jobs Selected from External Boards
1/17: Royster Lawton Fellowship for Entrepreneurship and Social Impact
1/20: Strategy and Innovation Summer Associate, The Capital Group Companies Inc (L.A., CA)
1/31: 2020 Summer Leadership Academy, Accounting and Consulting Group LLC (Atlanta, GA)
Summer Internships and Jobs found at WayUp, such as Deutsche Bank 2020 Summer Analyst in Corporate Finance. See below.
Deutsche Bank 2020 Summer Internship Corporate Finance
Responsibilities
Deutsche Bank is Germany's leading bank with strong market positions in Europe and significant presence in the Americas and the Asia-Pacific region. We’re driving growth through our strong client franchise, investing heavily in digital technologies, prioritising long term success over short-term gains, and serving society with ambition and integrity. We serve our clients’ real economic needs in commercial and investment banking, retail banking and transaction banking, and provide ground-breaking products and services in asset and wealth management. That means a career packed with opportunities to grow and the chance to shape the future of our clients.
About your Internship
An internship at Deutsche Bank is your stepping stone to success and your first look into what life is like on our Graduate Programme. You’ll become part of a collaborative and inclusive workplace as you build on your technical and interpersonal skills, take on real responsibilities, hear from senior leadership through our speaker series, work on live projects, grow your network and learn first-hand how we deliver for our clients. If you want the opportunity to shape your own career as well as the future of the financial industry, then we will give you the platform and foundation to do so. Successful interns will be invited to join the Deutsche Bank Graduate Programme.
About Corporate Finance
Our Corporate Finance business provides the full range of advisory and financing products and services of a leading global investment bank. Our clients include large-cap and mid-cap corporates, financial institutions, governments, government agencies and financial sponsors. We recognise that selecting the right investment banking partner can be the key to a company’s success. Our relationships are enhanced by industry sector, country and regional expertise, closely aligned to high-quality client solutions. We offer both buyside and sellside advisory services for mergers and acquisitions, restructuring advisory, debt and equity capital raising services and structured equity transactions. We are able to advise on innovative cross-border and regional transactions in the US, Europe and Asia Pacific.
The Role
Our interns are given the opportunity to learn about our business from different viewpoints, giving you a career advantage. Working on our day-to-day business as well as on special projects, you will contribute to the innovation of new ideas to help our customers achieve their financial goals. You will gain experience in different areas of our business and discover our market-leading solutions first hand. Tasks may include evaluating companies, developing models for M&A transactions, preparing industry analyses for pitches, or getting involved in the execution of live deals.
The internship is an ideal way of finding out whether a career in Corporate Finance meets your needs and aspirations.
Intern Experience at Deutsche Bank
Qualifications
We are looking for bright minds with excellent academic records and some practical work experience to create a positive impact for our customers. We hire for attitude and skillset and are open to applications from a variety of backgrounds and degrees.
- Are you passionate about finance and have an affinity for numbers?
- Do you have an interest in business, economics, financial mathematics or engineering, either as part of your degree or extra-curricular activities?
- Do you have strong communication skills and are you fluent in English?
- Can you work well in a team and inspire others with your ideas?
- Would you describe yourself as a conscientious, dedicated individual with excellent analytical skills?
Then we look forward to meeting you!
Our values define the working environment we strive to create – diverse, supportive and welcoming of different views. We embrace a culture reflecting a variety of perspectives, insights and backgrounds to drive innovation. We build talented and diverse teams to drive business results and encourage our people to develop to their full potential. Talk to us about flexible work arrangements and other initiatives we offer.
We promote good working relationships and encourage high standards of conduct and work performance. We welcome applications from talented people from all cultures, countries, races, genders, sexual orientations, disabilities, beliefs and generations and are committed to providing a working environment free from harassment, discrimination and retaliation.
ECO Holiday List
-Articles/Resources about Networking
-Articles/Resources about Resume Writing
-Articles/Resources about Cover Letters
-Articles/Resources about Interviewing
-Articles/Resources about Using LinkedIn and Twitter for your Job Search
Awesome Resources in Handshake you may not be aware of:
-CareerInsider by Vault – Includes descriptions and detailed career guides by industry.
For example: Read all about Marketing in the Careers in Marketing guide. Includes a job board.
-CareerShift – Find employers and contacts (including emails) by industry, location, company size, and more. Also includes links to organizations’ jobs boards!
-GloinGlobal – For Your International internship or job search
-Assessing Your Interests (ECO webpage)
-What Can You Do with an Economics Major (UTennessee’s page)
-Econ Alumni Contacts
Helpful ECO Links:
Resumes, Cover Letters, Interview Help
Career Industry and Employer Overviews
Career Advising Appointment
Econ Alumni Contacts
The Three Parts of an Interview (and How to Nail Each)
and More!
Joy Fan, Econ '17, Media Relations and Marketing Associate at AEI
Paid Undergraduate Teaching Fellowships in the Econ Dept
The Do's and Don't's of the Virtual Interview by EY

Feature | 10/27/2016
First UVA Economics GRAD Conference
UVA Economics Gatherings for Researchers with Advanced Degrees (GRAD) hosted the First Economics GRAD alumni conference in September 2016. It was a wonderful weekend, drawing alumni who graduated as far back as 1992 and those who just received their PhDs this spring.
The conference presentations covered a wide range of topics, from Daniel Wilson’s (BA 1995) research on how star scientists choose where to live, to Devesh Raval’s (BA 2005) presentation on the influence of distance on medical provider choice. The keynote speaker, Derek Neal (PhD 1992), gave a fantastic workshop on his new paper coauthored with Gadi Barlevy, “Allocating Effort and Talent in Professional Labor Markets.”
Following the research sessions the alumni, their guests, several UVA faculty members, and current students enjoyed a cocktail reception in the Monroe Hall courtyard and dinner on The Lawn. Saturday was a more casual day, with many groups of alumni getting together to revisit old haunts in Charlottesville and discover all the new additions, before meeting for a picnic in the gardens and then heading over together to the Hoo’s football game.
It was a great weekend.
We hope that you will be able to join us next fall for our second conference. If you would like to get involved or learn more about UVA Econ GRAD - please take 2 minutes to fill out our survey at www.uvaecongrad.com/get-involved, or contact us at Virginia.Econ.Grad@gmail.com.
Best,
Everett Grant (Ph.D. 2015), Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas
Bill Johnson (M.A. 2013), University of Virginia
Jeff Schafer (M.A. 2012), University of Virginia

Feature | 06/07/2018
How to Answer "Why Do You Want to Work for Us?"
One of the more common interview questions these days, especially for entry-level positions, is some form of "Why do you want to work for us?" Other forms of this question include "What attracts you to our firm?" and "What about our firm excites you?" Whatever the exact phrasing you receive, there are a few things you want to get across as clearly and concisely as possible when answering.

Feature | 08/12/2016
What Can I Do with an Economics Major?
Wondering what you can do with a major in Economics? Find out here!

Feature | 06/28/2021
Article: Rock Your Summer Internship!
17 Tips to Get the Most out of Your Virtual Internship
Summer internships are an important part of a lot of students’ college educations. Unfortunately, they’re not exempt from the confusion the coronavirus pandemic has wrought on every aspect of our lives.
The good news: Most employers are keeping internships going this summer. Only 22% of employers planned to revoke some internship offers as of May 1, according to a poll by the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE).
Instead of cancelling them, NACE reports, “In general, employers are adapting their summer 2020 internship programs by moving as much programming to a virtual space as possible.”
At least 83% of companies in the poll intend to adapt their internship programs to respond to social distancing and stay-at-home orders this summer.
That could mean your internship offer is still on the table — but that table might be in your kitchen.
Don’t let the switch ruin your summer internship experience. Here’s how to get the most educational, professional and networking opportunities out of a virtual internship.
How to Make the Most of an Internship From Home
An internship is a rich opportunity to learn and even to land a full-time job. Turning it virtual doesn’t have to take away those opportunities.
Follow these tips to get as much education and opportunity out of your virtual internship as you could get in person:
1. Surface the Right Strengths
Some fields are more adaptable to remote work than others. If you had planned to spend your summer doing anything but working at a computer, you might have to find new muscles to flex.
Like, if you booked a political internship focused on knocking on doors or talking to people on the street, you’ll probably have to shift gears to social media marketing. If you were going to work with kids in child care or educational programs, you’ll have to get comfortable engaging them on-screen.
Draw on all your classes to put peripheral strengths to use in a virtual internship, even if the work isn’t what you expected.
Things like writing and blogging, graphic design, communications, coding, digital marketing and social media, and data analysis translate well to remote work. Be prepared to take them on this summer — and learn job skills you didn’t think you would!
2. Set a Schedule
You have to show up for work from home just as much as you would in an office. Keeping a daily schedule will help you be fully present during work hours and also disconnect when you’re not on the clock.
Don’t roll over in bed and log into email on your laptop at 9 a.m. Develop a healthy morning routine, so you show up to your work fresh and ready to focus. Get dressed. Don’t let housework, pets or Netflix creep into your work hours just because they’re right there.
3. Set Boundaries With Family and Roommates
The people you live with might mistake your being at home with being available for chores or socializing. Set boundaries early, so they know this isn’t the case.
Let everyone in your house know your work schedule before you start, so they understand why you don’t have time for them during the day.
More important: Enforce the boundaries. When they stop by to chat you up, let them know you have to get back to work. When they ask you to help fold laundry, turn them down, and let them know you can do it after 5 o’clock.
4. Set up a Dedicated Work Space
Designating a work space will complement your schedule — and boundary-setting efforts.
Settling into the same place to work each day signals to your brain that it’s time to work. And creating a space your house mates recognize as a work space helps remind them when you’re at work.
It doesn’t have to be a home office or anything major if you don’t have access to that kind of space. Just choose a place you can work comfortably and with limited distraction. A porch with a little shade could be a perfect summer office!
I recommend avoiding your bed, because it’s too easy to become sleepy. And I recommend avoiding the kitchen table if you live with a lot of people, because kitchens are busy spots. But do what works for you.
5. Take Care of Your Physical and Mental Health
Working from home eliminates some natural opportunities a workplace usually offers for physical activity and socializing. You’ll need that kind of self-care to stay creative, productive and focused during your internship.
Remote work can be tough on your mental health under any circumstances. A pandemic only compounds it.
Take care of your mental health during a virtual internship by:
- Talking to a therapist online or through teletherapy apps like BetterHelp and Talkspace.
- Meditating with YouTube tutorials or apps like Headspace and Calm.
- Going outside for fresh air and sunshine.
- Decompressing at the end of the day through exercise, journaling, social media, reading or something else relaxing.
Getting exercise and moving around is also helpful for your mental health, just as much as it is for your physical health. (My advice: Start now. Your hips will thank you when you’re older.)
Check out these products to stay active and healthy while working from home.
6. Become Familiar With the Tech
Companies often expect students to be tech wizards — but being a digital native doesn’t mean you know how to use every tool out there.
If an internship is your first foray into corporate work, you might have never used remote work technology before.
Familiarize yourself with the company’s tools right away. Take time on your first day to log into your accounts, explore the settings and address issues before they become an annoyance in the course of your work.
Some tips:
- Start a practice call on a video conferencing app, and download whatever software it prompts you to. Set your video, mic and audio preferences.
- Log into chat apps, like Slack or Skype, and fill out your profile with a name, photo and title.
- Sign into your company email to make sure your password works.
- Download video and chat apps to your phone, sign into your accounts and adjust your notification preferences.
7. Ask Questions
I’ve spent a lot of my career being the dumbest person in the room — and that’s a good thing. My biggest asset has been my willingness to ask questions.
Your coworkers expect curiosity from you as an intern. You’re there to learn! Don’t waste the opportunity trying to prove to professionals that you’re already an expert. You’re not.
A virtual internship might present less-obvious opportunities to ask questions — sitting in on meetings, running into coworkers in the break room or sharing a desk cluster with your team.
So you have to be assertive.
PRO TIP
Speak up in virtual meetings or follow up via chat afterward. Ask “why” a lot, even when you think you know the answer. Respond to your manager’s requests to clarify tasks they want you to complete.
Lots of experts and employees say asking questions is vital to turning an internship into a job offer, so don’t shy away from your curiosity.
8. Ask About Company Culture
An on-site internship might present opportunities to dive into company culture, like lunch-and-learns or wacky dress-up days. But companies might not make that effort with a remote workforce, especially if they’re not accustomed to being separated.
Be proactive to show them you’re interested in participating in the culture, not just the job. Join virtual activities.
If no one is coordinating them, suggest some ideas to your team — a wacky-dress day can be just as fun over Zoom as in the office!
9. Keep an Internship Journal
You might have to log your hours and write a paper about your experience to earn college credit for your internship. But even if you don’t, I recommend jotting a few notes in a journal at the end of each day to reflect on your experience.
This is a useful way to decompress, take in the experience and understand what you’re learning. If you end up with internship coordinators who aren’t super engaged remotely, this self-reflection could come in extra handy.
10. Stay Open to Opportunities
Flipping the switch to a virtual internship might present you with unexpected opportunities. You’ll showcase strengths you didn’t expect to use, and the company will likely have needs it didn’t expect to have.
Stay open, and say yes to opportunities. Don’t turn tasks or projects down because they’re not traditional to your field or they’re not what you expected this role to be.
An internship is a place to learn, and staying nimble to possibilities — especially during a time that’s stressful for everyone you’re working with — is vital to your education and development.
11. Make Yourself Critical to the Company’s Success
In any internship, you could easily come in, complete your work and disappear at the end of the summer. Working remotely makes it even easier for you to totally fade from everyone’s memory when your internship ends.
Get ahead of that by doing the job so well the company doesn’t want to live without you.
Note that doing critical work could be a legal problem for an unpaid internship, so know your rights if a company actually can’t function without the work you do.
Instead, focus on being a star by being curious, taking on challenges and fitting into company culture, so the company can see how much of an asset you’d be as a full-time employee in any role.
How to Build Your Network Through a Virtual Internship
A major benefit of internships is building a network of mentors, professionals and other students in your field. Working from home could make that seem impossible.
Follow these tips to build your network virtually:
1. Do Your Homework
Ideally, you researched the company before applying, so you knew what you were getting into; or before your interview, so you could make a good impression.
But if you haven’t yet, bone up on the company’s history, mission, structure, operations and leadership. It’ll help you carry on conversations with your coworkers — and it’ll give you a great education in your field, too!
2. Find Everyone on Social Media
No matter how hard we try, virtual teams don’t seem to socialize as much as those working in a shared space. To make up for the lack of office chit chat, connect with employees and other interns through social media.
LinkedIn is an obvious place to start. You can connect with anyone from the company there to stay in tune with professional chatter. But polish your profile before sending the connection requests!
Twitter offers a similar opportunity to connect with people, even if you don’t know them well. If professionals in your field are active on Twitter, it might be a more useful platform than LinkedIn to follow and engage with influencers in the company, because Twitter users tend to get on the platform more regularly.
Facebook and Instagram might be appropriate platforms to connect with other interns and employees you work closely with. People are more active and personal on those, so they could help you forge connections that last beyond your internship.
3. Organize Virtual Events
Kudos to your company if it organizes virtual networking and social events for employees and interns. If it doesn’t — and that’s more likely — take the initiative to set them up yourself.
Reach out to human resources reps, a social committee or your supervisor, and suggest some ideas for virtual social gatherings to keep employees connected. If appropriate (i.e. if it’s not already someone else’s job), offer to coordinate it.
PRO TIP
You can organize networking events with just fellow interns. Bonding with them will improve your experience and lay the bedrock for your professional network that’ll be valuable for years to come.
Consider these virtual social events via video conference:
- Happy hours
- Pub trivia
- Game night
- Yoga classes
- Workouts or fitness classes
- Sewing or knitting circles
- Book club
- Movie night (check out Netflix Party for Chrome to stay in sync)
- Roundtable chats on fun or educational topics
- Talent shows
The possibilities are broad; just get creative!
4. Dress to Impress (Including Pants)
Working from home is no excuse to look sloppy. You don’t have to force yourself into Spanx to smooth a pencil skirt over your thighs, but you shouldn’t show up to Zoom meetings in bottomless pajamas, either.
You’ll make an impression in virtual meetings just like you would in person, so dress accordingly. Brush your hair, and wash it occasionally. Wear a clean, comfortable shirt, and change it every day.
Getting dressed for the work day might feel silly, especially if you’re only on camera for a meeting or two.
But studies have shown what you wear impacts your creativity, confidence and attention to detail, Scientific American reports.
5. Get on the Phone
I might be an old millennial, but I definitely don’t prefer a phone call if any other option is available. Still, I know they’re important.
You can forge a connection with someone over the phone — or a video chat — that you can’t via text or email.
If you find yourself in a complicated conversation over text, email or chat with someone on your team, suggest hopping on a phone or video call. It’ll help you find clarity and also provide an opportunity for small talk you’d probably skip over text.
You can also suggest purely social calls — reach out to coworkers, and ask to set up a call to chat and get to know them better. It might feel awkward compared to just bumping into them over lunch, but use the unusual circumstances as an excuse to be more assertive.
6. Take Advantage of Your Signature
Most of your communication with people at the company will probably be via email or chat. Use your signature or status on those platforms to showcase your personality and achievements, and show coworkers where to connect with you outside of work.
Some things you could include in your email signature and Slack (or other app) status or profile:
- Your location
- Emojis that represent how you’re feeling each day
- An inspiring, positive or funny quote
- Links to your website and social media profiles
- Your career aspirations, like “Future human rights lawyer”
- Your areas of focus, like “writing, design and social media”
- A call to action to support your favorite charity
- Your personality profile from Meyers-Briggs, Enneagram, StrengthsFinders or other tests
Rock Your Summer Internship — From Anywhere
You don’t have to go into an office to have a valuable internship experience. Be nimble, stay positive and make the most of the opportunity you have.
Completing a virtual internship will give you a valuable skill set that might be in increasingly high demand in the future: knowing how to work from home.
Dana Sitar (@danasitar) has been writing and editing since 2011, covering personal finance, careers and digital media.

Feature | 03/27/2019
5 Tips for Nailing a Phone Screen
I’m a millennial, and I hate talking on the phone. In other news, the sky is blue. It’s not that I’m afraid of talking on the phone—I do it. I just don’t like it. And I don’t like it because I find there’s a disconnect. In an email, you’ve got pretty much all the time in the world to get your point across, use the right words, and strike the right tone. And in person, you can read a person’s expressions and body language to get a sense of how the conversation is going, which is ideal in an interview scenario. A phone call has none of that—both you and your conversation partner are just disembodied voices.
The phone screen or phone interview is often the first hurdle that you need to clear in getting a job but, because you can’t really see how a person is responding to your conversation, it adds another layer of removal from the situation and thus another level of anxiety. Here, I’ll get into some ways you can set yourself up for success during a phone screen.
1. Housekeeping
No, don’t clean your house. (Although, in a Skype interview, you’ll probably want to do that—or at least the space directly behind you.) I just mean make sure you take care of all the nuts and bolts. Find a quiet space to take the call (i.e., kick your roommates or your kids out of the room), charge your phone, and make sure you’ve taken it off “Do Not Disturb” mode from the movies last night. I know this sounds like really simple advice that no one could possibly need reminding of—but have you ever forgotten to pack your deodorant for vacation? Exactly. So just double check—nothing could be more embarrassing than your phone going dead right as you’re saying that your personal motto is “Be prepared.”
2. Don’t Chew Gum. Do Take Names.
Listen up, hiring manager: I’m here to kick butt, take names, and chew bubblegum. And I’m all out of bubblegum.
I’m sorry, I had to fit that in here somewhere. For real, though—you better be all out of bubblegum during a phone (or any) interview. No gum, no food, and ideally no drinks, but I won’t make a hard-and-fast rule about it. The person you’re talking to can absolutely hear you masticating on the other end of the line, regardless of how sneaky you think you’re being.
And, to fully justify my reference, be sure to get the name and contact info of your interviewer. One, it makes it that much easier to follow up after the interview. And two, when you go in for an in-person interview, it’ll be nice to have that person’s name at your disposal rather than waiting anxiously for them to reintroduce themselves.
3. Use a Crib Sheet
It’s not cheating, it’s using your resources. This is one instance in which a phone screen is actually awesome—you can take as many notes as you want beforehand and, as long as you’re not rustling pages, you can reference them all you like. I do this constantly—I jot down the company’s important clients and business partners, the names of people in my potential department, and a little blurb about me for the dreaded “Tell me about yourself” question. For one, writing it all down makes me feel more prepared beforehand. But it also makes for easy referencing if my mind goes totally blank in the interview. Just make sure that if you do write out answers to questions, you’re not just reading off your notes. Think of them like index cards for a speech: They’re there to remind you of your main points, but you shouldn’t be entirely dependent on them.
4. Be Comfortable—Even If “Comfortable” Is a Little Weird
It’s probably for the best that I don’t make too many phone calls—I’d wear a meandering path in the floor of my apartment. It’s not even an anxiety thing, exactly. I just wander. If you’re a phone pacer, that’s fine—pace! Use wild hand gestures! Do what you gotta do to burn off nerves. I know it’s a little nerve-racking not being able to see your interviewer’s face, but they also can’t see you—take advantage of that.
That said, don’t get too comfortable. Even though your interviewer can’t see you, you should definitely get up, get dressed in something semi-professional, do your hair, and all that before taking the call. It’ll help you get into the mindset of making an impression.
5. Take Notes
Pencils ready, y’all. Remember what I was saying about taking down your interviewer’s contact info? You should also be writing down the main points of what they say. As the first step in the interviewing process, phone screens are often quite informative—this is your chance to get a good feel for the company, for the qualities needed in the position, for the personality of at least this potential member of your team, things like that. This is important info, and while you shouldn’t be hyper-focused on writing everything down, make sure you jot down the most important points. It’ll help you when you go in for the in-person interview—you’ll be able to demonstrate that you were listening, and you’ll know the notes to hit on the second round.
Read more here.

Feature | 04/15/2018
4TH YEAR DEVAKI GHOSE, PRESENTS AT CEP IN GENEVA
In April 2018, 4th year student Devaki Ghose, presented a paper at a workshop--cohosted by the World Trade Organization (WTO), the International Monetary Fund (IMG), the World Bank (WB), and the Center for Economic Policy (CEP)--held at the WTO’s Geneva headquarters, titled Trade Policy, Inclusiveness and the Rise of the Service Economy. The workshop’s goal: to dig deeper into the question of how and to what extent services trade can benefit from removing barriers to trade and how these benefits can translate into positive societal outcomes. From a field of established presenters and authors, including many professors from prestigious universities, such as the London School of Economics and the University of Nottingham, as well as policy practitioners from international organizations such as the WTO, IMF, WB and the OECD, Devaki was one of 10 selected to offer a full 45-minute presentation. In her paper, “Did the Rise of Service Off-shoring and IT-Boom Change India’s Economic Landscape?”, she quantifies how the rise in the India’s IT industry, fueled by off-shoring demand from abroad, changed India’s growth story by looking at changes in educational outcomes, employment and wages; she also studies how this IT boom was fostered by the growth of engineering education in India. Devaki, who has previously presented at conferences and seminars at Dartmouth college, University of Nottingham, the Lindau Nobel Laureates Meeting and the Eastern Economic Association Conference, described the workshop as “a unique opportunity to present my work to both academicians and policy makers. I believe feedback from this audience will enrich my research and help me develop future collaborations with co-authors in my field.”

Feature | 05/01/2017
UVA Feature: Clement Bohr, Distinguished major, Class of 2017
Photo by Dan Addison, University Communications

Feature | 01/18/2022
“Phillip Jefferson, UVa PhD (1990), nominated to serve on the Federal Reserve Board.

Feature | 06/10/2015
Immigrant Job Creation
"Politicians on both sides of the aisle have raised concerns about immigrants taking American jobs, but one University of Virginia economist makes a compelling case for the opposite effect.
Dubbing immigrants “a shot in the arm” for local economies, economics professor John McLaren found that immigrant workers actually create new local jobs, many of them subsequently filled by American-born employees.
The National Bureau of Economic Research recently circulated the study, which was conducted by McLaren and Gihoon Hong, who earned his Ph.D. in economics from U.Va. in 2010. McLaren and Hong find that each new immigrant generates 1.2 local jobs." (Caroline Newman)
See the full article here.

Feature | 11/20/2018
Alumni Spotlight: Joy Fan
Alumni Spotlight: JOY FAN, Media Relations & Marketing Associate at the American Enterprise Institute
Life at UVA and since graduating:
Joy graduated from the University of Virginia in 2017 with degrees in Economics and Art History. While at UVA, Joy was the president of the Rhapsody Ballet Ensemble while she pursued her personal interests in business and art. Some of her favorite economics courses were Money and Banking and Environmental Economics, although she enjoyed several public policy-focused economics courses.
She currently works at the American Enterprise Institute. She serves as the liaison between the press and over 30 AEI scholars in economic, financial services, tech, and healthcare policy.
What are your job’s responsibilities?
- 35% is pitching to reporters–sending research to print and broadcast reporters
- 35% fielding media requests (connecting scholars to media)
- 30% staffing media crews and events, updating media contact database, tracking press interactions for analysis later
Joy’s tips for students:
- Reach out to alumni–they always have good insights to share if not more help
- Don’t forget your resume and cover letter serve as writing samples
- Get as much writing experience as possible. Almost every job requires good writing skills, whether it be in the form of a report or memo, or even just as communication between colleagues.

Feature | 08/01/2022
Daniel Harper presents at the Economics Science Association Word Meeting
Daniel Harper, a fifth-year student, presented his paper “Borrowing in A Crisis: An Experimental Study of Asset-Backed Borrowing in a Financial Downturn,” at the Economic Science Association Word Meetings in Boston/Cambridge, MA. The paper investigates the effects of asset-backed borrowing and investor panic on asset prices and market efficiency in an economic downturn.

Feature | 06/27/2016
Prof. Pepper and Gun Control

Feature | 11/09/2021
International Student Job Search- 2021 Report
By: Derek Loosvelt at Firsthand
Published: Nov 07, 2021
Due to the pandemic and difficulties of obtaining student visas, international enrollment in U.S. universities saw a slight decline during the 2019-2020 academic year. That’s the bad news. The good news is international student enrollment at U.S. schools seems to be on the rise again, which means many international students will be looking for employment in 2022 and beyond. And to better understand the job-search landscape for international students, Firsthand spoke with international student career expert Marcelo Barros. Below is an excerpt of that conversation.
Firsthand: Covid is still very much a reality and continues to impact our lives in a variety of ways. What do you see happening now and next year from a hiring perspective that international students need to know about?
Barros: There’s a big difference between large firms and smaller firms. On the one hand, many large employers have actually benefited from Covid. So, we continue to see aggressive hiring of international students from established, larger firms (like the Amazons of the world) in a variety of different industries. These firms are well positioned to continue to hire new employees to fuel their growth, and in many cases, they depend on international students to fill critically important roles.
Meanwhile, also due to Covid, smaller and mid-size firms continue to find it more difficult to tap into new business opportunities. As a result, from my perspective, these firms have become increasingly reluctant to hire international students who might need H-1B visas. Part of what my company, The International Advantage, does is connect with firms that might be open to hiring international students. We have a goal to speak with a minimum of 20 new firms per week in the small/mid-size space, to gauge their hiring needs and position international students who are potential solutions for them. Lately, it’s been harder than ever for us to convince these firms to consider hiring international students.
So, should students be only targeting larger, established companies?
I’ve been recommending that international students spend 80 percent of their time targeting larger, more established firms in their field, and spend the remaining 20 percent of their time targeting smaller, up-and-coming firms where the possibility of sponsorship may exist. Due this new set of conditions we’ve been observing, we’ve adjusted our guidance to international students in terms of which firms to target, which may provide the best chance of sponsorship. By carefully adjusting the type and size of firms to target, as well as methodically building competitive profiles as job seekers who seek sponsorship, international students have a chance to explore wonderful career opportunities in the U.S. In general, it’s a job seeker’s job market out there right now, even for candidates who need sponsorship and may not possess much work experience (as is often the case with our recent college grads) but have in-demand skills that set them apart.
International students should also be asking themselves: ‘Is the field that I’m trying to break into in high demand or not?’ Students who might be targeting fields that are in high demand will likely have a better chance to obtain sponsorship from an up-and-coming, niche, smaller firm that’s poised to grow and secure lucrative contracts. For example, health care is a very high demand area that puts job seekers in the driver’s seat with a real shot of sponsorship. Job opportunities for health care professionals will continue to grow over the rest of the decade—and at a much faster clip than other occupations.
So, if you’re an international student who’s in the health care space, in theory you do have more choices in terms of which types of firms to add to your target list, compared to a student who might be targeting, say, traditional retail, which is a low growth area in terms of job opportunities and sponsorship opportunities.
How are universities currently supporting international students' job-search goals?
In general, compared to last year, we’ve seen a strong uptick in terms of international student career development support. In fact, many universities are levering International Education Week happening this month to offer additional job-search support for their international students. For example, New York University and the University at Buffalo are partnering with The International Advantage to offer a special job-search webinar for their international students during the week. No matter where you go to school, it’s important for international students to investigate what’s available in terms of job-search programming for them during International Education Week.
What do you recommend to international students who are about to graduate and don't have many, if any, job prospects?
One strategy which is highly effective is to look for an internship post-graduation—ideally paid but unpaid should be considered as well. From the employer’s perspective, hiring someone as an intern is a low risk investment, and one that doesn’t typically require any complicated immigration paper work if the international student can secure an Employment Authorization Card. From an international student perspective, it’s a solid way to get your foot in the door and show your value. This is a tried-and-tested formula that can lead to a full-time paid opportunity as long you play your cards right, the company sees the value you bring to the table, and they’re open to sponsorship, of course.
It’s also important to note that international students have a limited amount of time to stay in the U.S. after graduation without employment, so they need to be careful not to violate their immigration status. It’s critical that they stay closely in touch with their university international student office as graduation approaches.
Any final job-search tips for international students? What else can international students do to improve their chances of securing great jobs in the U.S. in their fields of study after graduation?
As F-1 visa holders, international students are often eligible to work on campus. The International Advantage is currently working with a few universities around a campaign called “get an on-campus job international student.” Essentially, we’d like international students to get excited about leveraging this great benefit of their F-1 visa status. On-campus jobs are great ways for international students to gain U.S. work experience during their studies and start acquiring the soft skills U.S. employers look for. Unlike off-campus jobs, on-campus jobs don’t need to be in one’s field of study. In general, international students can work on-campus up to 20 hours a week during the academic year, and jobs for graduate students often pay $20+ an hour. My message is simple: Apply for on-campus jobs, particularly if your ultimate goal is to stay and work in the U.S. after graduation.
How do students find out about these opportunities?
International students should visit their university international student services office to learn more about their eligibility for on-campus employment. If all our international students do is to go class (sadly that’s the case in many instances), then they’re greatly minimizing the quality of their experience in the U.S.—and perhaps also reducing their chances of securing full-time employment in the U.S., with sponsorship, after graduation.
The benefits of campus employment are obvious, ranging from being able to beef up your resume with American work experience to being able to improve your communication skills by working side by side with Americans. In my opinion, the U.S. government is very generous in terms of allowing F-1 international students to work on campus. This benefit must be fully leveraged as a way to create a path towards full-time employment in the U.S after graduation. Campus involvement is a critical aspect of the U.S. college experience. It’s something that U.S. hiring managers and recruiters tend to value when making hiring decisions.
Finally, another training program available to some international students who hold F-1 visas is the ability to work in their field of study off-campus by levering Curricular Practical Training (CPT). This program is available at some colleges and universities to currently enrolled students from certain majors. Not every university or degree program offers it, but if an international student has access to CPT, they should leverage this perk as well.
Marcelo Barros is the founder of The International Advantage, a firm specializing in providing job search training for international students who seek U.S. jobs. Barros partners with over 50 U.S. universities to help their international students get noticed and hired. Barros encourages International students who seek U.S. jobs or internships to enroll in The International Advantage Get Hired Video Course, designed to help foreign students beat visa odds and secure U.S. employment, including internships.

Feature | 11/26/2019
UVA Alum Jose Fernandez Elected President of the American Society of Hispanic Economists
The announcement, made on Twitter, can be found here: https://mobile.twitter.com/ASHE_ASSA/status/1197849863582552069 .

Feature | 11/01/2018
CAILIN SLATTERY PRESENTS JMP AT UEA MEETING
Cailin Slattery presented her job market paper "Bidding for Firms: Subsidy Competition in the U.S." at the Urban Economics Association Meeting at Columbia University in New York City. She received valuable feedback on her paper and discussed her research with Urban Economists from all over the world. She also had the opportunity to attend talks by Ed Glaeser, Raj Chetty, and recent Nobel Laureate Paul Romer.
In her job market paper, Cailin studies how U.S. states use discretionary tax breaks and subsidies to compete for individual firms to locate and create jobs in their jurisdictions. This policy has been well publicized with the recent competition for Amazon's second headquarters, but it is not an Amazon-specific phenomenon --- states spend billions of dollars each year on discretionary subsidies to attract a handful of large firms. However, it is still debated whether subsidy competition is a zero-sum game which only serves to transfer rent from states to firms at no national welfare gain, or if subsidies actually cause firms to locate where they create more value for a state.
In order to address this debate empirically, Cailin hand-collected a new data set on state level incentive spending and firm-level subsidy deals. She then uses the data to estimate a model of subsidy competition, where states bid for individual firms in an oral ascending auction. This allows her to answer two open questions about subsidy competition: how do states value a given firm, and how important are subsidies to a firms' location decision? Her estimates provide the first empirical evidence that states use subsidies to help large firms internalize the positive externalities they have in a state. Specifically, she find that states value not only the direct jobs the firm promises to create when determining their subsidy offer, but also the indirect jobs they are expected to create through agglomeration.
Next, she uses the model to estimate the effects of a counterfactual subsidy ban, and evaluate the welfare implications of subsidy competition. Her counterfactual results confirm that subsidy competition is not a zero-sum game. In fact, competition increases total welfare (the joint payoffs of states and firms) by 20% over the subsidy ban. However, the entirety of this welfare gain is captured by the firms. Although individual states are better off, the aggregate welfare of states decreases relative to the subsidy ban. In short, the states, as a whole, are worse off with competition, because they have competed away much of the value a firm creates in their location.

Feature | 05/08/2019
Macro Grad Students Successfully Complete the ERC
In the Econ Department's 2019 Economic Research Conference (ERC), from April 30th to May 2nd, our third year graduate students presented and defended their dissertation proposals. The picture shows our macro graduate students and faculty at the successful completion of the research conference.

Feature | 08/12/2016
Tech Careers for Liberal Arts Students
Is it possible to have a Tech career with a Liberal arts degree? Yes it is!

Feature | 09/27/2016
Professor Ed Olsen Calls for Low-Income Housing Reform
"Olsen is a professor of economics and a professor of public policy in the Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy. He began studying low-income housing assistance in the 1960s, shortly before joining the UVA faculty in 1970. He was one of only two economists in the country studying housing assistance and was invited to serve on President Richard Nixon’s Housing Policy Review Task Force in the early 1970s. In the decades since that appointment, he has testified before Senate and House committees several times, provided research and expertise to policymakers and generated some of the most respected studies in his field.
On Wednesday, Olsen spoke in a subcommittee hearing discussing better ways to house vulnerable families. He highlighted the benefits of offering rent subsidy vouchers for existing housing instead of continuing to subsidize the construction and maintenance of the subsidized housing projects that have proliferated in the U.S." (Caroline Newman)
See Professor Olsen's paper and oral testimonies:
- SenateAppropriationsSubcommittee160921OralFinal12 (.pdf)
- SenateBankingHousingUrbanAffairsSubcommittee160922OralFinal12 (.pdf)
(Photo by Dan Addison, University Communications)

Feature | 08/12/2016
Common Resume Mistakes
It's easy to rely on Spellcheck, but you might be surprised by how many grammatical and spelling mistakes it can miss.

Feature | 01/31/2017
ARTICLE- THIS LINKEDIN RECRUITER'S TIPS FOR SHOWCASING SOFT SKILLS ON JOB INTERVIEWS
"If you’ve heard a lot about “soft skills” lately, it’s at least partly because employers want you to develop them. According to our Global Recruiting Trends study here at LinkedIn, more employers are rolling out “soft skills assessments” to test job candidates on the cognitive and personality qualities you don’t go to school to learn: critical thinking, adaptability, learning agility, communication, etc. By all indications, these factors aretrading at a higher value in 2017 than they have in the past."-Brendan Browne
Click here to read the rest of the article

Feature | 01/31/2017
ECO NEWSLETTER 1.31.17
Networking Programs! New Job Postings! Economics Career Forum!

Feature | 08/17/2019
9 Tips for Thinking on Your Feet When You're Put on the Spot and Have to Sound Smart
9 Tips for Thinking on Your Feet When You're Put on the Spot and Have to Sound Smart
By: Stacey Lastoe
Source: The Muse
1. Focus on What’s Important
If you’re nervous [about speaking up in an impromptu setting], it probably means you’re overly focused on how other people are going to perceive you. Instead, focus on what’s being discussed and think about three questions: What do I not understand which could be better clarified? What question could I ask that would advance the discussion? What perspective or insight do I have that’s shareable? Don't worry about ‘looking smart’ or making some amazing point or comment. It’s a discussion, not a debate.
2. Repeat the Question
One of the hardest parts of contributing to a conversation or answering questions in meetings is feeling as though you are under pressure to produce an expected response. One way to overcome this feeling is to not jump into your feedback too quickly. If your response isn’t clear, it can come off as an incomplete thought, or it may fail to address the question. To calm your nerves and come up with a thoughtful answer, simply repeat the question that was asked. This will ensure that you completely understand what’s going on before you attempt to contribute to the conversation.
3. Call Upon Your Knowledge
People usually talk about the things that are of interest to them (professionally or personally), or information most relevant to the organization. Use your knowledge to generate questions that demonstrate your involvement in the conversation. Engaging others by asking questions puts them in a position to share more information, and it takes the stress and pressure off of you. For example, if one of your managers or leaders discusses the company mentoring program, ask her about her best or worst mentoring experiences. You can relay your enthusiasm or interest by restating highlights of what she shared.
4. Take a Deep Breath Before You Do Anything Else
If someone asks you a question that catches you off guard, pause, look thoughtful, and say, ‘That’s a really interesting question. Let me take a minute to think about it.’ This gives you a moment to take a deep breath and collect your thoughts before responding. You’ll be less likely to get flustered. It’s a strategy that works well in interviews, too, if you’re asked a question you don’t have the answer to.
5. Project Confidence
This all boils down to having confidence in yourself. If you know who you are and feel good about what you’re doing, are regularly and positively engaged in your work, have learned the industry and, in general, have strong interactions with your peers and managers, you should feel comfortable sharing your insights and opinions in any given situation.
6. Stop Being Afraid
Get over your fear of looking stupid. If you make a mistake and say something that isn’t immediately met with nods of agreement or approval, that’s OK. Follow your inner voice, and have your own thoughts. Asking a question is an easy way to assert yourself without risking too much if you’re especially nervous about adding to the conversation. But, if that’s the case, and your fear is making you mum, I recommend reading Patricia Ryan Madson’s Improv Wisdom, Don’t Prepare, Just Show Up.
7. Take a Moment of Silence
Silence can be golden, so don’t be afraid to use it. If you’re unsure of how to answer a question, or are searching for the right words, it’s OK to pause for a bit before speaking. You can say, ‘Let me think,’ or ‘That’s a great question,’ while you piece your thoughts together in your mind. These phrases help buy you time until you’re ready to present the ideas swimming in your brain.
8. Provide Your Point of View
I find it fascinating that when we’re asked for our input on a given topic, we often freeze up, or we feel unqualified to speak. You hold back because you don’t think you have enough expertise. But, you don’t gain expertise by keeping your mouth shut. You gain it by putting your ideas out there, and following what sticks. One of the biggest revelations I’ve helped my students achieve, is understanding that, while you may not feel entitled to share an expert’s opinion, you are always entitled to share your point of view. When you acknowledge that you’re providing your point of view, it takes the pressure off of needing to know everything, and helps you feel at ease sharing your thoughts.
9. Avoid Going on the Defense
When we feel caught off guard, it can be easy to get defensive. If, during a meeting or spontaneous conversation, a colleague rattles off a litany of criticisms as to why your proposal won’t work, resist rejecting them by responding with ‘No, but...’ Instead, try the ‘Yes, and...’ strategy, a technique borrowed from improv comedy. By saying, ‘Yes, and... here’s how we overcome those challenges...’ you move the conversation forward. You inspire creative problem-solving, invite possibility, and create an atmosphere for constructive conversation.
Need a little help in your job search? Book one of these coaches for a one-on-one strategy session.

Feature | 01/25/2022
ECO Video Article: How to Maximize Handshake's Internship and Job Fairs
If you’re looking for the chance to connect with recruiters and stand out in your job or internship hunt, Handshake’s new virtual career fairs are meant for you!
UVA's next virtual career fair is Thursday, 2/3! Watch the video below to learn all about why virtual fairs are your ticket to getting hired this year, including:
- No more long lines
- Early session sign-ups
- Chances to stand out to recruiters
Then, get prepared for your first fair with our holistic guide. Don’t forget to prep an elevator pitch!
Then visit this link for more tips: https://economics.virginia.edu/news/eco-blog-approaching-virtual-career-...

Feature | 08/11/2021
Virtual Career Fairs: Best Practices! How to Plan and Attend
Vault:
by Victorio Duran III | August 05, 2021
It isn’t easy to stand out at in-person job fairs, and leaving a lasting impression with employers at virtual job fairs can be just as challenging. However, if you follow the eight tips below, you’ll have no difficulty making meaningful professional connections and differentiating yourself from other candidates.
1. Update your profile and resume
Your resume and professional profiles, especially your LinkedIn profile, need to be up to date. Ensure that your resume is as comprehensive as possible. Don’t skimp on information—and certainly make sure to include key words and quantifiable achievements. Also, make sure your polished, error-free resume is available in both PDF and Word files, and available on your desktop so you can access it and upload it easily. All of this is important during fairs because employers use the information on your resume and profile to see if you match their requirements.
2. Do your research
For employers you’re interested in, go the extra mile while researching them. Find out about the opportunities they offer and their cultures. This allows you to better determine if they might be good fits for you, and to customize your resume and profile to their requirements. In addition, doing your research shows recruiters at the career fair that you did your homework and are interested in working for them. The more you know about a company’s products, employee culture, social media presence, standing in the market, etc., the more topics you’ll have to talk about—and the more likely you are to make a lasting impression.
3. Prepare to ask questions
Answering questions is so passé. To stand out from the competition, you need to ask questions—and you have every right to do so. Show off the research you’ve done and prepare a list of questions for recruiters. You might ask about company culture, retention rate, growth plans, how a company is managing in these difficult times, and how a company’s work environment has changed in the wake of Covid-19. Also, with everyone working from home, you might have legitimate concerns about starting a job remotely. So, ask about the communication tools the company uses to facilitate work from home, and whether they prefer Glip, Discord, or another collaboration software app.
4. Plan your day
You don’t want your lack of planning and organization getting in the way of making strong connections at virtual fairs. So, if you have trouble getting organized, there are many online productivity tools that can help. It also helps if you proceed step by step through each virtual fair. So, decide ahead of time which virtual stands you’d like to stop at and decide the questions you’ll be asking at each stop. In addition, familiarize yourself with the platform hosting the fair so you know how to go about it.
It’s extremely important to spend your time efficiently. You want to attend the career clinics and webinars but also make time for meeting with recruiters on a one-to-one basis. You don’t want to have all the information and knowledge on how to land a job but not get enough time to talk to the people actually offering one.
5. Draft an elevator pitch
It’s important to prepare an elevator pitch you can give to recruiters you meet at fairs. Time is of the essence, as there are typically hundreds of other candidates vying for recruiters’ attention. Making an impression with few words isn’t something most people can do on the spot and off the top of their heads. So, ahead of each fair, draft an elevator pitch thoughtfully, considering how you’ll approach each employer and what would you’d like to say.
It’s probable that instead of talking, you’ll have to text your pitch, so have your pitch ready to be copied and pasted. A little knowledge of the principles of copywriting wouldn’t go amiss to make an immediate impression and be able to sell yourself. And think short and sharp—briefly outline your academic and work background, and mention why you’d like to be part of an employer’s team.
6. Be professional
Even when you’re attending a virtual fair, you should dress to impress. Recruiters will be able to see you. Be as sharply dressed as you would for an in-person interview. This shows seriousness and will create a great first impression. Avoid clothing with patterns, and keep your background plain, simple, and clutter-free.
Of course, don’t be late for the fair. Show up on time so you have a better chance of doing everything you want to do during the fair. If you’ve set prior appointments for personal meetings with recruiters, be there before they are. Doing so will make you come off as eager, well prepared, and someone who respects others’ busy schedules.
In addition, be professional in all your communication. A joke or two can be acceptable during conversations to lighten the mood, but too many jokes can make you seem not very serious and create the wrong impression. While it’s good to have things to talk about, limit your conversation to the company, the job, and the matter at hand.
7. Be real
To come off as your authentic self, especially on a virtual platform, isn’t easy. However, the best advice is to be yourself. Let your personality shine through, and don’t let your nerves get in the way. There’s no need to be nervous or worried that one single job fair will make or break your career—there will be many other fairs. Also, remember that genuine candidates stand out—they’re the ones recruiters will remember.
So, if you’re authentic as possible while also acting confidently and professionally, you’ll create a great first impression. Give honest answers to questions, relating answers to your personal life and struggles to give employers a quick idea of who you are. Of course, be cool-headed at all times, especially in response to tricky interview questions you didn’t anticipate.
8. Close thoughtfully
If you want to make a truly lasting impression, you need to connect with employers after career fairs. So, make sure you ask for their contact information during the fair, and send them a formal email immediately afterward. You could also send them a LinkedIn request with a personalized message, thanking them for their time and summarizing the conversation you had. Mention the position you’re interested in, and remind them again why you’re a good fit. Keep it short, and ask to be informed of the next steps in the hiring process.
Victorio Duran III US is the Associate SEO Director at RingCentral, a global leader in cloud-based communications and internet phone service provider. He has over 13 years of extensive involvement in web and digital operations, with diverse experience as a web engineer, product manager, and digital marketing strategist.

Feature | 09/19/2016
ECO NEWSLETTER 9.19.16
This week's newsletter is loaded with opportunities for economics majors, curated specifically for you!

Feature | 04/28/2017
A proposal that would help unemployed with income support and student financial aid.
"The author proposes an Enrollment for Employment and Earnings policy that would make income support and student financial aid available to unemployment insurance recipients, replacing Pell Grants and tuition tax credits for these individuals. Receipt of assistance would be conditional on satisfactory progress as well as completion of an enrollment choice module and academic and financial planning module, ensuring that students have the baseline skills to complete the program and the prospect of employment upon completion. In addition, states would develop a decision support tool to provide adult potential students with a clear comparison of costs, program duration, completion rates, and expected labor market outcomes associated with different postsecondary choices. Finally, federal support for postsecondary institutions would increase during recessions to meet rising demand."

Feature | 10/24/2016
ECO NEWSLETTER 10.24.16
How to Navigate a Career Fair PowerPoint, Events, M.S. in Commerce Info Session, and this week's ECO alumni guest, Jeff Hansen!

Feature | 10/10/2016
ECON Alum: Diane Cherry, Class of '89
At the time of the production of this profile, Ms. Cherry worked as the Environments Policy Manager at the Institute of Emerging Issues. Learn more about Ms. Cherry's current position here: http://www.energync.org/page/bio_diane_C/Diane-Cherry.htm
Why study economics?
Economics is one of the most important topics that explain everyday life. It tells us why consumers and firms behave the way they do and how they relate to each other and to institutions such as the government. As two examples -- economics explains how firms react to different types of regulation and how the Federal Reserve’s monetary policies impact the interest rates consumers face when they go to finance the purchase of their house. Economics can be applied to all kinds of sectors such as healthcare, the environment and education. In nearly every issue or discussion people want to know who is impacted and how much something costs. All of that requires an understanding of economics. More broadly, economics teaches analytical and problem solving skills that employers continually search for in their employees.
2. What course/professor was influential and why?
Dr. Ed Olsen was the most influential professor I had when I was at UVA. I was part of the economics distinguished majors program and spent my fourth year doing a research paper on how announcements of money supply affect interest rates and exchange rates. I really enjoyed the research aspect of the work and wanted to continue as a research assistant in some capacity after I graduated. Dr. Olsen provided me the names and contacts of several organizations in Washington, D.C. that hire research assistants out of college and I was fortunate enough to work for one organization for two and a half years before I went to graduate school.
3. What made the economics department attractive to you/what made it special?
The economics department was special for a number of reasons. First, I really enjoyed the distinguished majors program and the small number of students that were part of that group. We socialized together and studied together and many of us had similar career interests. Second, I really had a chance to get to know my professors – Dr. Charlie Holt and Dr. Ed Olsen were two of them-- and I have even stayed in touch with them fifteen years later. Third, the department offered a variety of classes in everything from labor economics to public finance and all of these topics explored economics in a different way. There really was something available for anyone and now the department offers even more classes than when I attended UVA.
4. Your job title is Environments Policy Manager. In your own words, what is it that you do and how is your job related to your major?
I am the Environments Policy Manager at the Institute for Emerging Issues, a public policy organization housed at NC State University and founded by former Governor Jim Hunt. In my job, I work collaboratively with individuals from all sectors and areas of North Carolina to build collective action in energy, infrastructure, transportation and the natural environment. I also teach U.S. Environmental Policy, Written Communication for Public Policy and other courses in the MPA program at NC State University. Previously, I worked as a senior policy advisor for North Carolina’s environmental director and as a Presidential Management Fellow for the EPA.
The environmental and energy field is very divisive. Economics plays an important part of the discussion of what the state of North Carolina should do to encourage everything from the development of renewable energy to the deployment of broadband in rural areas of the state. The other factor that permeates most of the discussions I am part of is the role of the private and the public sector in solving energy and environmental issues. Depending on one’s viewpoint, there should either be a strong role for the government or the outcome should be left to market. The conversations are interesting and economics inevitably has a big piece of the discussion.
5. What is an interesting project you’ve worked on?
One of the most interesting projects I worked on recently was developing a workshop for about one hundred stakeholders across North Carolina on the implications of the EPA’s Clean Power Plan (CPP) on North Carolina’s future energy footprint. The CPP’s carbon dioxide standards reflect “the best system of emission reductions” and each state is obliged to develop an individual program for compliance. This set of regulations serves as a national signal for the end of coal as the backbone of our nation’s energy needs. Meanwhile, the Plan also opens up enormous market opportunities for manufacturers of energy-efficient products and components of renewable energy systems. North Carolina’s manufacturers excel in both of these product sectors.
6. What advice do you have for students about their time in the department in relation to preparing for next steps?
When I was in my third and fourth year I knew I wanted to work for a while before going to graduate school but I didn’t know where or in what field. I found the professors an amazing resource to talk with about the opportunities available to economics majors. Dr. Olsen in particular was really helpful and provided me the names of over a dozen organizations that hired research assistants for two or three years. I interviewed with several before deciding upon Resources for the Future and that job has influenced my entire career trajectory.
7. What do you know now you wish you had known while you were majoring in economics at U.Va.?
I wished I had talked with more students who took different career paths following graduation. Economics is a major that leads to a number of careers. I never really considered consulting or law school but that was in part because I never had exposure to students who worked in those fields. I believe that the best way to find your path going forward is to get exposure to as many people who have different careers. Each time you learn something you don’t want to do it is a clearer path to finding what you do want to do.
8. Who (or what) has been influential in your career and why?
My graduate degree in public policy from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University was very instrumental toward my career path. I had an interest in policy issues back in the early 1990s when I left UVA and worked in Washington, D.C. but graduate programs in public policy then were not nearly as prevalent as they are now. I kind of backed into a public policy career after eliminating a Ph.D. in economics as one of my career options. My boss at Resources for the Future where I worked as a research assistant had contacts at the Kennedy School of Government and suggested that I apply there for graduate school.
9. What is on the horizon for you/other career goals you have in mind?
I have really enjoyed teaching public policy courses at NC State University and hope to continue teaching in the indefinite future. Since I’ve been working about twenty years in public policy it is fun to teach public policy tools to the next generation of professionals.
10. Tell us a fun fact about you.
I really enjoy running and have already completed five half marathons throughout North Carolina. I don’t think I’ll ever train for a full marathon but running is a great way to relieve stress and ruminate about things that require a lot of thinking.

Feature | 02/17/2017
Professor James Harrigan: Economic Inequality in the U.S.
How Bad Is It, and Why Is It Growing?
"University of Virginia economics professor James Harrigan is using more than 35 years of data to study economic inequality in the United States, seeking explanations and solutions for the rapidly widening chasm between the very rich and nearly everyone else.
His undergraduate course, “Economic Inequality,” helps students understand the nuances of the contentious topic, which found its way to the heart of national conversation in the recent presidential election."

Feature | 09/23/2016
Job Search for Economics Majors- Part 1 of 2
Part 1 of two articles on starting the career search as an Economics major, written by Professor Bill Conerly.

Feature | 09/23/2021
12 Questions You Should Be Ready to Answer in a Financial Analyst Interview (Plus Examples!)
by Kate Ashford at The Muse
Are you applying for a position as a financial analyst? Interviewing for a job can be stressful, but being prepared for the experience can go a long way toward making you feel confident and on top of your game. That means being ready to answer common interview questions and those that are likely to come up specifically for a financial analyst role.
Financial analysts evaluate their company’s and other organizations’ past and present financial data and might give guidance to people and companies as they make decisions about stocks, bonds, and other kinds of investments. Typical job responsibilities might include assessing financial data, preparing written reports and giving presentations, studying business trends, appraising a business’s financial statements, and potentially meeting with company management to determine how the firm is doing and to evaluate their leadership team. A financial analyst might work at a bank, an insurance company, a pension fund, or another type of business in any industry.
What Are Recruiters Looking for in Financial Analysts?
Recruiters are typically looking for candidates with business acumen, planning skills, and the ability to deal with financial models and handle the complex numbers involved. Here are some of the qualities interviewers will be searching for:
- Analytical skills: A candidate must be able to think logically and critically about a variety of financial information, from a company’s financial statements to industry news.
- Communication skills: It will be essential that you’re able to communicate effectively with top brass at the company and with your coworkers, both to collaborate on projects and to explain your analyses upon request.
- Problem-solving skills: In this role, you may have to help close a gap, solve a debt issue, or make a part of the company more profitable. So you need to be able to approach your analysis with a larger goal in mind. Plus, interviewers will want to see that you can be resourceful and try to solve problems on your own before turning to your boss every time you get stuck (but also that you know when to ask for help or escalate a problem).
- Attention to detail: Financial analysis is extremely precise, so attention to detail is a crucial attribute for any financial analyst candidate. In fact, some job descriptions for this role describe it as “microscopic attention to detail.”
- Technical skills: There are a variety of tools—from software to programming languages—you may need to use to accomplish day-to-day tasks, such as Microsoft Excel, SQL, QuickBooks, and SAP. You may also have to learn new software in the course of your job—so interviewers aren’t just looking to hear about what you already know, they want to see that you can pick up new tools if needed.
Beyond the skills necessary for the position, firms will also be looking for a candidate who’ll be a good addition to their organization and culture. “There’s a person/job fit and a person/organization fit, some of which has nothing to do with the skills and abilities of the person,” says Cabot Jaffee, president and CEO of hiring and recruiting systems firm AlignMark, who’s helped many companies hire for financial analyst roles. “Do their work history and work ethic match up with what we expect as a company? There are different interview questions that would get at that.”
Although the questions in finance analyst interviews may vary, these 11 questions are a representative sample of the kinds of questions you might get:
- Why Do You Want to Be a Financial Analyst?
- Why Do You Want to Work for Our Company?
- Have You Considered or Are You Already Pursuing Licenses, Credentials, and Certifications? How Do They Help You in a Professional Context?
- Do You Prefer to Work Alone or in a Team Environment?
- Tell Me About a Time When You Had to Present Financial Data.
- Give Me an Example of an Analysis Gone Wrong. What Could You Have Done Differently to Avoid the Problem, and What Did You Learn?
- What Processes Do You Use to Create Financial Analysis Reports?
- If You Could Only Pick One Financial Statement to Make a Decision on a Company, What Would You Pick?
- What Do You Think Is the Single Best Evaluation Metric for Analyzing a Company's Stock?
- Which Profitability Model Would You Use to Determine if a Project Will Be Profitable?
- What is EBITDA?
- How Are the Income Statement, Balance Sheet, and Cash Flow Statement Related?
1. Why Do You Want to Be a Financial Analyst?
Expect to get this question for any entry-level financial analyst role. The interviewer wants to know what your passions are from a professional standpoint, why you’re interested in the role, what led you to finance, what you’re hoping to gain from the experience, and where you see your financial career going.
How to Answer
Talk about what led you to finance as a major, minor, or interest as well as what you’re interested in doing in your first job and what career path you’re hoping to follow in the long term. “I’d encourage anyone at any level to talk about how their background and experience and strengths align with the requirements of the role,” says Steve Saah, executive director for Robert Half Finance & Accounting. What about your background and experience led you to consider a financial path? What things have you done and what skills do you have that lead you to believe that financial analysis will be a good place for you—and that you will be a good analyst?
One answer to this question might be:
“I decided to major in finance because I have long had an interest in understanding how businesses are structured—how they make money and how they’re profitable. Even in high school, I was always reading biographies and memoirs of entrepreneurs and business leaders to glean how their businesses started and continued making money and how they navigated moments of crisis or transformation. I’ve enjoyed the analysis I’ve been able to do in my classes and internships—I love digging into the numbers and details—and I’d like to continue that work and further my experience with this position.”
2. Why Do You Want to Work for Our Company?
The company wants to know why you want to work for them specifically—in this industry, for this type of organization, and at this particular company. There’s a broad range of roles for financial analysts, who hold positions at banks, pension funds, mutual funds, security firms, insurance companies, nonprofits with large endowments, and corporations, and your interviewer wants to know why you’re excited about this opportunity over all the other options.
How to Answer
You should be able to make the case for why you want to be a financial analyst in the industry and type of company you’re pursuing as well as why you’re excited about this particular organization. Why do you want to work for a nonprofit versus a bank? What drew you to a tech startup versus working within the financial industry? And why this particular nonprofit or tech startup? Research the organization and make sure you can talk about what makes it unique and why those qualities appeal to you. That said, don’t be tempted to criticize other companies or your current employer—it’s not a good look.
One answer to this question might be:
“When I think of a bank, I think of an institution that provides capital to entrepreneurs or large institutions, which basically fuels economic growth. I like the idea of being a part of the national and global economy and being able to contribute in that kind of way. I’m also very interested in working with entertainment and media companies, and I know this firm has a strong practice in media and telecom.”
3. Have You Considered or Are You Already Pursuing Licenses, Credentials, and Certifications? How Do They Help You in a Professional Context?
As a financial analyst, there are a variety of certifications and designations you can earn, including Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA), Certified Fund Specialist (CFS), and Chartered Financial Consultant (ChFC).
While a recruiter can look at your resume or LinkedIn profile to see what certifications you have, this kind of question is meant to help them understand what compelled you to get additional training and how you’re utilizing it on a day-to-day basis. Organizations are trying to see how dedicated you are to furthering your education and skills, what you’ve gotten from your education, and how you apply it. Getting your CFA, for instance, shows a company that you have the discipline to go through the rigorous work required to understand the business, says Charles Sachs, a CFA and Certified Financial Planner with Kaufman Rossman Wealth in Miami.
If you’re an entry-level candidate, don’t panic if you don’t already have these. In this case, the interviewer probably wants to hear that you’ve given this career path long-term consideration. So if you’re planning to pursue a certification or have already begun to take steps toward one, talk about why you decided to do so and how you plan to achieve this goal.
How to Answer
Don’t just list your certifications. Give context around your thought process in getting each certification, how much time and effort you’ve put into studying for your exams (if you’re still in progress), how you’ve utilized the credential, and how it’s made you a better analyst.
An answer to this question might look like this:
“I’m currently pursuing my Chartered Financial Analyst certification from the CFA Institute in order to further my knowledge of financial analysis beyond what I learned in school. It’s a deep dive into financial instruments, valuations, regulatory concepts and accounting, which I think will be valuable to me in my next position.”
4. Do You Prefer to Work Alone or in a Team Environment?
There are many financial analyst positions in which collaboration is integral to the job. For instance, you might be building sales models for a company, while another employee builds vendor models, and the two of you regularly must combine data to create an overall business model for the chief financial officer of the company.
So this is a question that speaks to fit, both with the company and with the position. If the company is super collaborative and you prefer to be a lone wolf, you may not be the best candidate for the position—and vice versa. “They could be the best financial analyst in the world, and it’ll still be a bad hire,” Jaffee says.
How to Answer
Answer the initial question and give some examples of times in which you’ve worked alone or with a partner or team. But don’t try to second guess what the interviewer is looking for to get a job. “There are no right or wrong answers—some companies value independence and some value working in teams,” Jaffee says. The key is to find the one that matches with your own preferences.
An answer to this question might look like this:
“I prefer working in teams. In my previous job, I worked closely with a colleague to put together a business model for a client. They asked us to build a predictive financial model to outline where their business could be three years down the road. I got to do half of it, and my partner got to do half of it based on our expertise, and we were able to put it together and make a presentation to the client. I really enjoyed working with someone else to create the financial model and present it as a team and also learned so much from my partner that I was able to take with me to other analyses I did independently and with other colleagues down the line.”
5. Tell Me About a Time When You Had to Present Financial Data.
This question helps an interviewer assess whether you have experience and skills making presentations. Some financial analysts are regularly tasked with presenting data to company leadership or other parties, so hearing how you’ve done in the past will help them predict how you’d do in the role you’re applying for. Your answer will offer a glimpse into how you prepare for a presentation, the kind of data you’ve presented (including whether you were presenting your own data or someone else’s), and how comfortable you are speaking in front of people at different seniority levels.
They might also want to know whether you considered the presentation to be successful, what you learned from it, and what you would have done differently if you had a chance to do it over again.
How to Answer
This is a great opportunity to use the STAR method to tackle your answer: Situation, Task, Action, Result. This involves setting the scene, describing what your responsibility was in that specific situation, explaining what steps you took, and talking about the outcome or results of those steps.
Think about your answer before launching into it, and tell as detailed a story of your past experience as possible. “Don’t leave out any facts,” Jaffee says. “Include enough information that will allow the interviewer to get a good understanding of everything that was involved.” And be prepared to answer follow-up questions about the story you’ve told.
An answer to this question might look like this:
“As a company, we were considering acquiring another competitor and needed to identify what the combined financials of the companies would look like. I had to identify synergies related to head count, technology, payroll, redundant internal services, and ultimately forecast the financials to show the combined companies. I started by making sure I knew exactly what numbers the decision-makers in my company were focused on and why and then dived into the modeling component, sharing with colleagues for verification and input along the way. Once the bulk of that work was done I put together a slide deck that included a model output and highlighted the most important conclusions I’d come to. I presented my findings with specific recommendations to my team as well as a group of executives. They had several follow-up questions, as was expected, many of which I was able to answer on the spot but a few required me to go back to the model and incorporate some of their feedback. In the end, the majority of my recommendations were adopted but I learned the most from the few that had to be altered. The next time I had to put together a similar presentation, I tried to anticipate these kinds of questions and my recommendations were sharper for it (and got adopted with barely a tweak).”
6. Give Me an Example of an Analysis Gone Wrong. What Could You Have Done Differently to Avoid the Problem, and What Did You Learn?
Did you build a model that initially missed three assumptions and this wasn’t discovered until you presented it to someone? Or did you create a model that simply didn’t work the way it was meant to and six months down the road it didn’t produce the expected results?
Everyone gets things wrong sometimes and companies like to hear that you’re able to learn from your mistakes. Your time on the job isn’t as valuable if you haven’t learned and grown from your experiences. “Development is not just a function of time,” Jaffee says. “Development is a function of self-awareness.” (This is also why companies might ask about your greatest weakness.)
How to Answer
There are a few types of stories you should always have on hand in an interview, and one of them should be about a time you made a mistake or something didn’t go as you expected it to. Describe the mistake as directly and openly as you can—that’s part of what the interviewer will be looking for—and then move on and talk about how you’ve learned from it and what you’ve done since to ensure you don’t repeat the same mistake.
An example of an answer to this question might look like this:
“My team was tasked with building a model for how many salespeople we should hire, looking at the cost of hiring and training versus potential revenue. Six months later, we realized the model didn’t work as planned—we predicted three new salespeople would translate to new revenues of $1 million, but we only had revenues of $500,000. In order to understand what went wrong, I reviewed every step of the analysis and spoke to all the stakeholders individually about what, from their perspective, had caused the mismatch between our projection and reality. I learned in that process that we had made some flawed assumptions about ramp-up time and how many customers freshly onboarded salespeople could close per sales cycle. In future models, we made sure to loop in those stakeholders earlier and to dig into even more granular detail to test our assumptions from every direction and make sure we weren’t missing anything.”
7. What Processes Do You Use to Create Financial Analysis Reports?
Reporting is generally a big part of a financial analyst’s job, and the reporting required will depend on the role. If you’re interviewing for a sales organization, for instance, you might be creating monthly, quarterly, or annual sales reports. In your answer, they’ll be looking for technical skills as well as collaboration skills, communication, organization, follow-through, and time management.
How to Answer
Answering this question is about giving examples of what you’ve done in your current or former positions, including not only the specific software and methodologies you use, but how you engage with people at the organization to really understand the requirements they’re seeking. Articulate the thought process you would go through to understand those requirements and then explain how you would execute the task and follow through on your responsibilities. For best results, take a deep dive on one example and go into as much detail as possible—interviewers might follow up for more examples, but your first example should take them through the entire process.
8. If You Could Only Pick One Financial Statement to Make a Decision on a Company, What Would You Pick?
A recruiter might want to see that you have an understanding of the major financial statements a company has. They might ask you to walk them through an income statement, a balance sheet, a statement of shareholders’ equity, and/or a cash flow statement. Or they may ask you a question like this so you can show that you not only know the statements but understand when and how to use them.
How to Answer
The best response here is not just to choose the financial statement you prefer, but also to discuss why you think it’s the most useful source of information for a certain kind of situation and address why the other financial statements might not be appropriate choices.
An answer to this question might look like this:
“I prefer to use the cash flow statement to make a decision on a company, especially if I’m trying to glean how a company is doing in a moment of trouble or crisis. It’s going to show you actual liquidity, how the company is using cash, and how it’s generating cash. A balance sheet will only show you the assets and debt of the company at a point in time, and shareholder’s equity just shows you what’s been paid into the company and what exists net of assets and liabilities. The income statement has a lot of information—revenue, cost of goods and services, and other expenses—but I find the cash flow statement most useful for evaluating a company’s overall health in the short term.”
9. What Do You Think Is the Single Best Evaluation Metric for Analyzing a Company's Stock?
The recruiter is looking for your thought process as you compare and contrast different valuation methods. This helps an interviewer see that you’re familiar with multiple financial concepts when it comes to stock valuation and that you understand the pros and cons of different types of methodologies.
This question is more likely to come up if you’re interviewing to work for an investment bank or research firm. But you should be prepared to walk interviewers through how you come to an answer on any type of process question you receive.
How to Answer
Walk the recruiter through your thought process in choosing the metric you prefer and talk about what it can tell you about the stock and how that would help you evaluate a company. You can also mention other metrics in your answer to help you explain why the one you chose is better or what secondary metrics you’d pick if you could add others to support your primary choice.
An answer to this question might look like this:
“Of the three most commonly used valuation methodologies, discounted cash flow, comparable company analysis, and precedent transactions, I think that comparable company analysis is the most beneficial across all different types of companies and industries. Specifically, I like to look at the P/E ratio [price-earnings ratio] since it provides a yardstick for determining whether a stock is undervalued or overvalued as compared to its comp set. A low P/E ratio—when compared to similar companies and stocks—might be a sign that the price of that current stock is inexpensive relative to the company’s earnings, while a high P/E ratio might indicate that the stock’s valuation has become too high especially if it’s higher than others in its comp set. It’s important to note that one methodology or ratio generally does not tell a complete story by itself and others should be utilized for a more holistic approach, but I think P/E ratio comp analysis provides the least room for variability.”
10. Which Profitability Model Would You Use to Determine if a Project Will Be Profitable?
This is another question in which a recruiter wants to understand how you do things. They’ll be looking for the steps you take to get from point A to point B, such as looking at revenue streams and looking at the costs associated to come up with that profitability model. They want to see if you understand how to calculate a net present value and discount cash flows.
How to Answer
You may have to do some math, particularly if a company gives you a specific problem to solve. Be prepared to walk the interviewer through your thought process. “I had a question like this when I was interviewing,” says Nathan Atkins, an investment banking analyst at M&T Bank. “They asked, ‘We want to invest in a higher quality leather for our seats in a car; it’s going to cost X amount of dollars to do it, and we need it to return Y, so is this a good investment?’”
For instance, an answer might look like this:
“Net present value is a good model for forecasting, since it finds the difference between the present value of cash inflows and the present value of cash outflows over a period of time. If a company was investing in a project, you’d want the required return, the number of periods, and the cash flow coming in over that time. You’d take cash flow, divide it by one plus your hurdle rate to the power of the time period, subtract your initial investment and that would give you your net present value. What this should tell you is the value today of this future stream of payments. As long as it’s positive, that means the project is worth doing.”
11. What is EBITDA?
There’s technical knowledge associated with a job as a financial analyst, and you’ll be expected to know and understand it. Luckily, this isn’t the part of the interview that most financial analyst candidates find stressful. “The assumption is that most people applying for a financial analyst job would understand the basics of finances, so those are questions that most candidates are going to get right,” Jaffee says.
In short, be prepared to prove that you understand the financial concepts that make up your job. You might be asked to analyze a spreadsheet, read a financial statement, discuss how you’d solve a problem in Microsoft Excel, or explain a financial term (like positive cash flow), among other things.
How to Answer
In this case, you should explain the concept of EBITDA—starting by spelling out what the acronym refers to—and make sure you also say why it’s an important metric in evaluating a company’s financial health.
For instance, your answer might be:
“EBITDA stands for Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation, and Amortization, and fundamentally, it’s a measure of net income with interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization added back to the total. It’s a useful metric for analyzing and comparing financial health across firms since it removes financing and accounting decisions from the equation. But I’d also add that there are drawbacks and EBITDA can be misleading on its own, as it doesn’t take factors such as capital investments into account.”
12. How Are the Income Statement, Balance Sheet, and Cash Flow Statement Related?
This is another question that gets at technical knowledge that interviewers assume you have walking into an interview for a financial analyst position. They ask it to make sure that you have a baseline financial knowledge, but it’s also a good barometer for how seriously you’re taking the interview process and how prepared you are by how easily, accurately, and clearly you respond.
How to Answer
Make sure you practice your responses to this and other technical knowledge questions out loud and in front of the mirror prior to your interview so that you have a fairly concise and accurate answer at your fingertips (without sounding too rehearsed!).
For instance, your answer might be:
"The first line of the income statement is the revenue line or “top line,” and after subtracting various expenses you arrive at net income or “bottom line” for the company. Net income comes into the cash flow statement as the first line, which is then adjusted for all non-cash expenses to get to a change in cash over a specific period. This change in cash will correspond directly to the cash line item in the balance sheet, providing a more detailed look at why that specific balance changes. The balance sheet is unique in that it is a snapshot of the balances of accounts at a specific time vs. a period of time (i.e. the previous quarter). Net income also connects to the balance sheet as a change in retained earnings."

Feature | 10/04/2019
White Rock Falls Hike
Graduate students from every cohort stepped away from their work to hike White Oak Canyon trails, one of the most popular trails in Central Virginia.

Feature | 04/04/2022
Job Hunters Take A Stand: We’re Not Writing Cover Letters
As employers struggle to fill millions of openings, applicants are using their leverage to forgo what, until recently, was a must for landing a decent job
By Lindsay Ellis
March 26, 2022 12:00 am ET
To Whom It May Concern: Job applicants are putting a hard stop to those dreaded cover letters.
Many hiring managers say a sharp cover letter remains one of the best ways to make the case for why you are the right person for the job. Yet many job seekers say the self-promoting exercise is too torturous and time-consuming to be worth the effort for a less-than-dream role. It’s also just plain insulting, they argue, since it’s often an algorithm, not a human, that screens and sorts the applications.
Now, as employers struggle to fill millions of openings, job seekers are using their leverage to say no to what, until recently, was a must for landing a decent position.
“People are fundamentally fed up with having to do so much to get a job,” said Gianni LaTange, a 27-year-old in New York who works in tech. Ms. LaTange calls cover letters an antiquated hiring practice and no longer applies to jobs that require them.
To get her current role, she instead contacted employees at companies she wanted to work at over LinkedIn. One employee, after a brief conversation, connected her with a recruiter, and she ultimately got an offer without writing a letter, she said.
Some job seekers say writing cover letters is a job itself, and one that yields little reward for the effort. Before Devin Miller’s most recent job, he wrote about 10 cover letters to companies he wanted to work for. Each was different, and he wanted to signal that he knew what the work would entail, he said. He heard back from none. To get his current role, he responded to a recruiter who had reached out to him and asked just for a résumé, the 33-year-old Mr. Miller said.
Mr. Miller briefly looked for a new information-technology job in November because he was moving to Boston. This time, though, he said he applied only for openings that didn’t require a cover letter—and got several interviews and an offer.
“It just doesn’t align with my or my peers’ current interests in how they want to proceed with their career,” said Mr. Miller, who, in the end, opted to stay with his existing team and work remotely.
Behind all of the cover-letter hate lurks a major disconnect between job seekers and the employers trying to hire them. A recent ResumeLab survey of 200 hiring managers and recruiters found 83% said cover letters were important to deciding whom to hire, especially when it came to understanding why the applicant wanted the job or explaining a career switch or break. Nearly three-quarters said they expected a cover letter even if it wasn’t explicitly asked for.
“If you don’t take the time to explain yourself, they’re not going to consider you,” said Jill Tipograph, co-founder of Early Stage Careers, a career-coaching company for college students and 20-somethings. Early-career applicants especially need cover letters to differentiate themselves, she said. It’s about “laying out the facts and the foundation of what you’re bringing to the table,” she said.
Yet only 38% of candidates attach cover letters to their applications even when it is requested, according to ResumeLab, which provides advice and online templates for building résumés and cover letters.
Kevin Grossman, president of the Talent Board, a nonprofit hiring and recruiting research group, said that many of the employers his organization works with no longer look at cover letters, in part because of automated application-screening tools. The exception, he said, is when hiring volume is smaller and recruiters have the time.
Another reason cover letters often fail to impress: “Most of them are extremely generic,” said Keith Wolf, managing director of recruiting firm Murray Resources, who advises job seekers to tailor them to the specific job opening.
Spending even a few minutes dashing off an enthusiastic message can reveal a person’s strengths and motivation in ways a résumé often can’t, said Sherrod DeGrippo, a vice president at a security-software company whose division hires about 10 employees each quarter.
“Don’t agonize over it—it’s not a make-or-break,” she said. “It’s a help, it’s a bonus.”
Hadassah Williams, 30, who works in administration, has used a similar strategy. She started writing more casual notes instead of formal letters when a job listing indicates cover letters—which she hates writing—are optional. They take about 40 minutes to write and can be customized to the role she is applying for, she said.
She said she has sometimes included these blurbs in the cover-letter field of applications or sent them directly to recruiters on LinkedIn.
Julie Fugett’s views on cover letters have evolved over her career. As a chief information security officer in higher education, she used them to evaluate candidates’ attention to detail and communication skills.
But when she recently applied for a vice president role at a cybersecurity firm, Ms. Fugett decided not to submit one. She had seen tech-industry pushback to the practice on social media, and she didn’t want to appear out of touch.
She got the job—and was delighted she could skip the cover letter. She has since wondered whether cover letters can invite bias against talented candidates who, say, speak English as a second language.
“I have yet to meet a single person, including myself, that enjoys writing a cover letter,” Ms. Fugett said. “I’ve still written plenty of them, but it’s always a little painful.”

Feature | 06/17/2015
Dowry Killings in India
"As monsoon season arrives in India, the nation’s meteorological department has warned citizens to expect lower rainfall levels for the second year in a row, on the heels of one of the deadliest heat waves in history. The predicted drought could prove dangerous not only for India’s economy but also, according to one University of Virginia economist, for its female population.
Examining the effects of climate change in India, Sheetal Sekhri, an assistant professor of economics, found that decreases in rainfall are correlated with increases in domestic violence and with dowry killings, in which a husband (and his family) kills his wife so that he can remarry and obtain new dowry payments.
According to Sekhri’s study, one standard deviation decrease from long-term average rainfall correlates with approximately an 8 percent increase in dowry killings in the affected region." (Caroline Newman)
See the full article here.

Feature | 04/11/2022
Finding a Mentor Remotely
Below is a WSJ article about finding a professional mentor virtually, on the job or off. Many resources are recommended. As UVA students you also have access the the Econ Alumni and Friends List in Collab, the Virginia Alumni Mentor Network (VAM), and WahooConnect. Take a read below and then map your plan to connect with potential mentors now, or in the future.
Yes, You Can Find a Mentor While Working Remotely
Young professionals slide into the DMs of their professional idols in the hopes of becoming their mentees
By Ray A. Smith
Jan. 27, 2022 9:14 am ET
Note to young professionals looking for a mentor as the pandemic drags on: Shoot your shot online.
Remote and hybrid work has upended many traditional mentorship arrangements, leaving up-and-comers in search of more seasoned professionals to learn from and help their career climb.
In the absence of in-person mentoring opportunities, people in their 20s and 30s are going online to pitch themselves as remote mentees, sometimes engaging in behavior once considered gauche, such as sending cold-call emails and sliding into the social-media direct messages, known as DMs, of stars in their field.
They risk not hearing back. Some prominent professionals might be wary of online messages from people they have neither met nor heard of. A number of mentees who have sought mentorship this way say they have caught the attention of people they admire because, well, everyone is online now.
Priya Jaisinghani said she spent months trying to connect with colleagues and potential mentors when she moved to Manhattan for an endocrinology fellowship in the summer of 2020. The fellowship would be her last big step before going into independent practice and she wanted mentors through this stage of her career, so she said she turned to Twitter, Instagram and Clubhouse, joining group accounts, some of which focused on women in medicine or her specialty.
Last year, the 30-year-old came across the Twitter account of Vineet Arora, dean for medical education at the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine.
Priya Jaisinghani turned to Twitter and Instagram to reach out to other women in medicine or her specialty.
“I have a strong liking for quality improvement and patient safety, and Dr. Arora is, like, legendary in that field,” Dr. Jaisinghani said.
She decided to reach out on Twitter with a direct message and hoped Dr. Arora, whose account has more than 43,000 followers, would reply.
“I’m just like, ‘Hi, I’m a first-year fellow. I really want to look at this public health crisis that we’re seeing about the dissemination of the Covid-19 vaccine through a quality improvement lens,’ ” she said. She cited Dr. Arora’s expertise in her note and, to her surprise, she quickly responded.
“She seemed so open and warm,” Dr. Arora said. “I usually don’t agree to mentor anyone from a distance.”
Dr. Arora said she was wary of entering a virtual mentoring relationship because less time with a person—and more distance—meant there were more ways it could go wrong. The two ended up working on a monthslong research project together.
“She was so enthusiastic about it, it was a breath of fresh air,” Dr. Arora said.
They said they have stayed in touch by phone, video calls and social media. They still haven’t met in person, yet Dr. Jaisinghani calls the experience invaluable at a crucial career moment.
Adam Galinsky, a professor of leadership and ethics at Columbia Business School, advises his students and young professionals to mimic the in-person experience as best they can by asking to help a would-be mentor on a project that can be collaborated on online, like a prototype rendering.
‘When I reached out to this guy, it was very targeted. It was a very different game.’
— Dunte Hector, a 32-year-old engineer who found a mentor on LinkedIn
Early and midcareer professionals can check whether their employer’s mentorship programs have remote options, as some companies have taken them virtual. Mentor, a nonprofit that provides resources for corporations and community organizations, connects mentors and mentees through a new app and moved its workplace mentoring initiative completely online during the pandemic, said Charline Alexandre-Joseph, Mentor’s director of workforce development.
Virtual mentoring existed before Covid-19 with e-mentoring platforms, but “they became more relevant for folks because of the crisis we all found ourselves in,” she said.
Large numbers of people are using LinkedIn to find potential mentors during the Covid-19 era, said Meg Garlinghouse, LinkedIn’s vice president of social impact.
LinkedIn tends to see an upswing in activity in January as people think about their career goals in the new year. The wider reshuffling in the labor market and the long stretch of remote work have people looking for career advisers. Searches for mentees and mentors on LinkedIn doubled during the first half of January 2022 compared with the same period a year ago, the company said. In the fall, more than half of 2,000 working adults in the U.S. surveyed said they have never had a mentor, while 18% said they currently had one, according to research done on behalf of LinkedIn.
Marissa King, a professor of organizational behavior at the Yale School of Management, advises against cold emails asking someone to be a mentor. Instead, start by demonstrating interest in their work, by citing in correspondence to them their accomplishments, talks or research. Such actions prove you have done your homework, she said.
Dunte Hector sought career advice from a mentor, including over the summer when he was weighing a job change.
Dunte Hector, a 32-year-old engineer who lives near Denver, found a mentor on LinkedIn after starting a new associate product manager job last January. He had been googling for help to improve some of his skills and found a series of articles published several years ago. He decided to track down the author online. Mr. Hector didn’t identify his mentor.
“I sent him an email that basically says, ‘Hey, I found your article from 2017,’ and I put a link to it. I said, ‘This is the part that I loved. Do you have any recommendations for more information on this topic?’ ” Mr. Hector said.
Turns out, he did. Four days later Mr. Hector got a note recommending a whole book on the subject.
From there, the two began corresponding through LinkedIn, email and phone calls, Mr. Hector said. As the mentor-mentee relationship progressed, Mr. Hector said he sought career advice, including over the summer when he was weighing a job change. His mentor talked him through how to conduct his search since his current title isn’t a common one in his field, he said.
Before Covid-19, Mr. Hector said he would have gone fishing for mentors at networking events or in professional groups, where people showed up to in-person gatherings with the hope of finding someone wise to connect with.
“When I reached out to this guy, it was very targeted,” Mr. Hector said. “It was a very different game.”

Feature | 11/02/2021
ECO Blog: Leadership and Rotational Programs - What They Are and Why You Should Consider Them
For our students who have a general interest in business, but are less focused on the industry or a particular job function, these programs may be for you. They are typically private sector programs, span industry and sometimes even extend into the think tank space or public sector, such as the Council on Foreign Relations' Young Professional Program or the US Government's Pathways Program. Most though, exist in the private sector and are used to recruit young, talented recent graduates into a firm's management pipeline. Employees typically spend a short period of time (3-6 months) in a division of the firm, such as marketing, operations, finance, or talent management, and rotate through several. Often employees are assigned a mentor and attend cohort-training with other peers in the program. Toward the end of the full rotation period, employees along with their managers, select a permanent placement.
Below, I've included a few links to pique your interest. I've also included a link to a full list of programs. For some links, you may need to do a little more digging to find the correct link because websites continue to evolve throughout each academic year. For example, Mastercard's link has expired, but I was able to search their website for jobs that are considered part of their leadership program. Some firms also host summer rotation programs, such as the NFL.
Another tip, in any job search engine/job board, search by the keywords "management rotation" or "leadership rotation" to source these programs. Check out my search results on indeed by plugging in "junior rotational analyst." (If you're reading this blog in May, rather than in November, likely the yield will not be as high.) Of course this strategy is not the Holy Grail of the job search, but one more tool for your toolkit. The ECO recommends a full complement of resources including TWP (Talking with People - networking) to learn more about any job you find interesting and to broaden your search if you are getting stuck.
Below are selected Leadership Rotation Programs recruiting now:
- Council on Foreign Relations - https://www.ypfp.org/
- GE Financial Management Development Program - Healthcare Track https://jobs.gecareers.com/healthcare/global/en/fmdp
- GEICO Management Development Program - https://careers.geico.com/us/en/c/leadership-jobs
- https://www.careereducation.columbia.edu/resources/leadership-developmen...
- Texas Instruments Rotation Program - https://careers.ti.com/students/ (scroll down when you reach the page)
- Unilever - Future Leaders Programme - https://www.unilever.com/careers/early-hires/
- Vanguard - https://www.vanguardjobs.com/students-and-recent-graduates/
- Visa - https://usa.visa.com/careers/university-recruiting.html#Rotational_progr...
Check out more programs here: https://www.careereducation.columbia.edu/resources/leadership-development-rotational-programs
Although the list of employers at the link above are categorized by industry, jobs across function exist with each firm. This means that you could work for a tech firm, but hold a finance position; or, you could work for a finance firm and hold a tech position. Please make an appointment with me to discuss your internship or job search in more detail.

Feature | 10/11/2016
ECON Alum: Yingqi Liu, Class of '16
1. Why did you choose to study economics?
Coming into UVa, I knew that I wanted to major in something that is theory-based and can give me solid quantitative trainings. Economics major offers me these, and I can also apply theories that I have learned in class to explain phenomenon in my daily life.
2. What courses/professors have been the most influential and why?
I enjoyed taking many classes, including Industrial Organization with Professor Mills and Econometrics with Professor Michener. If I had to pick, perhaps Antitrust Policy with Professor Elzinga would be one of the most influential courses. In class, we examined the progression of court rulings of interesting antitrust issues over time, some of which took place during the timeframe of the class. I got a much better understanding of economic consulting, and applied for my current job.
3. Over the summer you worked as an intern. In your own words, what did you do in this role? How was it related to your major/how did you use what you've learned in the department to secure this role and on the job?
I interned at a wealth management firm over the summer. It was mainly a client-facing role with access to the most up-to-date market research data. I got to work with a wonderful team and learned more about the financial industry. The analytical training in the Econ Department prepared me well for this role.
4. What career goals do you have for your future? (immediate/long-term)
I will work for Cornerstone Research after graduation. After a few years, I plan to attend graduate school (MBA or JD).
5. If the ECO has helped in your experience at U.Va., kindly share how/why.
The ECO has been an extremely valuable resource in every stage of my career exploration. By attending numerous career panels, I got to see a wide variety of industries and met many distinguished Econ alumni. I also enjoyed speaking with Jen, who always provided me with constructive feedback and steered me toward the right direction.
6. What is a fun fact about you?
I graduated from a high school in Green Bay, Wisconsin. I did go to Packers games and I do own a Packers jersey, but I have never worn a cheese hat.

Feature | 09/17/2018
The 30 Best Tips to Prepare for an Interview
- Spend a few hours learning everything you can about the company—from as many sources as you can. Talk to friends and contacts, read current news releases, and, yes, spend some time on Google. Often, candidates just look at the information a company is pushing out via the website and social media, but fail to look more in depth at what others are saying. By doing so, you’ll get the larger picture about the company (along with any negative press).
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Get a sense of “who” the company is and how to embody a similar personality during your interview. Start by reading the company’s blog and Facebook page—the tone of the company’s content on these sites will speak volumes. Or, try reading individual employees’ blogs to figure out what type of people work (and excel) there...Click here for more: https://www.themuse.com/advice/the-ultimate-interview-guide-30-prep-tips...

Feature | 08/20/2019
Perfect Pitch: How to Nail Your Elevator Speech
by: Laura Katen for The Muse
You ride the subway, grab a coffee, and get to the office. It’s your typical Monday morning—until, bam! You step in the elevator and find yourself face-to-face with the CEO of your dream company or the client you’ve been dying to land.
She smiles and says, “Hi. What do you do?”
Scary? Absolutely. But it could happen to you—tomorrow—and you’ll want to be prepared.
The aptly named “elevator speech” or “elevator pitch” is a concise, compelling introduction that can be communicated in the amount of time it takes someone to ride the elevator to her floor. Even if you’re never caught heading up to the 39th with someone important, this is a good skill to master when you’re introducing yourself during an interview, a sales pitch, or a networking event. People are busy, and being able to communicate who you are and what you do quickly and effectively will ensure that you get your most important points across, no matter how short the conversation. Not quite ready for the elevator ride of your life? Check out our step-by-step guide to crafting—and perfecting—your pitch.
1. Start With a Blank Canvas
Take a blank piece of paper and number it from one to 10. Then, fill in the most important bits of information that you want to convey about yourself, your service or product, or your company. What, exactly, do you do? What have you achieved, and what are your goals? Who does your company serve and why? Focus on the most interesting or memorable facts—the ones that really make you stand out from others.
2. Red Pen It
Using a different color pen, edit what you’ve drafted with a critical eye. Eliminate any redundancies, unnecessary or unclear information, and broad business jargon. More importantly, hone and enhance the good stuff. “I’m great at sales” isn’t likely to pique anyone’s interest, but “I’ve exceeded my sales goals every quarter for the last two years” sure might.
3. Pick a Card
Grab five index cards, and label them “Who I Am,” “What I Do,” “How I Do It,” “Why I Do It,” and “Who I Do It For.” Add each item on the list you’ve created to the card where it fits best. Ideally, you’ll have two compelling sentences underneath each heading, so fill in any gaps if you need to.
4. Get in Order
Organize the cards in a logical order, making sure the most important information is first. Remember, you often only have a few seconds to communicate with someone. If you get cut off, what would you want her to walk away remembering?
5. Add an Attention-Getter
Add an interesting fact or stat to use at the beginning of your speech. Your goal is to immediately engage someone so that he or she is intrigued and wants to learn more.
6. Practice!
Recite your pitch to someone close who can be objective, and ask for constructive feedback (although we love our friends and families, sometimes they think we can do no wrong!). What may seem clear in your mind might come across as convoluted, long-winded, or fragmented to an outside observer.
7. Record Your Pitch
Once you’ve gotten feedback and honed your pitch even further, record yourself saying it. Listen to your tone—make sure it’s friendly, non-threatening, and that you’re not talking a mile a minute (knowing you only have a few moments to speak may subconsciously increase your pace). Really listen to what you’re saying—make sure you’re not repeating words and that you’re sending the message you really want to convey.
8. Ride the Elevator
The next time you ride an elevator (alone), practice your speech. First, give yourself some time by going to the highest floor. Then, try giving your pitch from a middle floor and from the first to the third floor, too. Having to make just a few brief moments count will help you to hone the words you need and scrap the ones you don’t! This week, set aside some time to craft your elevator pitch (or dust off the one you’ve used before). You just never know who you might face tomorrow morning.
Source: https://www.themuse.com/advice/perfect-pitch-how-to-nail-your-elevator-speech

Feature | 08/16/2021
ECO Article: Resumes and Best Practices
How to Write a College Resume That’ll Get You Hired (Plus an Example!)
by Meredith Pepin at The Muse
James Woodson/Getty Images
When you’re in college, a strong resume is one of the first things that helps you land an internship or part-time job. It represents you to employers when you can’t be in the room (yet!) and is essential to convincing them to call you for an interview based on your previous experiences and current skills. Whether you have a resume you used for college applications or are starting completely from scratch, putting effort into your resume now gives you a higher likelihood of success and sets a solid foundation, making it a breeze to update in the future as you—and it—evolve.
If you feel like you have nothing to put on your resume, don’t worry. After advising hundreds of students on these documents, I know you have more to offer than you think! I frequently meet first-year college students who believe they can’t include many of the things they did before college on a resume. You absolutely can—and you should—until those get outranked by all the other awesome things you’ll accumulate over the course of your college career. Even if you’re a freshly minted high school graduate, you have valuable skills and experiences employers want, and this guide can help you showcase them.
Read on to learn about what goes on your resume, how to format it, and what else you can do to ensure it makes you shine—and to see our college resume example.
What Goes on a College Resume
In setting up your resume, you should use a few core sections to help you easily lay out all the information a recruiter is looking for when they make quick decisions about whether or not to interview you. (And yes, recruiters do skim, reportedly spending an average of 7.4 seconds making their first pass on a resume, so you want to make a good impression fast).
Contact Info
It’s traditional to start with your basic contact information at the top of your document including your name, email, phone, and the city and state where you live. Use your full name (and maybe bump up the font a point or two because you’re a big deal!), and if you have a nickname you prefer, you can include it in parentheses.
Use your college email as it’s typically professional and establishes your educational brand. Now is also a good time to check that your phone’s voicemail greeting is up-to-date. In case a recruiter calls while you’re busy—or you don’t recognize the number and swipe it to voicemail—this greeting could be their first impression of you. Even recording something as simple as, “Hello, you’ve reached Christine. Please leave a message and I will return your call as soon as possible,” can help them feel confident they reached the right person and that you’re able to present yourself professionally.
Your physical location can be based either on your school’s address or your permanent home address. If you’re targeting opportunities in one location or the other, include the most local address so they know you’re familiar with the area (and likely won’t have a problem finding housing).
Pro tip: Save space by listing your email, phone, and location all on one line. If you have a LinkedIn profile, you can add that in your contact information section as well. The result might look like this:
Karla Perez
Stillwater, MN ∙ (000) 765-4321 ∙ karla.r.perez@university.edu ∙ www.linkedin.com/krperez
Education
For college students, education should be right below the contact information on your resume. This immediately orients your reader to the fact that you’re a current student and conveys important information, like what you’re studying. What you include in your education section can also demonstrate that you’re a good match for the opportunity you’re targeting, increasing your chances of a recruiter call.
The basics you should always include are:
- Your school’s name
- Your expected graduation date
- The type of degree you’re pursuing: For example, you might write “Bachelor of Arts” or “Associate’s Degree.”
- Any majors, minors, or concentrations: If you’re applying to opportunities in these areas, this will help an employer see you already have some knowledge and a motivation for working with them.
Depending on your personal strengths and what jobs you’re applying for, you might also want to include:
- Your GPA: But only if it’s strong. (It’s usually good to include 3.5 and above.) If you stumbled through some of the general requirements you had to take but nailed all the courses in your major, consider adding two GPAs—your cumulative GPA and your major GPA—to show you have stronger grades in your chosen discipline.
- Standardized test scores: If you’re applying to opportunities in quantitative fields, like finance or consulting, you might consider listing standardized test scores like the SAT or ACT.
- Relevant coursework: Selecting and highlighting three to five classes that match closely with the specific opportunity you’re applying to is a really fast way to tailor your resume and make you a more attractive match. For example, if you’re targeting an internship in computer science, you can list your “Introduction to Python” and “Introduction to Algorithms” classes.
- Other colleges or universities you’ve attended: If you’re a transfer student or you studied abroad at another university, adding these schools can signal that you have other strengths, such as cultural awareness or language skills, or give you a chance to highlight key classes you took elsewhere.
- Your high school: If you’re shooting for an opportunity local to your high school or went somewhere well-known, then you may want to keep that as your last entry for educational experience. Otherwise, high school is the first entry to cut when you’re short on space. It has gotten you to where you need to be, but the focus should now be on the higher-level degree you’re working on and you should dedicate as much space as you need to boast about all of your amazing college accomplishments!
Here is an example of what a completed “Education” section might look like:
EDUCATION
Candidate for Bachelor of Arts degree, St. Olaf College, Northfield, MN
Double Major: Political Science and Economics ∙ Expected Graduation: May 2023 ∙ GPA: 3.7
Relevant Coursework: Introduction to Political Theory, Politics and Human Rights, Global Interdependence
Experience
The experience section is where the real substance of your resume lives. This is the chance to show a snapshot of the jobs and internships you’ve had (if any), the work you did, the skills you used, and your accomplishments. Let’s talk about what experience you can include, how to pull out skills and demonstrate your value, and what it should look like on the page.
Experience can cover a lot of things. It can be full-time jobs, part-time jobs, internships, or research. Unpaid work—like volunteer and community roles—counts too! Don’t discount the value these other kinds of experiences can add to your resume just because you didn’t earn money. You can leverage all of your experiences on a resume by pulling out transferable skills, or broader talents you’ve developed that will be beneficial even if you aren’t applying to the same type of role.
Take a significant class project, for example. That can be built out as experience as long as you’re clear it was for a class. If you worked on a group project, you probably collaborated on a team, organized, worked under deadlines, completed some independent tasks, presented your work to others, and had some kind of outcome. Even if you were doing something that might not seem widely applicable, like designing a rocket, many of those skills can transfer over to another role. Say you had to do cost comparisons for the materials you selected for your rocket, those same analysis skills could be useful to a business role or for a part-time job where you have to order supplies for a restaurant.
You can also create targeted headers for your Experience section(s) if there are themes that correlate with the internship or part-time job you want. Specific headers—such as “Research Experience,” “Marketing Experience,” or “Software Engineering Experience”—can immediately help your reader see that you’re aligned with the needs they have for their open role.
If you don’t have something that specific, it’s OK. You can still shift your experiences into categories like “Relevant Experience” and “Additional Experience.” For example, if you’re applying to research roles, you’d want to put any research related work under “Relevant Experience,” and your cashier job and website building side hustle would go under “Additional Experience.” These two headers are great for allowing you to bump the best of your experiences up toward the top of your resume.
Once you decide which headers to use, make sure each entry includes basic information—the title of your role, the organization’s name, the location, and the dates you worked there—along with bullet points describing what you accomplished. For example:
Intern, Minnesota State Senate, St. Paul, MN
June 2019–August 2019
- Researched prior legislation and current bills, summarized content, and identified alternate actions
- Coordinated the schedule for Senator Harriet Maxwell and kept accurate minutes for all meetings
- Drafted memos for important interoffice updates outside of normal meeting schedule
Skills
A skills section is a great way to make your most valuable knowledge and expertise stand out—and be easily spotted by a recruiter. Which skills belong in your own skill section depend on the jobs you’re applying for, so be sure to read the job description carefully to figure out what skills are most relevant for each particular role.
Skills that might appear in this section include (but are definitely not limited to): technical skills; software or other tools you know well; languages you can speak, read, or write; other job-specific skills like using a POS system or cash register; and, for some jobs, even your ability to drive different vehicles.
From this range, you can see why it’s important to change things up based on what job you’re applying to! Some skills—for example, being fluent or conversational in a second language—might be relatively permanent fixtures on a college resume. If you’re looking for a part-time job waiting tables, you might add the fact that you can bartend, whereas you might list your mastery in JavaScript instead when going after that software engineering internship you have your eye on.
Once you’ve decided which skills are most important for this role, you can simply list them on your resume. If you have a few different types of skills, you can separate them into categories. For instance:
SKILLS
Languages: Spanish (Fluent); Russian (Basic)
Software: JavaScript, Python, CSS
Note that just listing your skills in a separate section isn’t always enough. You also want to make sure to describe how you’ve used key technical and job skills elsewhere on your resume (usually in the bullet points of your experience section).
Other Optional Sections
There are some other sections you can consider adding depending on your experiences and what your target employer might be looking for. For example, a consumer product firm might be looking for examples of design work. In that case you could add a section called “Design Projects,” which might include significant assignments from some of your academic classes or independent projects that you’ve developed in your spare time. Don’t be afraid to include links to your work if you’re submitting your resume online! (Just avoid hyperlinking out from important words, as this could trip up the online systems that scan most resumes.)
Another popular section is “Leadership Experience” where roles like being the vice president for one of your student organizations or being a co-captain for your athletic team would be a good fit. Employers love to see leadership themes on resumes, as it demonstrates the transferable soft skills they’re looking for like communication, collaboration, and initiative.
An “Activities” section can also demonstrate skills. If you dedicate time to learning more about consulting cases with your consulting club, you likely increased your analytical skills in a team setting, which is valuable for many business roles. If you’re an athlete, you can showcase your ability to manage your time, create or be part of a cohesive team, or organize and motivate teammates during practices. These skills gained as an athlete can be ideal if you’re applying for a heavily collaborative role. Additionally, if the activities that you’re involved in are directly applicable to the job, these are powerful to include as it demonstrates interest and dedication. So if you’re majoring in healthcare administration, adding that you’re a member of the Healthcare Society on your campus can be a major plus for an employer.
Any optional sections like these will usually need to be set up similar to your experience entries. Include the organization (or class), your role, the location, the dates you participated, and your key achievements. Here is an example of an entry you might put under a “Leadership” heading:
LEADERSHIP
Head Delegate, Model United Nations, Northfield, MN
September 2019–April 2020
- Researched global topics such as human rights and sustainable energy and developed persuasive positions
- Represented Chile as a delegate in an education simulation at a conference with 2,000+ participants; negotiated with others and collaborated on common goals to deliver resolutions on political issues
- Liaised between the delegation and the Secretariat, serving as a first point of contact and resolving issues
6 Tips for Writing a Successful College Resume
From formatting to crafting strong descriptions, attention to detail can pay off when tackling your resume. Here are six tips to help you develop a great resume:
1. Choose the Right Resume Format for You
Your parents or other family members might share their resume and have you copy it because it has worked for them. But they’re at a different place in their career and their format may not be the best one for you.
There are three main types of resume formats for laying out your experiences, skills, and education—the functional resume, the combination/hybrid resume, and the chronological resume. The chronological format is almost always the best fit for college students.
With a chronological resume, you’ll list your experiences within each category/section in reverse chronological order (most recent to least recent, based on end date). Since this is the most traditional and common resume format, recruiters are familiar with it and can quickly see what you have to offer.
2. Be Clear and Consistent
In terms of resume formatting, there are a lot of small choices to make about things like font, style, and spacing. Whatever you decide, make sure it is easily readable, consistent, and not overly fancy. You could have the greatest content in the world, but if it’s too difficult or annoying to read, a recruiter is going to move on.
In order to make a document easy to scan, use clear headers for your sections. Maybe they’re bold and in all caps, or maybe they’re a couple font sizes larger, but they should be the same throughout your resume. The rest of your content should be consistent as well. For example, all your organization or previous employer names might be in italics, your dates all right aligned, your locations in plain text, and the titles of your roles in bold. Keeping things uniform helps the recruiter easily absorb all the relevant information you want them to have.
3. Make Sure It Can Pass Through an Application Tracking System (ATS)
Formatting is also important because your resume will likely pass through something called an applicant tracking system (ATS), a type of software that helps recruiters organize incoming candidate applications. Recruiters can apply filters or search for keywords, and the ATS will show candidates matching the desired criteria, making it easier to identify good candidates in large applicant pools.
In order for your resume to pass this first round and make it to the human who has the power to get you to an interview, the ATS needs to see you’re a good match. But there are formatting choices that can confuse an ATS—for example, some won’t read the content inside tables, text boxes, or graphics. And if the ATS can’t read your materials, your resume might be filtered out. (Read more about formatting your resume for an ATS here.)
This all means that using one of the fancy resume templates you see online isn’t necessarily the best move. Most basic formatting can be achieved with bolding, italics, and spacing, and you will still end up with a good-looking resume—meaning that starting with a blank document can actually be a better bet. (If you still want to use a template, we’ve curated 41 free ATS-friendly templates here.)
4. Create Impactful Descriptions
Give the descriptions you use for your experiences some TLC, as this is what recruiters will focus on once you’ve caught their attention. I often discover students undersell—or simply forget—all the things they’ve done that might be interesting and of value to an employer (including those transferable skills).
Here’s an exercise that can help. Reflect on an experience (such as an internship you had or volunteer work you completed) and quickly jot down what you did. You don’t need to have much structure for this—try it as a brainstorm. Think about answering some of these questions:
- What was your role?
- What were the goals for that position or experience?
- What tasks did you specifically do?
- What projects did you work on?
- Were there any side projects or tasks you completed?
- Who did you work with?
- What did you contribute?
- What did you accomplish? (Or what did/do you intend to accomplish? This can be a useful way to think about things especially when considering research or longer term projects that are still in progress!)
- Can it be quantified? Numbers can paint a clear and impressive picture of your accomplishments to someone reading your resume. You might write that you fundraised as part of the Student Government Association, and that will generally get your point across, but if you can say you increased SGA fundraising by 30% and were able to create two new social events attended by 100+ students each, that will make more of an impact. Look for ways to quantify your accomplishments wherever possible.
Once you have a good brainstorm, take the information you gathered and try crafting several statements using this formula:
Action Verb + Subject + Outcome/Purpose/Result (i.e. Accomplishment)
So you might say:
Organized a fundraiser event for 70 participants resulting in $1,000 in donations to a local hospital
Your descriptions are most valuable when leading with an action verb that reflects specific skills. For example, swap “Worked on” for “Collaborated on” and “Responsible for” with “Oversaw.” Other verbs I often recommend students use include:
- Analyzed
- Communicated
- Created
- Facilitated
- Improved
- Initiated
- Led
- Organized
- Presented
- Researched
5. Tailor Your Resume for Each Opportunity
Always tailor your resume to each specific job you apply to. Making it easy for the recruiter to connect your skills to what they are looking for can increase your chances of success. The job description is your blueprint and key to doing this. A couple of these exercises could help you identify what you’ll want to highlight.
- Activity 1: Take the job description and go through and underline everything you’ve had some experience in. This might be specific tasks, software/programs/tools, or qualities. Write a quick note in the margin to highlight when you’ve done that. Underline things where you have transferable skills too. For example, if you’ve used a software that is similar to a software they’re looking for, underline it. A recruiter should be able to see on your resume that you used similar skills and would be a quick study.
- Activity 2: If you aren’t sure which skills to emphasize, take the entire job description and pop it into a simple online word cloud generator, like TagCrowd. It automatically shows you the words most used in the description, which are likely of highest importance to the company or role. If you have those skills, make sure you mention them in your descriptions and mirror the language as exactly as possible (our friend the ATS will be looking for precise keywords!).
These activities can help you identify the right action verbs, keywords, and tools—like software—to weave into your descriptions. They can also help you decide what past experiences to include or which of your college courses are relevant to this role and which direct and transferable skills to highlight to make your resume a stronger fit for your target job.
6. Keep a Few Other Tried-and-True Tips in Mind
Here are a few other parting tips to keep in mind as you build your document:
- Avoid writing in first person (“I,” “we,” “our,” and “my” statements).
- Bullet points will make your document more readable—usually two to three per entry works well. But it doesn’t have to be even: Give more description space to the most relevant entries.
- Attention to detail matters. Proofread—not just for typos, but to make sure formatting is consistent (like date dashes). Employers will use your resume to make assumptions about how detail-oriented you are.
- Review any headers you put in all caps. Some spell checkers are programmed to assume that they’re acronyms and skip them.
- Ditch jargon and acronyms wherever possible. Don’t assume the reader always knows what you’re talking about. Sometimes the first person reading your document is a general recruiter and not familiar with the technical side of a role.
- Be aware of tenses. If you’ve completed an experience, those descriptions will be in past tense, and current roles can be described in present tense. (If you’re still actively involved in a role you can list the role through “Present,” and if more than one entry has the same end date, make a strategic decision to put the most relevant experience first.)
- Acceptable margins are usually between one and 0.7 inches.
- Pick a readable font, like Arial, Calibri, or Times New Roman, and try not to go below font size 11.
- As a college student, stick to a one-page resume. However, you should consider keeping a longer version (called a master resume) for your own personal use. That’s where you keep a full record of your experiences to make it easier to pull out the relevant ones each time you tailor your resume for a specific job.
What Does a College Resume Look Like?
A college resume should showcase your education, experiences, and skills (direct and transferable!) in a clear way, while keeping in mind what is most relevant to your target employer. The resume below shows a student highlighting their relevant education and experiences specifically for internship opportunities in government and politics.
https://www.themuse.com/advice/how-to-write-college-resume-example

Feature | 08/11/2017
Professor John McLaren's research acknowledged in Bloomberg article.
"John McLaren was among the small school of economists worrying that overall gains from trade were smaller than his colleagues suspected—and the local impact much worse."
Photo by Dan Addison, University Communications

Feature | 11/22/2021
J-Term Class in Management Consulting - for Credit
Looking for a J-Term elective that combines career skills development, career exploration, and academic credit? You are invited to register for LPPS 3440: Introduction to Management Consulting and Strategic Decision Making. This course is a collaborative effort between the Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy and the UVA Career Center.
Register for LPPS 3440 here.
Course Dates & Times:
01/03/2022 - 01/14/2022
Mon, Tues., Wed., Thurs., Fri.
10:00am - 3:00pm
Focusing on skills development and career exploration aimed at making you an efficient problem-solver, this class is designed to set you up for success during the recruiting process and throughout your summer internship. The course is well-suited for those interested in the management consulting field and beyond. Students from all disciplines are encouraged to enroll as the skills gained will translate to a wide variety of careers (business, public policy, not-for-profit, law, healthcare, and more).
Course Objectives:
- Introduce students to the field of management consulting.
- Build core skills ranging from case and behavioral interview prep to excel and power point.
- Develop a structured problem-solving toolkit to aid in internship-readiness.
- Provide the unique opportunity to earn academic credit while working on a real-world consulting project for an actual client. (An amazing resume-building opportunity!)
- Offer opportunities for formal networking, coaching, and mentoring from UVA Alumni at major consulting firms.
- Continued case interview preparation support even after the course is over.
Each student team will be assigned an alumni mentor/coach from a major consulting firm. The “capstone” event will be case competition judged by UVA Alumni from notable consulting firms.
A few reflections from students who took the J-term course last year:
I would recommend LPPS 3440 to anyone looking to learn more about and get a jumpstart on management consulting recruiting, but also to those generally interested in learning a new and challenging way of problem-solving. Before taking Introduction to Management Consulting and Strategic Decision Making, I was unsure of what management consultants actually do, let alone if it was a career path for me. Professor Boler and the entire teaching team not only gave me the core practical and people skills to succeed in this field, but also helped me set goals and envision my niche in the consulting world. One of the best aspects of LPPS 3440 is that it offers career development, combined with academic credit. In particular, the instructional opportunities on how to succeed in behavioral and case interviews were key to recruitment for me. The coaching, mentoring, and networking opportunities are unparalleled. Professor Boler continues to offer case interview preparation long after the course, and is really available as a mentor and career coach for the class. This format of extended support keeps your problem-solving toolkit learned in-class honed and ready for interviews and internships. Furthermore, LPPS 3440 is a brilliant resume builder because it gives you an early, real-life consulting experience, but with the support of an academic background. It also provides an easy and exciting talking point for interviews, that shows employers you are ready for the challenges of an internship. Students interested in any field would benefit from.
-Anna Thompson, UVA 23 (Interning at McKinsey & Co this upcoming summer)
I cannot recommend LPPS 3440 enough if you are thinking of recruiting for consulting, business, technology, or any similar roles! More and more employers are requiring cases in their interview process (not just consulting firms) and this class will give you a head start in the case preparation process. Professor Boler will run through the basics of casing in class sessions and even after the course ends, he will continue to reach out for 1-on-1 mock case/behavioral interviews. In addition to case practice, this class will provide you with invaluable teamwork experiences and the opportunity to work on a consulting project for a real client. You will also have the chance to improve your Excel and PowerPoint skills, as well as network with alumni who will mentor you on your project. This class will provide you with a comprehensive introduction into the business world and I highly recommend it for anyone looking to develop their career skills!
-Osama Elsayed-Ali, UVA ’23 (Interning at Capital One this upcoming summer)
LPPS 3440: Introduction to Management Consulting and Strategic Decision Making with Professor Boler was integral to my success with the recruitment process for consulting. I took it during J-Term of my second year which allowed me to develop valuable technical skills, get a leg up with networking, and gain real-world experience ahead of the early internship recruitment cycle. Professor Boler is very engaging and truly dedicated to helping his students succeed throughout this course and beyond. From introducing me to alumni in firms such as Bain and Accenture, to running through mock case interviews, to learning how to effectively talk about my resume, Boler’s course allowed me to familiarize myself with the world of consulting. It was unlike any other course I have taken at UVA and I thoroughly enjoyed it.
-Andrea Madrigal, UVA ‘23 (Interning at McKinsey & Co. this upcoming summer)
Get more information, learn about the teaching team, and read more reflections from former LPPS 3440 students here.
We hope you will consider this J-Term opportunity to earn academic credit while building your resume, expanding your skills, and creating a network of peers and professionals.

Feature | 08/16/2021
ECO Blog: Job Seekers! What You Should Be Doing Now
Hello Majors!
I've been thinking about what to write to you all today and decided to use some inspiration from my friend and colleague, executive coach, Elizabeth Hope Derby. In Elizabeth's recent newsletter, she discusses her kickboxing experience and uses the kickboxing metaphor ultimately to describe how many of us "stretch a little bit harder, jump two inches higher. [Who] share this desire to push beyond our limits and savor the satisfaction of a really good stretch." This is how I view our majors, as people, who stretch. But, beware stretchers, as Elizabeth warns in her newsletter through personal narrative, there is a point at which we may push "past 'stretched' to 'stretched too thin.'" Elizabeth suggests "marry[ing] the ambition of your brain with the intelligence of your body."
I want all of our majors to keep this in mind as you begin the semester next week. You will have myriad commitments in addition to the most important, your academic coursework, and there will be times when it may be useful to examine how "stretched" you are and if you need to rebalance. Below this blog are resources to help prevent and mitigate stretching-too-thin. Now, having said that, I'm sharing below my many recommendations to prepare for your career exploration and job search this academic year. There is a lot! However you approach reading this list and taking action, keep in mind the stretch and stretching-too-thin. There's a lot listed below and you may want to pace yourself rather than take from the buffet all in one pass.
1 - Update your resume, Handshake profile, LInkedIn profile with any summer experiences you have had and have these critiqued by VMOCK and career counselors:
- Research (your own, work-related, or from a class)
- Classes that are relevant to the work you are pursuing, (include UVA, community college, Coursera, LinkedIn Learning, etc.)
- Work experience - include all of your accomplishments and responsibilities on a general resume, and then draw from them as you customize your resumes by industry and job function before submitting
- Personal accomplishments in a Skills and Interests section - If you trained for a marathon, taught yourself guitar, learned a language, etc, this is information to include in a resume (See me or UVA Career Center to discuss further)
- Update your GPA
- Click here for resume and cover letter samples and review the UVA Hoos Career Guide for more
2 - Handshake (Take these action steps, at the very least):
- Update your work preferences by industry, job function, and geographic location. This allows alerts from the ECO and from employers
- Determine if you'd like your profile viewable by employers
- Take the On Grounds Interview (OGI) survey to be sure you are eligible to attend employer and alumni office hours, and apply for jobs by employers recruiting on Grounds
- Review events and jobs by date to prepare yourself for upcoming relevant programs
3 - Self-Assessment:
- Take the PathwayU assessment if you're looking for direction about how your interests intersect with careers
- Read the ECO Industry Overviews for introductory exposure to typical career paths for economics majors
- ECO Self-assessment webpage
4 - Job Applications and Interviews:
- Familiarize yourself with recruiting calendar for the employers that interest you (pages 46-47 in the Hoos Career Guide)
- Familiarize yourself with the types of application materials (resumes, cover letters, assessments, interviews) that are used in your sector/industries/job functions of interest
- HireVue is a virtual job application platform. Many employers use this or other similar video assessments as screening tools
- Pymetrics is a personality assessment many employers ask applicants to submit; there are many other types. Don't stress over these!
- VMock - an AI tool to help you prep your resume and your elevator pitch and perfect your LInkedIn profile
- Visit job boards
And if you want more....check out the ECO's suggested timeline of activities here.
Balancing resources:
https://csc.virginia.edu/page/explore-insight-timer
https://csc.virginia.edu/page/practice-meditation-csc-resources-and-oppo...
https://csc.virginia.edu/resources/spaces

Feature | 01/24/2018
ARTICLE - HOW TO WRITE A RESUME TO BEAT AN AUTOMATED TRACKING SYSTEM
"The majority of applications for many jobs never get seen by a human. If you've ever submitted an application through a company's website, there's a strong chance that your resume was screened—and likely rejected—by an automated system. Here are some tips to help make sure that your resume makes it through in future, so that it can at least get its six seconds with a real live human." - Phil Stott
Click here to read the rest of the article.

Feature | 09/23/2016
Professor Ana Fostel: Using Mathematical Models to Understand Global Markets
"Focusing on the intersection of macroeconomics and finance, Fostel employs models that focus on the role of debt in asset pricing to understand investment, growth, default and contagion." (Lorenzo Perez). Learn more about Professor Ana Fostel's research here.
Professor Ana Fostel has taught Global Financial Markets, which should be offered in Spring 2017 (ECON 4365).

Feature | 02/24/2022
How to Prepare for a Virtual Interview
Great Advice from Capital One for Virtual Interview Preparation (This advice applies to more than Cap One interviews.)
7 Tips to Nail Your Virtual Interview
You did it. You scoured job boards, got your resume together, successfully applied for a job at Capital One and got the call to do your final round of interviews. Interviews, at the best of times, can be nerve-wracking but on top of those normal butterflies, you’ve now been told that your interview will be virtual instead of in person. While there are some obvious advantages (no travel time and interviewing in a familiar, comfortable space), you may need some reassurance on the virtual interview experience. Never fear! We are here to help make this experience as smooth and as comfortable as we would at our interview suites. Here are our top tips to help you stay calm and land your dream job at Capital One.
1. Read all the emails from your recruiter carefully
Your recruiter knows that a virtual interview might be a brand new thing for you. On top of sending your interview schedule, they’ll be sending instructions on how to sign into your virtual interview. Be sure to review all of the instructions prior to your interview day so you can get your questions answered and make sure you fully understand the process. You’ll also receive instructions on how to use our video meeting platform, Zoom. You’ll definitely want to test it before the start of your first interview! [If your recruiter at other firms does not do this, ask for this information.]
2. Check your computer and internet speeds
As simple as this may seem, make sure your computer and internet are in good working order. Your computer should be running on the most recent updates and you’ll need a reliable internet connection. Consider running a test using a video chat app, like Zoom, on your computer with a friend before your interview day to confirm that everything is working properly. Do this a couple of days in advance so you aren’t struggling the morning of and adding to your stress before the actual interview! Additionally, have your computer plugged in or be sure the battery holds enough charge for the entirety of the interview.
3. Consider your surroundings
Remember when we suggested running a video test with a friend? While doing that, check out what is behind you and how visible you are on the screen. You want the interviewer to concentrate on you, not be distracted by a TV playing in the background, your posters hanging on the wall or the fact that they can't see your face very well. If you'd like, you're welcome to use one of our Zoom backgrounds for your interview. Lighting is a huge factor you might not consider—like all interviews, you want to put your best presentation forward so make sure your face is visible. Try sitting next to a window or close to a bright lamp so your face is illuminated. It's important that the light is coming from an angle that illuminates your face, so don't sit with a window or light behind you either. Also, try putting the dog and cat in another room or consider having a friend watch them for the day if they tend to get noisy.
Basically, don’t let your surroundings detract from the great things you are saying… you want to come across as you are—smart, capable and ready to take on the serious and innovative work we do here at Capital One.
4. Dress like you’re going to an in-person interview
As a general rule, if you wouldn’t wear it to an in-person interview, don’t wear it to your virtual interview. Like all interviews, this is your opportunity to make a great first impression so you should look put together and professional, even from the comfort of your home. And again, like an in-person interview, choose something that you feel confident in. Your confidence will come across the screen much like it would if you were meeting your interviewers in person.
5. Come prepared to answer and ask questions
Would you wing any interview? Probably not! Just because you aren’t coming to the office in person, doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be prepared to answer questions or to ask questions of your own. Do your research and be prepared for each type of interview. And if you’re doing a case, read up on how to ace it! Your recruiter will be sending instructions on how to conduct your case interview over Zoom, so read those carefully so you understand everything. [If your employer does not send these instructions, please ask for them.]
In fact, because you aren’t visiting the office in person, it might be a good idea to ask even more questions, including ones about team dynamics and the workspace. What is the team’s work from home policy? If they routinely work from home, how do they stay connected? You can also explore the resources here on the blog, including checking out our offices in McLean, Richmond, Plano and New York, as well as finding out more about our on-campus food services.
6. Hit a technical snag? Don’t panic!
If, despite all your tests, your call drops or video is buffering, try to stay calm. As frustrating as it might be, sometimes a quick reboot can solve the problem. Try to convey the problem as best you can and what steps you're going to take to try to remedy it. Hopefully, you can get it sorted and continue with the Zoom interview. If it’s not possible to continue the interview in Zoom for whatever reason, try a phone call. That doesn’t work? Make sure to send an email to your interviewer and recruiter so they can help you with next steps.
7. Relax and be yourself
As tough as it may be in any interview, try to relax and let your personality and skills shine. Since you may not be able to convey enthusiasm as much on video as in person, make sure to explain why you think you’re a great fit for the role and why you’re enthusiastic about joining Capital One. Remember—it took a lot to get to this point. You have the skills, now let the interviewers get to know you. You’ve got this.
While you may not be as familiar with virtual interviews as you are with in person interviews, they don’t have to be scary. Following these virtual interview tips can help you relax, be clear about your skills and land your dream job at Capital One. Good luck and happy interviewing!
Copyright ©2022 Capital One. Opinions are those of the individual author. Statements are deemed accurate at the time of posting. Unless otherwise noted, Capital One is not affiliated with, or endorsed by, any company mentioned. All trademarks and intellectual property used or displayed are the property of their respective owners.
https://www.capitalonecareers.com/7-tips-to-nail-your-virtual-interview-...

Feature | 02/13/2023
Flash Seminar with Prof. Kenneth Elzinga -"Anti-Trust Policies and Big Tech

Feature | 07/31/2021
Blog: Consulting Blog #1
This message was shared with the ECO from the UVA Career Center for students interested in management consulting careers. This is message 1 of 3. For additional information, see Collab/ECO Resources/Vault Guides/Consulting Careers and the ECO website’s Industry Overviews in the “Management Consulting” section.
Step 1: Define Consulting
We strongly suggest learning more about the role of a consultant before deciding to pursue internships and full-time positions. Here are a few resources to help get started with learning more:
In addition to traditional management consulting, there are several areas of specialized consulting that may be of interest depending on your background. Look at the links below to see where your background may be best served or what is of most interest to you to work towards.
If you are curious to learn more about which firms sit within each practice area, the Career Insider by Vault has a breakdown chart. From the top Data Analytics Consulting practices to Healthcare Consulting, this list serves as a valuable tool.
Last summer, we had the opportunity to hear from alumni from a variety of backgrounds talk about their path in consulting. Hear more about their story and advice in the videos and blog posts listed below:
Making the decision to pursue any career path is a big decision and it is important to make it an informed choice. In addition to the resources above, the Career Center offers an extensive library of resources are major and career exploration.
-
PathwayU is a platform with assessments to help you identify education and career pathways that fit you and make the most sense for your unique interests and values.
-
Candid Career is the premier provider of thousands of informational video interviews featuring industry professionals through an easy to use website. Their site provides the inside scoop on careers as well as advice that will give you an edge in your job search. Here are some links to videos with consultants to learn more about their day to day:
Step 2: Identify Target Firms
Once you have decided consulting is an area you would like to explore further; we advise that you identify which firms you want to learn more about. Below are tips for accomplishing this:
-
Regularly check the Events tab on Handshake to identify information sessions, coffee chats and networking events to attend. RSVP and add to your calendar!
-
Visit each firm’s website, LinkedIn page, and social media accounts to learn more. You want to learn as much as you can about, the types of projects the firm typically works on and the overall environment to help assess fit.
For now, ask yourself some of these questions about the firm to assess fit:
-
What does the organizational structure look like?
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What are the responsibilities of entry level consultants?
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What is the pattern for growth? Where do people go after their first role within the organization?
As you are identifying your firms to research, some will have specific portions of their websites dedicated to recruiting at UVA, check out these examples below:

Feature | 09/28/2021
ECO Article: Becoming a Morning Person Doesn’t Have to Be Hard
Sleep and productivity experts weigh in on how to get your morning mojo back; ‘Whatever you do, don’t log on to your work email’
*From the ECO: Although this article intends an audience of working parents, this applies to anyone who is working on modifying their schedule to rise earlier, post-Covid.
For the Wall Street Journal
by Rachel Feintzeig
9.06.21
First I was waiting until the kids went back to daycare. Then the deadline was the return to the office, which never came.
Here I still was: avoiding my alarm clock, stumbling out to walk the dog in my pajamas, ignoring judgmental looks from my husband as he sipped his green smoothie, 6 a.m. workout complete. Had I even brushed my teeth?
I had to face it. My mornings were a mess.
It began as a small indulgence in a strange time, the delicious pandemic sleep-in. Virtual school meant no frenzied dropoffs; remote workers ditched the commute. What else was there to do, stuck at home? A Nielsen survey from June 2020 found 54% of those working remotely were getting up later than before, compared with 12% rising earlier.
Now, on the cusp of a new season, it’s time to take back our mornings. Many kids are returning to in-person learning. Some workers are being called to the office. And even if you don’t have something making you get out of bed, now might still be the moment.
“We kind of have to just do it ourselves, because we don’t know what’s coming next,” says Eric Komo, a manager with software company Leadpages, who lives in Roseville, Minn.
In the early days of the pandemic, he took advantage of the freedom, ditching his early-morning bike ride in favor of snoozing. It took a pandemic puppy to shock him and his husband back to a better routine. Boba, the 10-pound Shih Tzu the couple got in August last year, wakes up at 6 a.m. No exceptions.
Now the couple keeps a strict 10 p.m. bedtime, and they spend their mornings sharing coffee, reading newsletters and running outside together. Mr. Komo says he feels more energized.
“Secretly we were very grateful,” he says. “It got our day started and kind of opened up time in the morning that we didn’t know we needed.”
One of Mr. Komo’s colleagues at Leadpages, Bob Sparkins, seems a little less convinced. He has loved sleeping in until 8 a.m. during the pandemic.
“I know it’s healthier,” he says of shifting to earlier mornings, as his two kids transfer from their at-home pandemic learning pod back to school. Then he recalls how packing daily lunches feels. “Sisyphean.”
Mr. Sparkins has been prepping for the transition by setting a timer on his television so it automatically turns off by 10:30 p.m.—the effectiveness of the cue varies depending on how good the show is—and filling the freezer with home-cooked, easy-to-grab food, like pancakes for quick breakfasts. He has also talked to his boss about coming in a little late. The pandemic showed flexibility doesn’t have to impact productivity, he says.
How to get going
The sleep researchers I talked to would approve. They made me feel infinitely better about my own habits—so much so that I considered sharing some of their findings with my husband, in hopes of tempering all those loving but slightly condescending looks.
“A lot of people think, ‘Oh, you’re just lazy because you get up late,’ ” says Elise Facer-Childs, a research fellow at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia, who has studied
night owls. “But there’s actually really clear scientific evidence behind these differences.”
Still, she acknowledges we’re living in a morning person’s world. To shift earlier, start by getting into bed 15 minutes earlier than usual, says Rebecca Robbins, a sleep scientist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston. Cut out screen time at least 30 minutes before bed, and quit with the snooze button, which just interrupts the flow of natural sleep, she says.
Once you’re up, head outside. Exposure to light will help reset your circadian rhythm. After two weeks, you’ll feel good, Dr. Robbins says.
Being awake is only half the battle. You also need a solid morning routine, says Wendy Ellin, a workplace productivity consultant based in Atlanta.
“Do you want to live accidentally or do you want to live intentionally?” she asks. “Accidentally makes me nervous.”
Her own morning routine is a 45-minute eye-opener that includes meditating, sipping hot water with lemon, writing in a gratitude journal and stretching (a regimen I find both awe-inspiring and terrifying). She promises a mere 7 minutes is enough—just think about what motivates and focuses you. Do three yoga poses, turn on your coffee machine, pet your dog. Whatever you do, don’t log on to your work email, she advises.
“It’s more people needing your attention,” she says. “That stuff just starts to swirl in your head.” Save it for when you’ve had a little time to adjust to the waking world.
Add a buffer
Earlier in the pandemic, Edwin Akrong fell into the habit of rolling out of bed and heading straight to video calls on his computer. The “cold start” was jarring, says the Brooklyn, N.Y., resident, a co-founder and chief product officer at communication startup Katch.
“You’re not in the flow,” he says.
He realized he needed a buffer between sleep and work. These days, he wakes as early as 5:30 to fit in a run before meetings with colleagues in India..

Feature | 09/12/2018
Devaki Ghose, Invited to International Econ Program at Dartmouth
In 2017, the Department of Economics at Dartmouth College began a Visiting Ph.D. Program in International Economics. According to the program website “The program will provide funding to current Ph.D. students with high potential who have completed their coursework to visit Dartmouth College. There are no teaching or RA obligations associated with the position: visiting students are simply expected to be active members of the vibrant Dartmouth international economics community. “ Students from universities around the world apply and, each academic term, one is admitted to the program. Devaki was selected during the 2018 winter term and describe it as “one of the most rewarding experiences I had in recent years. My supervisor at Dartmouth, Treb Allen, not only provided invaluable academic input, but also encouraged me to dream bigger and push my ideas further. The vibrant academic community there, comprised of established professors and enterprising post-doctoral students, provided me with constructive criticism and fresh ideas that infused my project with new energy. I think what makes Dartmouth a very special place is that it is a top school with no graduate program in economics. Being the only graduate student for the term, all the professors had lots of time to talk about my research and interact with me. I will recommend every student in international economics to consider applying for this program in future.”

Feature | 09/05/2016
ECO NEWSLETTER 9.5.16
Awesome events and job postings for econ majors! This week's prep programs for Career Fairs!

Feature | 11/28/2018
Summary of research presented at the semiannual Richmond Fed-UVA Research Workshop

Feature | 08/24/2018
,Feature | 09/09/2018
Register for Princeton Fintech and Quant Conference
We are pleased to invite you to the 2018 IIT Stuart - Princeton Fintech and Quant Conference at IIT Stuart School of Business in Downtown Chicago, IL. The conference will feature speakers and panelists from leading trading firms, banks, and hedge funds from around the country, as well as from financial technology firms and startups. Our speakers will provide real fintech and quant insights from the trenches. There will be opportunities to network with leading professionals and fellow top students and gain an insider's view of this fast-paced and exciting sector of finance and technology as well as learn about internship and employment opportunities.
The biggest trend right now in the Fintech space is blockchain technology. While Database and Networking technologies have evolved separately over the years, blockchain is at the intersection of these technologies and it enables systems that maintain a single version of data across a network using consensus algorithms. These consensus algorithms are based on cryptography concepts. This year's conference will feature speakers from this space as well as educational talks and workshops.
Over the past seven years, we’ve brought together more than 120 high-level industry professionals and 2,500 students in Princeton and in Chicago to discuss the leading trends in quantitative trading. This year’s spring conference will take place on Saturday, October 20th, at the IIT Stuart School of Business in Downtown Chicago, IL. Below are just a few of the companies that have been represented and recruited at previous conferences:
- Deutsche Bank
- JP Morgan
- Two Sigma
- Princeton Alpha
- Ripple
- AQR
- Quantopian
- Domeyard LLP
- Portfolio Effect
- Byte Academy
- Cindicator
- Numerix
- And many more!
Students and Young Alumni who purchase tickets by Sunday, September 9th will receive 15% off the Early Tickets registration price by including the promotional code ALPHA15. To qualify, students must use their .edu email for registration.
To register, please visit our conference site:
http://www.princetonfintechquant.org/
or our Eventbrite page:
We look forward to having you join us.

Feature | 08/30/2021
ECO Article: How A Rising Generation Views Remote Work (WSJ 8.24.21)
I subscribe to The Wall Street Journal. You can read it for free through the UVA library. Here's a recent piece I thought our students would enjoy this week. The link to the full article is at the bottom of the page.
-Jen Jones
Editor’s note: This Future View discusses whether the absence of an option to work remotely would be a deal breaker for potential employees. Students should click here to submit opinions of fewer than 250 words before Sept. 7. The best responses will be published that night.
Don’t Go Fully Remote
I enjoy the flexibility and convenience of working remotely as much as the next guy, but I don’t believe it can fully replace in-person work. I see the option to work remotely a day or two a week as a plus, but its absence wouldn’t be a deal breaker.
Face-to-face interaction is important for building employee morale and work culture. When I entered the workforce four years ago, being surrounded by my peers in an office energized me and built a sense of solidarity as we worked together. The opportunity to bump into colleagues from other teams or grab coffee with senior management added variety to the day. I think these encounters are especially important for teaching fresh graduates how to behave in a professional environment and stimulating their ambitions.
Working in Shanghai last year, when the city recovered from the pandemic around April, I saw that Chinese companies didn’t give employees any illusions that they would work from home forever. Workplaces shifted very quickly from split-shifts to back-to-office in the span of a few weeks. My co-workers’ initial reluctance quickly dissipated and everyone got back into the groove very quickly. They became thankful for more-productive face-to-face meetings and a dedicated space to work without distractions.
—Celeste Chia, Harvard University, M.B.A.
New Opportunities
Five days a week in an office is a thing of the past. Remote work, in some capacity, is bound to become the norm. It’s unlikely anyone will want to give up the flexibility. For many parents, work-life balance has become just that—more balanced. For me and other members of Gen Z, access to remote work means career opportunities aren’t constrained by geographical proximity. A whole generation of rising professionals can begin to establish careers without having to live in unaffordable cities.
—Melina Khan, Quinnipiac University, journalism
The Young and the Restless Need the Office
Remote work is ideal for parents, and it adds flexibility to the workweek that many adults appreciate. But it shouldn’t be a requirement for young people. Working remotely is less intense—which is great if you have a family or other competing responsibilities. But for workers around my age, it offers less opportunity to showcase work ethic and capabilities. I want to work my way up, and that will be harder without face-to-face interaction with superiors. I love the flexibility of a hybrid model, because it makes my workweek easier and I have more time for friends, family and hobbies. But lack of remote work shouldn’t be a deal breaker. If you’re young and looking to grow professionally, put in the time now and reap the reward of flexibility later.
—Joseph Penhallow, University of Rhode Island, economics and business administration
No Flexibility
The goal is to get the work done. How that happens shouldn’t matter as long as it is finished in a timely and professional manner. Some people work better remotely, some in-person and some hybrid. I wouldn’t take a job that doesn’t offer flexibility in work arrangement.
Not allowing for any remote work speaks volumes about the values of a company. It tells me that the company isn’t keeping up with the changing technology. Remote work is the new normal, just as keyboards are the new typewriters and smartphones are the new pagers. We embrace these new innovations because they are more efficient.
Forbidding remote work also tells me that the company cares little about the well-being of its employees—that it gives priority to profit over people, which is counterproductive anyway. Working from home saves time and expense on commuting, traveling and the rest, giving employees more time to work on their assignments. It also expands the talent pool as prospective employees are no longer limited by location. A competent company would give workers the option.
—Shawn Tran, University of California, Berkeley, public health
Firsthand Experience
Job opportunities lacking the option to work remotely seem few and far between nowadays. But in pursuing a career in civil engineering, I think the value of collaboration and site work trumps the desire to stay home. In an engineering field, one of the most important aspects of growth is firsthand experience of the real-world problems you encounter, not a PowerPoint presentation of the issue from the comfort of your own home.
—Christopher Flannery, Quinnipiac University, civil engineering
Teams Are Formed in Person
As a senior deep in the job search, I consistently see postings advertising “remote work available,” “telework options” and “hybrid working schedule.” In recent interviews these options have been floated as enticements. The problem is that I don’t want to work remotely.
I would rather take a job that requires office work without exception. The convenience of remote work, with the ability to set your own schedule, live elsewhere or travel while working, is all great. But what about the lack of office camaraderie, communication and learning? While interning remotely, I found that I never truly connected to teammates, understood office dynamics or learned where to take questions and problems when they arose. Compared with my internship this past summer, which was all in-office, the difference was night and day. I felt a part of a team, understood the office dynamics, and had a truly positive working experience.
—Benjamin Harris, Auburn University, finance
Click here to submit a response to the next Future View.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/gen-z-remote-work-hybrid-in-person-office-z...

Feature | 04/21/2017
Prof Eric Chyn wins Dissertation Prize from HCEO!
"The Human Capital and Economic Opportunity Global Working Group is pleased to announce the winner of its first-ever dissertation prize, Eric Chyn. He submitted the dissertation “Moved to Opportunity: The Long-Run Effect of Public Housing Demolition on Labor Market Outcomes of Children.”

Feature | 12/01/2021
Jiafeng Wu Presents at 2021 SEA Conference
Fifth-year student Jiafeng Wu presented his paper, "Price and Efficiency in a Market for Generic Drugs in China," at the Models of Modern Markets session of the 91st SEA Annual Meeting.

Feature | 07/18/2019
Any Questions? What to Ask in an Interview
Any Questions? What to Ask in an Interview
Taken from The Muse: https://www.themuse.com/advice/any-questions-what-to-ask-in-an-interview
A good interview is more than just artful answers to any question a prospective employer throws your way. Remember, you’ll need to be just as prepared once the tables turn.
When an interviewer asks, “Do you have any questions?” she’s not just being polite. She’s trying to gauge whether you’re informed, interested, and engaged. Explains recruiter Angela Smith, “if an applicant doesn't have any questions for me, that's a red flag. I'm thinking that they either don't care or can't be bothered to do research about my company.”
This question is also an important opportunity to help you decide if the job and company is the right fit for you. Here’s our guide on what to ask (and avoid!) when you’re interviewing the interviewer.
Step 1: Clarify Your Uncertainties
Your first step should be to ask anything about the position that hasn’t been covered in the interview (though not questions you’d know the answers to by looking at the job description or company website). “You want the questions to be well thought-out and meaningful to the position and industry,” says Smith. Sample questions could include:
- What does a typical day look like?
- What are the biggest challenges that someone in this position would face?
- How will I be trained? How will my performance be reviewed?
- What are the performance expectations of this position over the first 12 months?
- What are the most immediate projects that need to be addressed?
Step 2: Remove Their Doubts
Next, ask questions that will allow you to talk about any strengths or accomplishments you didn’t cover in the interview, or to make sure that you are sharing with the interviewer the same types of qualities they are looking for. “I ask what kind of person they see ideally fitting the job,” says Brittany Mazin, a young professional. “It’s good to be clear on exactly what they are looking for and whether you are a good match for the job.” Once they answer, you can clarify or reiterate why you’ll be a good match. Some ways to phrase this:
- What are the skills and experiences you’re looking for in an ideal candidate?
- What attributes does someone need to have in order to be really successful in this position?
- What types of skills is the team missing that you're looking to fill with a new hire?
- Is there anything that concerns you about my background being a fit for this role?
Step 3: Uncover Red Flags
This can be tricky to do tactfully, but asking questions about turnover, culture, and growth opportunities during the interview process can prevent unpleasant surprises down the road. Questions you could ask include:
- What is the company culture like?
- Can you tell me about the team I’ll be working with?
- Where is the last person who held this job moving on to?
- Where have successful employees previously in this position progressed to?
- What are the career paths in this department/company?
Step 4: Get a View of the Future
Asking questions about the growth of the company and its employees is a good idea for two reasons. “I always ask what a company's goals are for the next five to ten years. It gives a good perspective on what their values are and how I may or may not fit with a company,” says Diane Kulseth, another young professional. Plus, asking about the future of the company and opportunities for your own growth shows that you’re committed and eager to learn. You can ask:
- Where do you see this company in the next few years?
- What can you tell me about your new product or plans for growth?
- What training programs are available to your employees?
- Are there opportunities for advancement or professional development?
Step 5: Build a Relationship
When in doubt, ask the interviewer about himself or herself. “I ask interviewers about their journey in their career, such as what field they were in before and how it led to where they are now,” says Sasha Rice, a recent graduate. “People love talking about themselves…Plus, if you have similarities, it creates a bond between you and them.” But “be careful,” suggests Smith “to not get too personal, and pay attention to how the interviewer reacts.” Try questions like:
- How long have you been with the company?
- What did you do before?
- Why did you come to this company?
- What’s your favorite part about working here?
Step 6: Wrap Up
At the end of the interview, don’t forget to ask about next steps. First, reiterate that you’re interested in the position (assuming you still are, of course!), and ask the following non-presumptuous questions about what’s next in the hiring process:
- What are the next steps in the interview process?
- Is there anything else I can provide you with that would be helpful?
Questions to Avoid
Sure, there are a million more questions you’d like to ask (um, where’s the best place around here for happy hour?), but there are some key topics to avoid, too. Most importantly: “never ask any question you should already know the answer to. You must do your homework and research before going to the interview,” says Amy Stake-Michalenko, Career Services Manager at Fresh Start Women’s Foundation.
Salary is another taboo. “Never ask about benefits, pay, what they will do for you—particularly in a first or even second round interview. This will be negotiated once they make you an offer and prior to you accepting,” Stake-Michalenko adds.
Finally, don’t bombard the interviewer with a laundry list of questions. If she seems engaged in the conversation and encourages you to keep asking, great, but if you see her looking at her watch, time to wrap it up! It’s best to pick a handful of questions that are most important to you and leave on a positive note.

Feature | 09/25/2018
Make a Powerful Interview Impact! (First Impressions Count!)

Feature | 07/31/2021
Blog: Consulting Blog #2
This message was shared by the UVA Career Center for those students interested in management consulting careers. This is message #2 of 3 in the series. For additional information, see Collab/ECO Resources/Vault Guides/Consulting Careers and the ECO website’s Industry Overviews in the “Management Consulting” section.
Now that you know more about the consulting industry and have a few firms in mind to research, let us talk more about getting prepared for recruiting. This email will focus on building out your materials and upskilling as you prepare for the recruiting process.
Important Process Update:
Many of the top firms have accelerated their timelines to include deadlines a month or two earlier than previous years. Firms like BCG, Bain and McKinsey have first round application deadlines the second week of July, some of these are posted in Handshake while others are not. Be sure to check the "Careers" page of these organizations to stay in touch with their requirements and deadlines. There are also secondary deadlines in place in the early September period if you miss the July application period. If you have questions, come in and see us!
Create and Update Your Branding Materials:
The resume is a key indicator into your skills set and how it might align with the consulting industry. It is vital that you spend time refining it to the skills recruiters are looking for and the specific role you are applying to. In addition to the resume, your social media presence is also an important aspect of the recruiting process.
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Resume & Cover Letter – Check out the Hoos Career Guide for tips on how to organize your resume and cover letter. Emphasize analytical abilities, experience in teams, communication skills, leadership/management experiences, and a history of achieving results. The consulting page on the Career Center website also has suggestions from firms on resume structure.
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VMock is a 24-7 online resume review tool, that leverages data science, machine learning, and natural language processing to provide instant personalized feedback. When you upload your resume, the platform assesses components such as action verbs, format, and how well the 5 core competencies (analytical, communication, leadership, teamwork and initiative) are reflected in your document
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LinkedIn – Create or update your LinkedIn account. Learn more about how to organize your profile and use Vmock’s Aspire feature to make sure it is getting noticed by recruiters.
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Social media – Clean up your social media accounts! Google your name to ensure that whatever populates is something you are comfortable with employers seeing.
Make sure that your resume and cover letter have been reviewed by a career counselor. Each career services office also has career counseling available over the summer so it is never too early to have a second set of eyes on your materials. Check here for more information: Commerce Career Services, Economics Career Office, Center for Engineering Career Development, Batten Career Services, UVA Career Center.
Build Relevant Skills
Both LinkedIn Learning and Coursera provide opportunities to build up your skills in a way that can boost your resume. Check out the Gain Skills & Experience section of our website for a more extensive list of how you can increase your knowledge.
If you are not familiar with LinkedIn Learning, it provides you with the opportunity to take advantage of an extensive library of learning content, directly from your LinkedIn profile. Check out this page from the library on how to get started.
While there are numerous skills to focus on, here are a few highlights to consider that are consulting focused.

Feature | 02/26/2023
Economics Undergraduate Career Forum 2023 (Students)
Scroll to the bottom for alumni LinkedIn profile links and complete biographies.
The University of Virginia Department of Economics
Presents
The 2023 Economics Undergraduate Career Forum
Economics at Work
March 30-31, 2023
Charlottesville, Virginia
Program Description and Format:
The Economics Undergraduate Career Forum brings together professionals who hold undergraduate economics degrees with current students and faculty through networking events and educational programming to expose majors and prospective majors to potential professional experiences. The program combines informal networking opportunities with more structured career panels, talks, and office hours. Our hope is that these programs will provide valuable career-related information for students while facilitating and strengthening relationships between all participants.
By the end of the program, we hope that students will have an understanding of the industries, workplaces, and job functions of the panelists and some familiarity with internships, entry-level jobs and career paths. Students will learn how to prepare to be strong intern/entry-level candidates in the participants’ fields, which may include guidance about classes and extracurriculars, building industry-focused professional materials, upskilling resources, and relevant networking and interviewing. We hope that students and alumni will have fun and will emerge with new connections and ideas for next steps.
PROGRAM SCHEDULE
March 30
- 5:00-6:00 pm Industry Talk: Newcomb Hall Ballroom (Open to Students, Faculty, Guests)
- 6:30-8:00 pm Dinner (Guests, Invited Faculty, Selected Students) The Ridley, West Main Street, Charlottesville (applications for students will be available March 1)
March 31
- 8:30-9:15 am Breakfast, Monroe 120 (Faculty and Alumni Guests)
- 9:30-10:45 am Panel 1, Newcomb Hall, Commonwealth Room; Office Hours/Coffee Chats, Monroe 113, 235, and 236
- 11:00-12:00 pm Panel 2, Newcomb Hall, Commonwealth Room; Office Hours/Coffee Chats, Monroe 113, 235, and 236
- 12:30-1:45 pm Networking Lunch, Newcomb Hall South Meeting Room (Guests and Students)
- 2:00-2:30 pm Gift Ceremony before Departure, Newcomb Hall South Meeting Room (Guests, Steering Committee)
Program Descriptions Follow in Order. Please use the Event Schedule you will receive on 3/20/22 for Your Assignments:
Industry Talk:
Forging Horcruxes in the Rotunda: Using the Power of Economic Analysis at Work
Register here: https://app.joinhandshake.com/edu/events/1205068
Before the dinner at The Ridley, there will be an industry talk given on Grounds. Students, faculty, and alumni are invited to attend.
Speaker: Dr. Gian Domenico Sarolli, Senior Economist, Bank of America
Networking Dinner with Faculty, Alumni, and Students (By Application Only)
Apply here: https://virginia.az1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_0IE1QynIZkO6CRo
Career Panel 1
Register here: https://app.joinhandshake.com/edu/events/1205072
Jennifer Floyd, Harris Williams
Gian Domenic Sorolli, Bank of America
Stella Yang, Echo Street Capital
Lindsey Walsh, Save 1 Challenge (formerly Gartner)
Career Panel 2
Register here: https://app.joinhandshake.com/edu/events/1205073
Sarah Bufano, Guidehouse
Jenny Rae Le Roux, Management Consulted
Suhail Thahir, FTI Consulting
Amir Rasool, Hanover Research
Meagan Walters, Centers for Disease Control
Office Hours/Coffee Chats
Register here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/16ObhgDqEV6bC4mJXsCs1PT5mKA148pjU...
Office hours provide an opportunity for students to seek feedback about their career plans or contemplations and to ask questions about a guest’s background one-on-one.
A virtual or in-person prep session may be required for office hours.
Office Hours/Coffee Chats Session 1
Register here: https://app.joinhandshake.com/edu/events/1205070
Sarah Bufano, Guidehouse
Jenny Rae Le Roux, Management Consulted
Suhail Thahir, FTI Consulting
Amir Rasool, Hanover Research
Meagan Walters, Centers for Disease Control
Office Hours/Coffee Chats Session 2
Register here: https://app.joinhandshake.com/edu/events/1205071
Jennifer Floyd, Harris Williams
Gian Domenic Sorolli, Bank of America
Stella Yang, Echo Street Capital
Lindsey Walsh, Save 1 Challenge (formerly Gartner)
Networking Lunch - All Alumni Guests
Industries Represented: Management Consulting, Economic Consulting, Investment Banking, PE, Health Economics, Government and Policy, AI, Non-profit, Entrepreneurship
Register here: https://app.joinhandshake.com/edu/events/1259898
Lunch provided by Take It Away
Tables will be arranged around the room and each alum will be stationed at a table as a “host.” Students will grab lunch and find their way to a table for the first 5 minutes. Each alumnus will have 1-2 minutes to introduce him or herself to the room. Students will be provided with tips sheets to prepare for networking.
Part 2: Organized Rotations (2 at 10 minutes each for 20 minutes total)
Students will rotate between two different alumni tables. They should introduce themselves with their names, major, year, and a fun fact.
Part 3: Informal Networking (20 minutes)
Students will move about the room and visit alumni tables.
Alumni will share any information they have about internship and entry-level recruiting for students with their organization/relevant past organizations. This may include information about diversity/affinity group hiring.
Alumni and Guests' LInkedIn Profiles:
Sarah Bufano- Sr. National Security Consultant at Guidehouse
Jennifer Floyd- Analyst at Harris Williams
Jenny Rae Le Roux- CEO at Management Consulted
Amir Rasool- Managing Director at Hanover Research
Gian Domenico Sarolli- Senior Economist at Bank of America
Troy Sweeney- Associate at NetCapital (canceled as of 3/26)
Suhail Thahir- Consultant at FTI Consulting
Lindsey Walsh- Business Co-Owner & Save 1 Challenge Founder, formerly Managing VP at Gartner
Meagan Walters- Health Policy Analyst at the CDC
Stella Yang- Senior Quantitative Analyst, Echo Street Capital
Alumni and Guests' Biographies

Feature | 12/11/2018
Ben Hamilton Finds Conference Presentations Excellent Preparation for the Job Market
On October 6, at the 74th Midwest International Trade Conference at Vanderbilt University, I presented my job market paper, “Learning, Externalities, and Export Dynamics,” in a 25-minute talk to an audience of economists studying international trade. In November, I presented my job market paper twice at different venues in Washington D.C. First, at the 88th Southern Economic Association annual meeting, where I received constructive feedback on a condensed 15-minute version of my talk from students and professors of varied concentrations. Next, at the second Mid-Atlantic International Trade Workshop, hosted by the Federal Reserve Board, I presented a longer, 40-minute version of my talk and benefited from helpful comments and discussion with other trade economists. Having the opportunity to present my talk in a variety of formats, receive questions from audiences unfamiliar with me and my work, and network with many people in my field was a valuable experience, particularly as I prepare to go on the job market during the next few months.

Feature | 08/12/2016
A Healthier Work Day to Improve Productivity
Read about how one company in Japan is encouraging it's employees to make healthy changes to improve their productivity. (you may need to log into Handshake to access this article).

Feature | 03/26/2023
17 Tips to Survive Your Next Networking Event
Article written by Darrah Brustein from Forbes. The ECO pulled our top 15 tips most applicable to the 2023 Undergraduate Economics Career Forum to feature below.
You arrive alone. Your heart is beating a little faster than normal and suddenly all of your charisma and charm go out the window. You try to lock eyes with someone so that you can find a temporary home in what can feel like a sea of strangers. But everyone looks happily engaged in conversation.
While this might sound like your experience at a middle school dance, it's also what many people feel when they enter a networking event. These are completely natural reactions, even for the biggest extroverts. The great news is that people go to these events to meet strangers, so you’re in the same position as everyone else. Here are 17 helpful tips for navigating a networking event and making the most of your time there:
- Be yourself. Networking events are meant as jumping-off points for relationship building. If you can't be yourself, you’ll be starting off these new relationships with a lie. Don’t try to be the person you think others want to meet. Be genuine. The people you connect with when you are authentic are the ones you’ll want to stay in touch with.
- Set reasonable expectations. When attending an event, understand what you are there to do. Is your goal to feel out a new organization and get to know the vibe? Is it to meet five new people? Is it to meet one or two specific people? These are all reasonable expectations and it takes a little pre-planning to set these goals.
- Take notes. When you ask for someone's card after having a great conversation, take notes on their business card after they walk away or immediately after the event. This will help you to be more specific in your follow-up.
- Introduce yourself to the organizer. A great way to get to know more about an organization and who is involved is to seek out the event organizer and introduce yourself. He/she can then help point you in the right direction and can introduce you to other attendees to get you off on the right foot.
- Treat people like friends. Would you go to a friend, interrupt his/her conversation, hand over a business card, talk about yourself and then walk away? Of course not. Treat new networking relationships as you’d treat your friendships. Build rapport and trust that business will happen.
- Ask great questions. The only way to get to know someone else is to ask them genuine and thoughtful questions. It’s always best to walk away from a conversation having allowed the other person to speak more than you did. Not only will they feel great about the conversation, but you’ll have gotten to know a lot about him/her, helping you plan and execute your follow-up more thoughtfully.
- Sharing is caring. This is no less true now than it was in kindergarten. If you are willing to share your contacts and resources, others will be more likely to help you as well. Develop a sincerity in your giving nature without expectation of something in return.
- Consider their network. When meeting people, it’s important to remember that even if they can't help you directly, someone in their network probably can.
- Treat connecting like a puzzle. If you’re asking great questions and considering how you can help others, you’ll naturally start to draw connections between who you are talking to and others in your network. Offer to make these connections! Perhaps they are two people who have the same target client industry, or maybe you know that a contact of yours is looking for the service the other provides. Encourage both parties to follow up with you after they meet so that you can hear what came of their interaction. It will not only pay dividends for you, it will also help you hone your matchmaking skills.
- Don’t be a card spammer. The closest thing to you throwing all of your business cards away is handing them out to anyone and everyone you meet without them asking. If you haven’t built enough rapport with someone to encourage them to ask for your card, don’t offer one.
- Be specific. The more specific you can be about what you do and what others can do to help you (if they ask), the better. Tell them the names of a few specific companies you’re looking to work with.
- Ask yourself why they should care. Consider why the person you’re speaking to should care about what you’re saying. Craft your conversations accordingly. You only have a short time to make an impression, so try to make it favorable.
- Be engaged. Keep eye contact with your conversation partner. Nod your head and tilt your body towards them when you’re speaking. These small cues go a long way towards making them feel like you care, which helps you to build rapport and trust: the foundation on which you can later do business.
- Do NOT "work the room." Don't try to meet as many people as possible in a room; focus on making just a few solid connections. People can sense when you’re simply speaking with them to grab their card and go. These short interactions will not be memorable and therefore work against you. Aim to meet a few people and begin a meaningful dialogue.
- Don’t be afraid to join in. There is nothing wrong with joining a conversation and waiting for a natural break in the chatter to introduce yourself. In most cases, the people who are already speaking will enjoy the interruption because it gives them a chance to meet someone new. If you sense that you’ve entered into a serious discussion, it’s okay to politely excuse yourself.
Now you're prepared to rock your next networking event and hopefully build some meaningful relationships in the process. And remember; do talk to strangers!
Darrah Brustein is the founder of Network Under 40, a networking organization for young professionals.

Feature | 07/19/2019
Sarah Turner and PhD Candidate Emily Cook Publish Article on Effects of Universal College Testing
The study was referenced on June 25th in The Washington Post, Education Week, and The Atlanta Journal-Constitution; the abstract can be accessed using the following link: https://www.aera.net/Newsroom/Missed-Exams-and-Lost-Opportunities-Who-Could-Gain-from-Expanded-College-Admission-Testing

Feature | 08/25/2015
Meeting of the Minds
"Amid global stock market concerns, University of Virginia economists made the short drive down Interstate 64 to an institution responsible for implementing many of the policies they research: the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond.
Friday’s biannual research symposium began two years ago when members of U.Va.’s economics faculty realized that the institutional partnership was not what it could be, despite numerous individual collaborations.
“The Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond Research Department is a world-class collection of researchers working on frontier problems in many fields, including banking, macroeconomic theory and household finance,” U.Va. professor Eric Young said. “The opportunity for faculty and students to interact and learn from these researchers was too good to pass up.” (Caroline Newman).
Learn more about this partnernship here.

Feature | 12/08/2016
Professor Eric Chyn: The Future of National Housing Policies
"Even before graduating from his Ph.D. program in August, Eric Chyn earned widespread acclaim for research that, according to its coverage in The New York Times, “could fundamentally reshape national housing policy.”
Chyn, who will start in January as an assistant professor in the University of Virginia’s Department of Economics, wanted to learn more about how living in public housing impacts a child’s income and employment over his or her lifetime.
“Broadly, my interest is in studying government programs and the way we spend money in society to make people better off, especially those who are disadvantaged,” Chyn said. “Housing assistance is a very sizeable and notable expenditure in the grand scheme of what the government does.”
Existing studies showed that children whose parents opted into a lottery system moving them from public to private housing tended to fare better as adults, especially if they moved while very young. However, Chyn found a gap in that approach: only 25 percent of eligible families applied for the lottery. He conjectured that parents who applied were already particularly motivated to protect their children from negative environments, and therefore might not be the best sample to study. What, he wondered, happened to the other 75 percent of children?"
- Caroline Newman, see original article.
Photo credit: Dan Addison, University Communications

Feature | 07/12/2018
10 Ways to Get the Most out of Your Summer Internship
June 8, 2016
A summer internship can be a great way to build your future in the adult workforce – or it can be a big disappointment. Are you sitting around with your fellow interns, swapping jokes because you have little do? This temporary gig is supposed to be more than a paycheck. The whole point of it is to further your education.
You have more to say about how your internship goes than you think. If you aren’t gaining the skills and connections you need, talk to your boss about how to make your experience better. Or even if you are busy, and realize you don’t like this occupation, there are lessons to be learned. An internship is too valuable to waste.
You haven’t landed an internship yet? The good news is that companies are still hiring (and check out these last-minute suggestions to increase your job leads). If you have locked down an internship, make the most of it by following these 10 tips:
1. Don’t put up with a do-nothing internship. Horror stories abound about interns sidelined into indolent, clock-watching existences. Or relegated to mindless tasks like fetching coffee or cleaning up the stockroom. Sure, you can’t expect to be plotting corporate strategy as a 20-year-old, two-month temp. But you should politely keep after your boss to make the most of you.
Your manager may not know how quickly or effectively you work, so don’t be alarmed if you’re not given much to do at first. Let your manager know you’re available to do more. Ask for suggestions on how you can learn more about the company and industry. Perhaps there are old company reports you can review. Showing initiative to learn and remain productive will endear you to your boss.
2. Convert your internship into a full-time position. This means doing a great job with the responsibilities given to you right now. Get regular feedback from your manager so you know you’re meeting expectations. If there’s a formal evaluation form, get a copy in advance so you can keep track of what your objectives should be. Ask the human resources department for the official process to be considered for extended employment. You don’t want to miss any steps or deadlines.
3. Get a professional reference (or two). Stay close to your manager so you can get a strong professional reference from him or her. Your internship program may not lead to another job there, but a strong reference can set you up for one elsewhere. Also ask for a reference from others you helped. For example, if you interned in marketing, you may have closely supported the salespeople. Toward the end of your internship, collect their personal contact information, in case they leave the firm by the time you need the references.
4. Identify your valuable strengths. Internships also are voyages of self-discovery. Sometimes skills that come naturally are ones you overlook, and it’s helpful to have others pinpoint them for you. If your internship doesn’t have an official evaluation form, ask for this feedback. This provides you with good talking points when you meet future employers.
5. Identify your weaknesses. Sometimes, managers hesitate to give criticism. Soften the request for a candid critique by asking how to improve for your next role. Not knowing your weak points can hinder you: You won’t know what you need to correct, or whether the job is right for you.
Perhaps you love working in a law firm but aren’t attentive to detail. As an attorney, you will need to be meticulous about the small things, so you need to focus on them in the future. Or your brash personality may not be the right fit for a career in a buttoned-down corporate climate, and nothing will change that. Such self-knowledge will benefit you well going forward.
6. Develop new skills. If your internship offers training workshops or mentor pairings or any other skills-building endeavors, make sure you take advantage of these. Find out the calendar in advance, and give your manager plenty of notice, plus a game plan for how you will make up the work if the extra training interferes with your duties.
7. Broaden your network. Gaining skills isn’t the whole story with an internship. Getting to know people who may help you later is a big goal. Even if no organized networking forums exist, being in the workplace each day means you are meeting new folks constantly. Take your lunch breaks with different co-workers over the summer. Ask your manager for introductions. Attend any company-sponsored events open to you.
This goes for full-time employees and fellow interns alike. Your peers are a great resource because you have a shared experience. Introduce your immediate colleagues to your fellow interns, and ask peers to do the same for you. If you got your internship through a larger organization, keep in touch with its interns outside your company, too.
8. Add new accomplishments to your resume. Note what you’re learning and doing on your resume while it’s fresh in your mind. What technical and computer skills are you using? What types of analysis are you doing? What tangible results have you achieved?
9. Strengthen your online profile. In addition to your resume, update your LinkedIn profile. A word of warning: Be careful about sharing your internship experience on social media. Don’t reveal confidential information – like that research you’re doing for an initiative that is not yet public. Do not share business goals or insights. Furthermore, keep your tone professional and positive. Trashing your boss on the Web, where everyone can read it, including the boss, could come back to harm you.
10. Learn from a bad experience. Not all internships are nirvana. If you don’t like yours, figure out why. This gives you a clearer picture about what you don’t want in your adult career. Is it the day-to-day work? Is it the people? The pace? The growth prospects? The industry or subject matter? Bad experiences are instructive. Remember: You take an internship to learn, about what a job is like and what you are like.

Feature | 03/04/2019
These Interview Questions are Worth Preparing
If you're planning to interview with one of the Big 4 professional firms—Deloitte, EY, KPMG, PwC—you likely know that you'll have to answer questions about your strengths and weaknesses, as well as field a number of so-called behavioral questions.
These behavioral questions typically begin with the phrase "Tell me about a time ..." and most often cover your ability to lead, deal with conflict, work on teams, work within tight time constraints, and deal with failure. And so, to nail any Big 4 interview, you'll most certainly need airtight answers to these questions.
In addition, you'll now need airtight answers to a host of other "Tell me about a time ..." questions.
Recently, we surveyed several thousand Big 4 professionals, asking them about life at their firms. One question we asked had to do with interview questions. And below are 11 new behavioral questions that Big 4 professionals told us their firms are now asking their interviewees.
1. Tell me about a time you set a goal in one of your previous positions and the steps you took to achieve it.
2. Tell me about a time when you had to manage conflicting priorities and still exceed someone's expectations.
3. Tell me about a time you used technology to effectively complete a task or analysis.
4. Tell me about a time you had to be a problem solver and the methods you used to solve the issue.
5. Tell me about a time you were proactive in soliciting performance feedback from a mentor or client.
6. Tell me about a time you enthusiastically led a work team through a major change initiative.
7. Tell me about a time you had to analyze data and present it to a group. How did you get the data, analyze it, and what was the outcome?
8. Tell me about a time you had to adapt to real change in your life.
9. Tell me about a time you had to influence others' opinions on a project or work situation.
10. Tell me about a time you went out of your way to learn.
11. Tell me about a time when you had to think on your feet. What was the outcome?
Of course, chances are slim that you'll receive all of these questions in one Big 4 interview. Still, it's going to be a good idea, if you are interviewing with a Big 4 firm, to make sure you prepare answers for each of these questions.
Here's how to go about dointg that: First, take a few minutes to think about a real time that you experienced each situation (never make up your answer; always base it on fact). Second, take a few minutes to collect your thoughts about what you honestly did in each circumstance (visualize yourself in that situation and try to recall all the details involved, what happened, what you did, the outcome, etc.). Third, take a few minutes to practice your response to each question (you can do this aloud or in your head).
Finally, remember that it's always better to over-prepare than under-prepare. And that this is especially true when it comes to interviewing.

Feature | 11/02/2020
Sabrina Peng, Winner of the Annual International Atlantic Economic Society Undergraduate Paper Competition

Feature | 08/06/2021
Blog: 8.9.2021 The Power of Weak Ties
Hello Majors!
Networking, building relationships! This blog is about this daunting, exciting, intimidating, and rewarding process of building connections.
I recently connected with 1990 econ alum Brian Ramsay, President of private equity firm, Littlejohn & Co. I met Brian through Professor Elzinga. Brian had written to Professor Elzinga because he had been interviewed on a podcast (link below) where he discussed the power of weak ties, something those of you who took Econ 2010 with Professor Elzinga may remember from lectures. Through this email, Professor Elzinga connected Brian and me at the ECO and now I'm sharing Brian's remarks about networking with you. And, it is my hope that in the coming year, Brian will spend time with our majors in the department in-person or virtually. This story demonstrates perfectly the power of networking and building relationships. (During the podcast, you'll also learn about private equity from Brian and the importance of financial analysis skills and . To reach Brian's networking remarks, skip to the 10:00 minute mark.) So much of the work that the ECO undertakes is to set the table for you to join the conversation with our economics alumni and employers. And while we all have independent networks, which are forged from the building blocks of our own families, friends, and experiences outside of UVA, our goal in the ECO is to share the cultural wealth of our UVA community. We will talk much more about this together in ECO programs and individual advising, but for now, take a listen to Brian Ramsay's interview with "Top of the Pile."
https://www.listennotes.com/podcasts/top-of-the-pile/career-path-private...
Then, take action and reach out to one professional to practice your informational interviewing. This could be a relative, family friend, friend's family member, your family physician...you get the picture. Use these links to draft your email/phone call script to secure the meeting and then this link to prepare for the call. Send me a message to let me know how it goes! We will include your comments in an upcoming newsletter.
And, please believe me that asking for help now from alumni and other professionals is completely appropriate and expected. The day will come when you will pay it forward by helping upcoming majors who will be in the shoes you once filled.

Feature | 10/02/2017
ARTICLE - 43 RESUME TIPS THAT WILL HELP GET YOU HIRED
"When you haven’t updated your resume in a while, it can be hard to know where to start. What experiences and accomplishments should you include for the jobs you’ve got your eye on? What new resume rules and trends should you be following? And seriously, one page or two?" - Erin Greenawald
Click here to read the rest of the article.

Feature | 12/01/2021
Joaquin Saldain Presents at 2021 SEA, LACEA LAMES and NTA Meetings
Joaquin Saldain, a sixth-year student, presented his paper, "A Quantitative Model of High-Cost Consumer Credit," at the 2021 Annual SEA, LACEA LAMES and NTA Meetings. Joaquin provided the following summary of his work: "I study the welfare consequences of regulations on high-cost consumer credit in the US, such as borrowing limits and interest rate caps. I estimate a heterogeneous-agents model with risk-based pricing of loans that features standard exponential discounters and households with self-control and temptation. I use transaction-level payday lending data and the literature's valuations of a no-borrowing incentive to identify different household types. I find that one-third of high-cost borrowers suffer from temptation. Although individually targeted regulation could improve the welfare of these households, I find that noncontingent regulatory borrowing limits and interest-rate caps—like those contained in typical regulations of payday loans—reduce the welfare of all types of households. The reason is that lenders offer borrowers tight individually-targeted loan price schedules that limit households' borrowing capacity so that noncontingent regulatory limits cannot improve welfare over them. "

Feature | 05/30/2017
ARTICLE - TOP 10 JOBS FOR ECONOMICS MAJORS
"If you're the analytical type, fascinated by the world around you, then an economics major might be a good choice for you. A degree in economics can be used in many areas, including public policy and finance. You can use an economics degree to study industry trends, labor markets, the prospects for individual companies, and the forces that drive the economy.
Economics majors learn to gather, organize, and interpret data, using mathematical formulas and statistics to make calculations. They also create models to predict the impact of investments, policy decisions, industry trends, demographics, climate change and much more."-Mike Profita
Click here to read the rest of the article.

Feature | 03/24/2015
Research at the Frontiers in Big Data
"As the sheer volume of data in a range of computationally intensive fields grows bigger, computer scientists, engineers and researchers from across the disciplines are finding that work involving “big data” increasingly lands at the intersection of disciplines. Denis Nekipelov, a new associate professor of economics at the University of Virginia, calls it “research at the frontiers.” (Fariss Samarrai)
To read more of this article, click here.

Feature | 04/22/2020
Haruka Takayama Hasegawa Wins an All-University Graduate Teaching Award
Haruka Takayama Hasegawa, winner of an All-University Graduate Teaching Award for her dedication to undergraduate teaching and outstanding achievement in that area, is recognized in UVA Today's article, "There's Something That Makes These Graduate Instructor's Special."
Feature | 01/14/2021
UVA Grad Students Present at SEA
Haruka Takayama presented her job market paper, "Greenfield or Brownfield? Firm FDI Choice and Intangible Capital," in the "Understanding Foreign Investment" session. Melissa Spencer presented two papers. The first paper, "Safer Sex? The Effect of AIDS Risk on Birth Rates," was selected by UVA to represent the department in the meeting's graduate student sessions. The second paper, "The Effect of Tasers on Fatal Police Encounters," was selected for a session on policing sponsored by the Committee for the Status of Women in the Economics Profession.

Feature | 05/08/2018
In Memoriam: Leland B. Yeager (November 4, 1924 - April 23, 2018)
Leland Yeager died on April 23, 2018 at the age of 93. Yeager was the last of the remarkable group of scholars–including Buchanan, Tullock, Coase, Nutter–that made Virginia political economy. He is best known for his contributions to monetary theory and international monetary economics. Professor Yeager earned his A.B. from Oberlin College and his M.A. and Ph.D. in economics from Columbia University. Following a brief stint at the University of Maryland, he taught for nearly three decades at the University of Virginia. Yeager finished his career at Auburn University, where he was Ludwig von Mises Distinguished Professor of Economics.
Below are a number of wonderful tributes to Mr. Yeager:
Feature | 07/07/2018
PHD CANDIDATE EMILY COOK PUBLISHES ARTICLE WITH PROFESSORS CILIBERTO (UVA) AND WILLIAMS (UNC)
UVA Professor Federico Ciliberto, UVA PhD Candidate Emily E. Cook, and UVA alumnus and current UNC Professor Jonathan W. Williams recently published “Network Structure and Consolidation in the U.S. Airline Industry, 1990-2015” in the Review of Industrial Organization. The authors study the effect of consolidation on airline network connectivity using three measures of centrality from graph theory: Degree; Closeness; and Betweenness. Degree is the fraction of all possible links that are actually served by at least one airline out of an airport; Closeness is the inverse of the average distance (i.e., number of links) from an airport to every other airport; and Betweenness is the frequency with which an airport is found to be on the shortest path between two other airports.
Changes in these measures from 1990 to 2015 imply: i) the average airport services a greater proportion of possible routes; ii) the average origin airport is fewer stops away from any given destination; and iii) the average hub is less often along the shortest route between two other airports. Yet, the authors find the trend toward greater connectivity in the national network structure is largely unaffected by consolidation—in the form of mergers and codeshare agreements—during this period. Forty years after its deregulation, the airline industry continues to be the focus of research, antitrust cases, and public policy debates. In this paper the authors contribute to the evolving debate by examining how mergers and alliances have shaped the entire industry’s U.S. network.
The figure above, which captures trends in the network measures from 1990 to 2015, shows the year fixed effects and associated confidence intervals from separate OLS regressions of standardized Degree, Closeness, and Betweenness on a constant along with year, month, and airport fixed effects.

Feature | 03/01/2019
Ga Young Ko Wins Tipton Snavely Award for Outstanding Summer Research
Ga Young Ko, a 3rd year PhD student, won a Tipton Snavely Award for Outstanding Summer Research (an honor shared with Joaquin Saldain). She summarizes her paper, titled The Role of Rating System and Hiring Biases in Freelance Auction Platforms, as follows: "A freelance auction platform is a website that matches buyers of services with sellers using an auction mechanism. Sellers differ in terms of their observed demographics (e.g., gender, race, etc.) and unobserved quality. Buyers on the platform may use demographic information as cues to evaluate quality. If these characteristics are correlated, then observing demographics allows buyers to make informed task-specific hiring decisions. But these characteristics may also induce intrinsic racial or gender-based hiring biases. I develop and estimate a model of a sequential first-price auction with beauty contest and endogenous entry. I use an extensive new data-set from a freelance platform. The data-set includes price offers, assignments, and seller characteristics, where machine learning techniques are employed to infer race and gender. Through various counterfactual analyses I will determine the role of information about sellers on the market outcome and also quantify the efficiency of the freelance system."

Feature | 02/08/2022
ECO Article: Employer Hiring Updates for the Class of 2022
From the National Association of Colleges and Employers, NACE Job Outlook 2022
ABOUT THE SURVEY The Job Outlook survey is a forecast of hiring intentions of employers as they relate to new college graduates. Each year, the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) surveys its employer members about their hiring plans and other employment-related issues to project the market for new college graduates for the current class and to assess a variety of conditions that may influence that market. Data for the Job Outlook 2022 survey were collected from August 18, 2021, through October 1, 2021. Of the 157 total respondents, 116 were NACE employer members, representing 15.7% of eligible member respondents. The Job Outlook 2022 survey was also distributed to nonmember companies from which an additional 41 responses were received. Of the total that responded, 5.7% are from New England, 9.6% are from the Southwest, 16.6% are from the Southeast, 15.9% are from the Rocky Mountain/Far West, 8.3% are from the Plains, 14% are from the Mideast, and 29.9% are from the Great Lakes. For additional information about the respondents, see the Appendix. Data are calculated based on the number of respondents to each specific question. Totals may not equal 100% due to rounding. Be sure to check out the last few bullets regarding internships!
KEY INSIGHTS
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Employers plan to hire 26.6% more new graduates from the Class of 2022 than they did from the Class of 2021. The data NACE collected in its Job Outlook 2022 survey appear to be in line with job opening trends in general. The Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) report identifies more than 10 million job openings in the United States for August 2021. This is a 62% increase over the numbers for August 2020 (6.5 million) and a 42% increase over August 2019 (7.3 million), the last prepandemic year
- Almost 60% of respondents have plans to increase hires this year and approximately 37% expect to maintain their number of new college graduate hires. Only the remaining 3.5% of respondents plan to decrease their number of college hires. In last year’s Job Outlook 2021 survey, only 16.5% of respondents planned to increase hires, 52.5% planned to maintain hiring numbers, and 31% had plans to decrease their number of hires.
- There has been a shift in how employers rate the overall job market. The largest group of respondents (48.6%) rate the overall job market for 2021-22 graduates as “very good.” Last year, the largest group (51.7%) rated the overall job market for 2020-21 graduates as “fair.” In addition, 14.1% of respondents rate the overall job market for 2021-22 graduates as “excellent,” which is up from just 0.5% that gave the same rating to last year’s job market.
- Employers continue to conduct most of their college recruiting in the fall for both full-time and intern hires. They report conducting their recruiting at a 66% fall/34% spring split for full-time hires and a 67% fall/33% spring split for intern hires.
- Hiring by industry shows increases across the board. Of the industries with at least five respondents, the information sector is reporting the largest increase of 83%. All other sectors report fairly large double-digit increases, with construction employers reporting the smallest increase in hiring (6.8%).
- In terms of individual respondents, 76.9% of employers from the information sector will increase hires and the remaining 23.1% will maintain hires. No respondents from this sector will decrease hires.
- The only three industries with respondents reporting plans to decrease hires are utilities (16.7%), construction (12.5%), and miscellaneous professional services (11.1%).
- Job market ratings by industry are all “good” or better. On a five-point scale ranging from “poor” to ”excellent,” the lowest rating comes from utilities, but falls between “good” and “very good.” The highest rating comes from the finance, insurance, and real estate industry.
- Employers located in the Southwest region are more than doubling their new graduate hires, reporting an overall increase of 111.5%. The smallest increase in college graduate hiring is in the Plains region, where respondents are only hiring 3.5% more new graduates in 2021-22 than they did in 2020-21.
- The Plains region also has the biggest group of respondents (8.3%) that will decrease hires for the 2021-22 academic year.
- Almost 41% of respondents have plans to hire two-year, associate degree graduates. This is the highest percentage in terms of respondents hiring these graduates over the past seven years. The lowest level was reported for the Class of 2017, when just 12.3% of respondents planned to hire two-year, associate degree graduates.
- Almost three-quarters of responding employers have plans to increase starting salaries for bachelor’s degree graduates. This percentage represents the highest level across the past eight years. The lowest level was last year, when just 42.3% of respondents reported that they would increase starting salaries for Class of 2021 graduates who earned bachelor’s degrees.
- Slightly more than half of respondents will offer signing bonuses to Class of 2022 graduates. In addition, just half of these same respondents actually offered signing bonuses to Class of 2021 graduates.
- The overall average signing bonus for bachelor’s degree graduates is $5,881. By major, computer engineering graduates will be offered the largest signing bonuses at an average of $7,800.
- Just 46.3% of respondents indicate they will screen candidates from the Class of 2022 by GPA. This continues a downward trend for the practice and represents the lowest percentage of use by employers yet.
- Employers in the utilities industry (100%), Southwest region (64.3%), and size category of 10,001 to 20,000 employees (68.2%) will be the most likely to screen candidates by GPA. All three of these groups will use a median GPA cutoff of 3.0.
- Responding employers indicate that critical thinking and communication are the most important career readiness competencies.
- In terms of proficiency in the career readiness competencies, employers rate recent graduates as “very proficient” in only one area: technology.
- When comparing employer importance ratings to their proficiency ratings of recent college graduates, the largest gaps are seen in the two competencies that employers deem most important: critical thinking and communication.
- The top attributes that employers are seeking on candidate resumes are problem-solving skills (85.5% of respondents), analytical/quantitative skills (78.6%), and the ability to work in a team (76.3 %).
- When choosing between two otherwise equally qualified candidates, having an internship with the particular employer’s organization or internship experience in the same industry are the most influential factors for employers.

Feature | 09/15/2016
A long term study on the impact of GMO crops, co-led by Professor Federico Ciliberto
Professor Federico Ciliberto led a 14 year study on the environmental impact of genetically modified crops on farmworkers, consumers, and the environment. See more here.

Feature | 04/19/2022
Summer Intern Candidates Facing Bidding Wars
In-demand college students seeking summer internships are reneging on offers as companies swoop in to offer better deals. Host J.R. Whalen is joined by Georgia Tech senior Najaah Chambliss, who walked away from an internship, and WSJ reporter Lindsay Ellis, who discusses the trend and how companies are responding.
If you are considering reneging on an internship or job offer, please connect with Jen Jones at jlh7b@virginia.edu.
Listen to the recording here with a WSJ subscription.
This transcript was prepared by a transcription service. This version may not be in its final form and may be updated.
J.R. Whalen: Here's Your Money Briefing for Friday, March 4th. I'm J.R. Whalen for The Wall Street Journal. We've told you how the pandemic helped create a job seekers market with millions of workers leaving their jobs for better pay and companies struggling to fill open slots. But that's also happening among students who are trying to land summer internships. Competition for interns has gotten so fierce that some who've gotten and accepted offers are reneging on them to take a better deal elsewhere.
Lindsay Ellis: Just like a lot of job seekers, there is demand for people to come in the door. Companies look at their summer internship programs and they're not just thinking about that summer. They're thinking, "Who can we identify among this cohort of interns that a year from now we're going to want to bring back or we want to hire full-time after the program."
J.R. Whalen: On today's show, we'll discuss the growing leverage students have in the competitive world of summer internships with our reporter, Lindsay Ellis. Plus we'll hear from one student who reneged at an intern ship offer and see how it turned out. That's after the break. For college students, an offer for a summer internship can mean getting their foot in the door and launching a career track. But amid the tight labor market, more students are walking away from offers they've already accepted to take an even better one. In a moment, we'll hear from WSJ reporter Lindsay Ellis about this growing trend and the competition for entry level talent. But first let's bring in one of those in-demand interns for a firsthand account. I'm joined now by (Naja Shambliss). She's 21 and a senior at Georgia Tech University majoring in computer science. Last fall, she began applying for internships for this coming summer. Hey Naja, thanks for being here.
Naja Shambliss: I'm glad to be here.
J.R. Whalen: So Naja, back in October you landed a summer internship. Tell us about how that went.
Naja Shambliss: Yeah, so I was applying for internships and I had found this opportunity on, I believe LinkedIn. It was either LinkedIn or Handshake I believe. And so, yeah, I went ahead and applied and I figured I had a pretty good chance of getting this internship because I had previously interned with a defense company and so I thought getting this internship from this other defense company would be not too bad. And I also wanted to intern somewhere else other than this previous company, which is why I was applying for other companies. And so, yeah, I applied and it took a little while to get back to me, but I ended up interviewing with them once and then I heard back from them about a month later, I believe, saying that I received an offer.
J.R. Whalen: All right. But then earlier of this year, your plans changed. What happened there?
Naja Shambliss: Yeah. So at the end of November, my recruiter reached out to me on LinkedIn also asking me to apply for a Microsoft internship and I had already accepted the defense internship, but I was like, it's Microsoft, I've applied for them before. I haven't been accepted previously, so this would just be an extra step for practice for when I apply again for the next recruiting season. So I filled out the application she sent me and then I went through the first round of interviews, which wasn't too bad, thank God. And then I got pushed to the final round and I received an offer after that.
J.R. Whalen: Oh, so what did Microsoft offer you?
Naja Shambliss: I'm not able to disclose the numbers, but let's say it was definitely double what the defense industry was offering me. And then they were also giving me a relocation, stipend and a stipend to help with my moving expenses and stuff like that. So it was a pretty great deal.
J.R. Whalen: So you eventually had to go tell the defense company that you had accepted a new opportunity. How'd that conversation go?
Naja Shambliss: So it's actually pretty funny. I sent out an email to, I believe she was my onboarding HR person and stating that I do apologize for having to do this to you guys so late in the game, but unfortunately I have to renege my offer, and I actually did not get a response for them. I had sent them an email and I never received an email back, but I did look at my portal and it had said that I was no longer being considered for the position. So I don't think they received that information in the best way, but yes, that's what happened.
J.R. Whalen: So when you first got the word from the recruiter that there was a Microsoft internship out there to try to go after, how did you feel about that process at that stage? I imagine you had firmed up the defense company internship and had signed some papers, right?
Naja Shambliss: Yeah. I thought this opportunity was different maybe because I had never had a recruiter directly from a company DM me, or specifically for Microsoft, I have never had a Microsoft recruiter DM me on LinkedIn asking me to apply for position. So I kind of had a good feeling about this process and that's kind of what made me be like, "Okay, even though I've already accepted this offer, this might turn out differently, so let's try it."
J.R. Whalen: All right. That's Naja Shambliss, a senior at Georgia Tech University with us. Naja, thank you so much for taking the time to chat.
Naja Shambliss: Thank you for having me. This is my first podcast experience, so I'm very grateful. Thank you so much for this opportunity.
J.R. Whalen: Oh, we really appreciate it. Thanks a lot.
Naja Shambliss: No problem.
J.R. Whalen: So what's driving this cutthroat competition for interns and what are companies doing to keep potential interns interested? For more on that, I'm joined by WSJ reporter, Lindsay Ellis. She's been looking into it. Lindsay, thanks so much for being here.
Lindsay Ellis: Thank you so much for having me.
J.R. Whalen: So Lindsay, these bidding wars for interns like we just heard with Naja, is that something new?
Lindsay Ellis: So interns, especially in demand fields like computer science, engineering and the like, they've always had some competitive offers, but the level of competition that I heard from interns seemed just really striking. Campuses and companies are saying that they're seeing competition over interns in a way that feels different than prior years, especially the last two years, the first with the pandemic really sinking in and last year with everything in a much different hiring market than we are right now.
J.R. Whalen: So why do interns suddenly have this kind of leverage in the job market?
Lindsay Ellis: Just like a lot of job seekers, there is demand for people to come in the door. And I think that for interns emerges in a couple of ways, the first is, companies really want applicants and they want qualified applicants. And that inherently gives the people who are applying, who have strong resumes, who have the skills that they're looking for an edge. I think the other reason is companies look at their summer internship programs and they're not just thinking about that summer. They're thinking, "Who can we identify among this cohort of interns that a year from now we're going to want to bring back or we want to hire full time after the program." And so this is sort of a key pool for companies to look at their entry level workforce. And so there is more demand in hiring the right people when this could be my pipeline six months from now, a year from now.
J.R. Whalen: Is there ever any kind of a penalty if a student backs out of an internship that they've already accepted?
Lindsay Ellis: It can vary from campus to campus, but yes. Cornell's business school, if you're an MBA student and you accept an offer for the summer and then you go out and interview and accept a different one and back out of that first one, they say that they reserve the right to fine you up to $2,500.
J.R. Whalen: Wow. I mean, for a college student, that's a lot of money.
Lindsay Ellis: It is, yes. And for those two, those were specifically for business school students, so perhaps a little later in their career. But these are people that don't necessarily have income coming in every month and yet still might be on the hook. There are other penalties that are also significant. At the University of California Berkeley's business school, one of the possible sanctions is a 16 hour service project. So that can be a significant amount of money certainly and time if you're caught backing out from this.
J.R. Whalen: But a student might consider switching to a different internship that could better jumpstart their career, right? But is there a danger of them burning their bridges behind them?
Lindsay Ellis: Colleges say that there is. I mean, they are quick to remind students that it's a small world and a small job market in a lot of ways. Recruiters move from company to company. Someone who you interact with when you're 22, you might encounter in a totally different field a few years down the line. They also sort of put in place their own regulations that could hamper a student's trajectory as they continue through their education. Some schools at the undergraduate level will restrict the use of a platform called Handshake where a lot of jobs are listed for students who are caught backing out. I think students who I talked to who have considered this or who have done this look at the name on the resume, they look at the salary that they could be bringing in and importantly, they look at the experience that they think that they're going to get at these preferred internship programs. And in a lot of cases, that's a very strong counterweight to a more nebulous idea of possible ramifications. There's another side to that coin as well, which is the relationship between the college and the company, and many campus career offices are really cognizant of that relationship and don't want to do anything to stress it or damage it. Their fear is that if a number of students back out from opportunities that they've already accepted, might that influence whether a company wants to come back next semester or next year and knock on their door and recruit future classes. And so one aspect of could this be hurtful, is thinking about what is the next student who comes around, what's going to be their experience, and colleges really have that front of mind.
J.R. Whalen: Now, there's usually several months between the time somebody lands an internship and when they actually start. So what are companies doing to prevent people from backing out?
Lindsay Ellis: There usually are several months between these dates and one thing that really surprised me in reporting this is that in some cases there are many more months than I had anticipated. People were telling me that they were interviewing for these summer internships while they were doing a different summer internship. So companies need to keep students warm is what they say, make sure that they're front of mind for these candidates that they've worked hard to recruit. Liberty Mutual told me about their keep in touch campaign, including interns in get togethers that are held virtually, some coffee chats and the like to keep them engaged with what's going on. One logistics company that I talked to mentioned sending holiday e-cards to the students who had accepted. So there are different tactics, some with video engagement and when possible in-person engagement, but others just really leaning into the messaging.
J.R. Whalen: And so how are the companies responding to this trend of interns backing out of offers and how are they thinking about their internship programs more broadly to keep people interested?
Lindsay Ellis: So some of them are looking at pay benchmarks and making sure that this very basic aspect of it, this critical aspect of it is competitive of with other organizations and external benchmarks. Some of them begrudge the trend and you kind of throw your hands up in the air and it's a little bit of a "kids these days" reaction. But the thing that I think most stood out to me on this was a real focus on what can we do as an organization to prepare for the summer, just kind of accepting that this might take place. So a few companies, including General Mills told me and have mentioned that they plan to overhire, basically extending a few more offers than they typical would and hoping that a few more candidates than they want to accept accept, expecting that a few of them are maybe going to back out between now and the summer. And I think they're also thinking about how they recruit and how they build relationships with students. One common refrain I heard from recruiters was, "In this virtual environment maybe students feel less of a strong connection with us as a company and with the recruiters and the team overall. How can we build that up and keep them feeling close?" And so that sort of speaks to some of the strategies, the keeping in touch efforts and the like.
J.R. Whalen: All right. That's Wall Street Journal reporter, Lindsay Ellis with us. Lindsay, thanks so much for being with us.
Lindsay Ellis: Thank you for having me.
J.R. Whalen: And that's Your Money Briefing. I'm J.R. Whalen for The Wall Street Journal.

Feature | 08/01/2021
Blog: Economics Career Office - What You Can Be Doing Now
August 2, 2021
Hello Economics Majors,
My name is Jennifer Jones and I'm the Director of your Economics Career Office (ECO), which is dedicated to the career planning and preparation of our Economics majors. I'm looking forward to working with you this academic year as we all return to the Grounds. Hundreds of students used the ECO's services over the last year, and we welcome back our new and returning students. If you're just meeting us, please check us out at economics.virginia.edu/career, then click on "Students" to get to know us better.
It is truly a privilege for me to work in the Department of Economics focusing on career preparation and for you to have your very own career services office in Monroe Hall. The office was founded by your faculty and generous donors, the latter who are recognized on a donor plaque outside of Monroe 120. Check it out sometime! Many of these alumni are working in jobs and fields that will surely interest you.
A few items of note as we begin the year together and a couple of action items:
- Connect with me on LinkedIn and join the Economics Alumni Group on LinkedIn. This will quickly connect you to hundreds of other economics alumni. (You need not have a comprehensive profile to connect with others. The basics are fine.) LI is also the place I post jobs for our graduates - entry-level and experienced.
- I'm including here a link to our ECO timeline, which recommends a "syllabus/strategy" for your career planning based on your class year/graduation date.
- Different industries and sectors recruit at different times. Check out the recruiting timeline in the Hoos Career Guide (page 47) to learn more about who recruits when. Early fall tends to bring in large firms that know their hiring needs in advance.
- You will receive a newsletter from the ECO most weeks when classes are in session. Currently, newsletters are being sent via Mailchimp, but we may move to Salesforce/Marketing Cloud over the next few weeks. We will keep you posted.
- Attend the ECO Orientation on August 23! For those of you looking for internships and full-time jobs for this fall and beyond, please join me and alumnus Kenton Kivestu (Econ 2010 and Founder of RocketBlocks) on Monday, August 23 from 11 am-1 pm. Here you will be oriented to:
- the dozens of resources available to you as Economics majors
- a Resume Review session with real resumes from your peers in the department
- Interviewing Techniques for Management and Strategy Consulting
- a demonstration of the RocketBlocks platform, which the ECO licenses to help you prepare for consulting, product management, and product marketing
- Update your profile in Handshake. Choose industries that interest you, geographic locations, and consider making your profile viewable to employers. Career Counselors and employers use this information to message you with relevant opportunities.
- ECO appointments are held on Wednesdays and Thursdays. Check out Handshake for appointments. If our schedules don't align, please write to me at jlh7b@virginia.edu.
- Our online resources include:
- A database of alumni, who want to answer your career-related questions, housed in Collab/ECO Resources
- A list of pre-doc research opportunities and undergraduate research opportunities on the Grounds
- Career Guides by Vault, an industry leader in college career development materials
- ECO Events, which typically are informal, low-stakes networking events with alumni or professional development workshops facilitated by our director, employers, or alumni
- Industry Overviews created/curated by the ECO
- Lists of Think Tanks and Government Agencies that typically hire our majors
- Professional Development advice and guides created and curated by the ECO. Examples are resume guides and samples, elevator pitch templates, informational interviewing tips and strategies to organize your materials.
- Salary, hiring, and graduate school outcomes for the last seven graduating classes
- Youtube videos highlighting many of our alumni panels
- and more!
Our wonderful ECO student staff this year includes the students listed below. If you receive emails from them, please open them! We send Job Blasts (from alumni and employers), Event Blasts, and Resource Blasts.
- Carly Dotson (Economics and English Lanaguage and Literature 2022) Writer
- Ella Fendley (Media Studies, 2024) Marketing Coordinator
- Flora Kim (Economics and Commerce, 2023) Senior Event Coordinator
- Chloe Leo (Psychology, 2022) Senior Event Coordinator
- Luca Pfeiffer (Media Studies, 2022) Media Designer
- Maggie Rutherford (Economics and Media Studies, 2024) Event Coordinator
- Mithra Dhinakaran (Economics and Foreign Affairs, 2023)
- Robbie Eriksson (Economics and Computer Science, 2022) Salesforce Coordinator
Our Student Advisory Board (ECOSAB) meets bi-weekly to discuss career office programming and to plan the annual Economics Undergraduate Career Forum. You may reach out to the Chairperson with questions or comments in addition to writing to me. The Board Members are:
- Brian Buck (Economics, 2024) Board member
- Bryson Webb (Economics, 2022) Board member
- Jenna Short (Economics and Statistics 2022) Board member
- Kaitlyn Ockerman (Economics and Statistics, 2022) Chairperson
- Wendy Tang (Economics and Computer Science, 2022) Board member
- Zach Garfinkel (Economics, Statistics, Commerce, 2023) Board member
Please remember to join us for the August 23 ECO Orientation and on September 3 for our Major to Major Career Coaching Fair.
Until next week when I'll write with more tips and advice, wishing you a wonderful week.
Best regards,
Jen Jones Director, Economics Career Office

Feature | 10/26/2021
ECO Blog: Virtual Job Fair Preparation
Greetings Majors!
There are two virtual job fairs this week, which I recommend for our majors:
Marketing, Advertising, and PR Job Fair, Tuesday, 10/26
Fall Job and Internship Fair, Thursday, 10/28
Employers will hold info sessions with groups, and 1:1 meetings with individual students. Schedule at least an hour in your day to attend if you are internship or job-seeking. And if you're curious, but not ready to job search, the info sessions provide a great opportunity to hang back and listen. Please check out the links below about approaching the fair. If you are in a full-on job search, I recommend choosing 3-5 employers that are your "must-sees" and schedule around those sessions.
- Make sure your lighting is good and your mic works in case you choose to speak.
- If possible, appear in a neat room, or use a virtual background.
- Dress neatly. This does not mean you need to be in professional business attire or even business casual. Neat and tidy are important.
- Prepare your pitch using VMOCK (AI platform that records your pitch and scores you) and/or this ECO template and these tips.
- Have your resume handy to borrow talking points and possibly share with employers.
- Research the employers that are the most interesting to you and come with questions. You'll find some at the links belowl You may always ask about next steps if you're interested in applying for opportunities.
- Be yourself (really!).
- Send a thank you after the info session or 1:1 session.
Vault's Recommendations for Attending a Virtual Career Fair
Participating in a Virtual Fair - from Handshake
Handshake's Guide to Virtual Fair Attendance

Feature | 10/18/2016
ECO NEWSLETTER 10.18.16
Job Postings from Alumni, Events, and this week an Alumna Profile, just for economics majors.

Feature | 05/23/2022
Yooseon Hwang presents at European UEA Conference
In April 2022, fifth-year student Yooseon Hwang presented her paper,"The Welfare Effects of Congestion Pricing," at the European Urban Economics Association Conference in London. The paper estimates the effects of congestion pricing on welfare by developing a quantitative spatial model with endogenous commuting costs.

Feature | 03/14/2019
Joaquin Saldain Wins Tipton Snavely Award for Outstanding Summer Research
Third year PhD student Joaquin Saldain won the Economic Department's Tipton Snavely Award for Best Summer Paper (an honor he shares with Ga Young Ko). Joaquin describes the key issues and findings in his paper, High-cost Consumer Lending: Evidence and Theory, as follows: "High-cost consumer lending, e.g. payday loans in the U.S., typically charge an APR of 322% for small, short-term loans. It is often discussed whether they cause more harm than good but the current literature has not provided a clear answer. In this paper, I make two contributions that will be key in addressing the welfare effect of payday lending. Firstly, I document facts on households that take out payday loans. These households have low wealth and liquidity levels, relatively low income, high demand for credit and are more likely to have higher than expected expenditures or unemployment spells. In the second place, I develop a model of banking and payday lending that delivers, in equilibrium, an interest rate and loan size spread between these lenders as observed in the data."

Feature | 08/09/2014
ARTICLE- 30 SMART ANSWERS TO TOUGH INTERVIEW QUESTIONS
"Tough interview questions are supposed to challenge job candidates and make them think on their feet.
This could make the typical job interview "the most harrowing forty-five minutes of your life," writes Vicky Oliver in her book "301 Smart Answers to Tough Interview Questions."
But you can be prepared ahead of time. We've compiled some of the toughest interview questions from Oliver's book — and how to answer them."-Vivian Giang and Alexandra Mondalek
Click here to read the rest of the article.

Feature | 02/12/2019
Research Jamboree at UVa, Department of Economics

Feature | 07/31/2021
Blog: Consulting Blog #3
This message was shared by the UVA Career Center for those students interested in management consulting. This is message #3 of 3. For additional information, see Collab/ECO Resources/Vault Guides/Consulting Careers and the ECO website’s Industry Overviews in the “Management Consulting” section.
This email focuses on interview preparation and strategy. You will likely experience both a behavioral and case interview during your recruitment process at most firms. It is critical that you practice both of these in advance, so you present the best version of yourself in interviews.
The Career Center offers many options for support with both, if at any time you have questions on how to practice, come and see a career counselor by visiting Handshake. Mark your calendars for the events highlighted below to get practice directly from employers on both behavioral and case interviews!
If you are concerned about virtual interviews, this blog post provides advice on how to make a good impression in a virtual space.
Behavioral Interviewing:
Your interviewer is using this as an opportunity to assess your fit within their firm. They want to see if they could spend hours working with you at a client site or traveling with you week to week, and if they'd be comfortable putting you in front of a client.
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Practice telling your story but using the VMock Elevator Pitch tool. For more information on this resource, check out the resources page on the Career Center website.
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When responding to questions, be articulate and concise -- Use the STAR method to structure your answers. This stands for Situation, Task, Action and Result and provides a framework for answering behavioral interview questions. [The ECO adds an extra “R” for Reflection. This final piece, allows candidates to discuss what they’ve learned/what they may do differently now.
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To help prepare, practice answering questions aloud -- check out page 64 of the HoosGuide for a list of sample behavioral interview questions.
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Street of Walls also provides a comprehensive guide on consulting interview questions and answers that will give you a better idea of what to expect.
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Lastly, the Career Center offers Mock Interviews as appointment types so you can practice with a counselor. Schedule an appointment today to get practicing.
Case Interviewing:
This is a way for the employer to assess your thinking and analytical skills in a real-time environment. The focus does not need to be on answering the problem correctly but more on how you think and structure the response. For more information on case interviews click here.
Learning the Case:
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Learn about the different types of case interviews.
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Familiarize yourself with case interview frameworks.
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Many firms provide suggestions for how to approach the case; check their websites for more information prior to the case interview. (For example: Accenture, Bain, Deloitte)
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If the case interview is new to you, watch an example case interview from Bain.
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Utilize case guides found on Handshake (Handshake > Career Center > Resources > Business Community).
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Review Darden Look Over Our Shoulder Case Interview Videos: Christie's Bakery, National Car Services, Parking Lot, Plastic Pellets.
Running the Case:
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Throughout the case interview, do not be afraid to ask questions if you need clarification.
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Take thorough notes; be sure to compose your thoughts before moving forward.
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Be confident in your analysis but pay close attention to how the interviewer is guiding you and change direction if you need to.
Practice Makes Perfect:
It takes time to feel comfortable with both the behavioral and the case portions of the interview. To perform well on case interviews, it is crucial that you understand how to approach them, and practice is key to that success.
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Create a Case Interview Preparation Plan
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Utilize case guides found on Handshake. (Handshake > Career Center > Resources > Business Community)
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Check out the "Help Topics" in Virginia Alumni Mentoring, one of those areas are Mock Case Interviews for practice with alumni
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Our Career Peer Educators created this helpful session on case interviews that is a fantastic resource
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Practice, practice, practice! Find classmates who are also pursuing consulting and set up a time to practice case interviewing together.
Mental Math Tips:
Sometimes cases are more quantitative than qualitative. This likely will depend on the organization you are interviewing with and the type of role you are interviewing for. Try to gain as much insight as possible before, so you know more of what to expect. If it is math heavy, here are some tips:
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Use round numbers where you can.
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Do “ballpark” calculations – there is some margin of error allowed.
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Memorize key numbers: World Population (7b), US Population (320m), Life expectancy (US: 80y, World: 70y). Check out these key statistics to know.
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Practice mental math; download this app to fine tune this important skill.
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If you are looking for even more practice, RocketBlocks provides comprehensive drills to help with the entire case framework. [The Department of Economics subscribes to RocketBlocks for our majors. You may claim your account by logging in with your UVA email (example jlh7b@virginia.edu) and using the password “monroe.”

Feature | 08/24/2021
ECO Articles: What Oracle's Hiring Can Teach You
How Oracle plans to recruit for its East Bank campus, the No. 1 trait that makes someone an attractive hire
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27 photos
By Adam Sichko – Senior Reporter, Nashville Business Journal
Aug 19, 2021, 1:53pm EDT
Steve Miranda wants to hire smart people to work with him at Oracle Corp.
Obvious, right? But Miranda's explanation of what he means by that is one of several insights into how Oracle will aim to staff its $1.2 billion waterfront tech campus coming to Nashville, which could have 8,500 jobs or more within a decade.
Miranda, speaking downtown at the annual meeting of the Greater Nashville Technology Council, opened a window into Oracle's recruiting strategy while revealing that software coding skills aren't necessarily his most-desired characteristic of a successful hire or employee.
"There's this perception of, 'We need to learn about databases and learn about Java and things that Oracle traditionally uses.' Not from my perspective, actually. I just want smart people, because at the rate of change that we see in technology … a given skill set, in our world, doesn’t last very long," said Miranda, executive vice president of Oracle Applications product development and a direct report to co-founder Larry Ellison.
"You can teach them something right now, some programming language, and in three years or four years — in a short period of time — it's probably going to be obsolete," Miranda said. "We’re looking for more people who are quick to adapt … willing to learn new things and willing to adapt and willing to change quickly."
ADAM SICHKO
When asked about his advice for people looking to make a career change and get into technology, Miranda replied: "I wouldn't feel that intimidated. You've got to know that for everybody in the industry, most of the things we're working on are kind of new — so you're not that far off."
Recruiting, early and often
The area's college campuses will be fertile ground for Oracle's recruiters. Miranda said the company already is pursuing partnerships with Tennessee State University and Vanderbilt University, among others.
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Oracle won't wait until students are upperclassmen. Oracle prefers to offer summer internships following a student's freshman year or their sophomore year. At the end of that first summer, Oracle likes to offer for an internship in the following summer on the spot.
"As they come into their senior year, if they like us and we like them, we're issuing full-time job offers for the subsequent year, before they graduate," Miranda said. "The reason we're doing that is, again, there's this battle for talent. It's a good way for us to find talent early."
The jobs available at Oracle's Nashville campus will represent the spread of opportunities within the company, Miranda said, from software developers and sales to human resources and finance. Internally, employees are able to shift from consulting to development to sales.
The pandemic-induced shift to remote work likely will enhance the variety of jobs available in Nashville.
"Now, there are no limits to what job can be done in what area, and I think the last 18 months have shown us all that," Miranda said. "The opportunities are broad. … Oracle's a big place."
Oracle also will be importing people to Nashville to take some of its jobs, whether they're new recruits or existing employees wanting to transfer. Miranda said he's seen entire teams decide to move to Oracle's Austin campus, now designated as its corporate headquarters, for work-life balance or because it puts them closer to family.
"We've already gotten demand from existing staff: 'When is the [Nashville] building going to open and when can we move?' " he said.
https://www.bizjournals.com/nashville/news/2021/08/19/oracle-recruiting-...

Feature | 02/07/2017
Prof. Pepper et al.: Decade long study on Virginia Mental Health Services
Research gathered by several collaborators, including UVA Prof. John Pepper, former UVA Prof. Steve Stern (SUNY Stony Brook), and ECON Grads: William C. Johnson, Michael LaForest, Brett Lissenden. Part 1: https://news.virginia.edu/content/what-economists-learned-tracking-services-virginians-mental-illness Part 2: https://news.virginia.edu/content/more-66000-virginians-arent-getting-crucial-mental-health-services-study-finds

Feature | 03/28/2017
Top 40 Grad programs: Economics tied for No. 29 overall!
The following Graduate School of Arts & Sciences all ranked in the top 40 programs in their respective disciplines, as measured by U.S. News:
- English: tied for No. 6 overall, tied for No. 5 in American literature before 1865;
- Psychology: No. 17 overall;
- Corcoran Department of History: tied for No. 18 overall, tied for No. 1 in U.S. colonial history;
- Economics: tied for No. 29 overall;
- Sociology: tied for No. 32 overall; and
- Woodrow Wilson Department of Politics: tied for No. 37 overall.

Feature | 12/14/2015
The “New" Renaissance Man
Learn about what tech firms are looking for these days from Prof. Nekipelov (ECON 4720).

Feature | 08/12/2016
Corporate Economists Are Hot Again
Corporate Economists are Hot Again
From The Wall Street Journal
By Bob Tita
Updated Feb. 27, 2014 6:01 p.m. ET
The number of private-sector economists has surged 57% as U.S. firms look for help digesting data.
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Pictured, economist Ryan Reed has revamped forecasting at Parker Hannifin. Photo by Michael F. McElroy for The Wall Street Journal
CLEVELAND—Flooded with data, Parker Hannifin Corp. PH +0.46% hired a young economist in 2008 to figure out what the information meant to the industrial conglomerate's far-flung operations.
What Ryan Reed told executives in one of his first presentations didn't go over well. Looking at capacity utilization rates—the percentage of available production capacity that is actually in use—Mr. Reed told executives that sales in the company's automation business would be substantially lower in October. "The guys said: 'That can't be right. October is normally a really good month for us.' "
But Mr. Reed's forecast was indeed correct. October wasn't a good month for automation, or for any of the Cleveland company's business units. The U.S. economy was on the verge of what would become the worst economic convulsion since the Great Depression. "We've lurched from crisis to crisis since then," said Mr. Reed, now 32 years old.
With more data available than ever before and markets increasingly unpredictable, U.S. companies—from manufacturers to banks and pharmaceutical companies—are expanding their corporate economist staffs. The number of private-sector economists surged 57% to 8,680 in 2012 from 5,510 in 2009, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. In 2012, Wells Fargo WFC +0.77% & Co. had one economist in its corporate economics department. Now, it has six.
Sheryl Kirtley tests a hose at the Parker Hannifin manufacturing plant in Ravenna, Ohio. Michael F. McElroy for The Wall Street Journal
"A lot of companies have programmers who are able to process big data," said Tom Beers, executive director of the National Association for Business Economics in Washington, a professional organization with about 2,400 members. "But to find a causality between two things and draw a conclusion really takes somebody with an economics background."
Many companies had corporate economists on staff in the volatile 1970s and '80s, but dropped them when the U.S. economy was steady and strong. Information from government agencies, such as industrial output from the Federal Reserve, was plentiful, along with research from private consultants, including Macroeconomic Advisers LLC in St. Louis and IHS Global Insight of Englewood, Colo.
"The reaction in the corporate world was: 'I can get my average GDP forecasts from anybody. Why do I need an economist in my shop?' " said Ellen Hughes-Cromwick, chief economist for Ford Motor Co.
The key to the revival of in-house economists, companies and economists say, is the need to digest huge amounts of data—from production volumes in overseas markets to laptop usage in urban areas—to
determine opportunities and risks for companies' business units, not just in the U.S. but around the world.
Paul Thomas, chief economist for chip maker Intel Corp. INTC -0.49% , said he and his staff look at how and where consumers are using personal computers, laptops and hand-held devices to pinpoint what geographic markets are underserved and which ones are saturated. "It's something we're learning to do that's going to be useful," he said.
The glut of available data is forcing economists to serve as gatekeepers to ensure that disparate units within companies are using the same data sets and information inputs in their forecasting.
Richard DeKaser, a vice president and corporate economist at Wells Fargo, leads a team of eight people, including six economists, who standardize the models and data used to measure risk in different business units, such as mortgage lending and credit cards.
Previously, one unit might base unemployment figures on payroll data, while another would use household surveys. Doing so undermined the accuracy of tests to measure risks for losses and contributed to mistakes in business planning.
"The great recession laid bare a lot of fundamental mistakes that an economist can be useful in preventing," said Mr. DeKaser, who was previously chief economist for National City Bank.
Some corporate economists are also taking higher public profiles to communicate their companies' messages and forecasts. Mark Finley, general manager of global energy markets and U.S. economics for energy company BP BP -0.94% PLC, spends about 30% of his time on the road talking with customers, business groups, trade associations and reporters to build consensus for its outlooks on energy demand and pricing. "The economists are supposed to be out there presenting their views," he said.
James Meil, chief economist at diversified manufacturer Eaton Corp. ETN +0.68% , and his staff of four, made 78 formal presentations last year, including one to the Association for Hose and Accessories Distribution. Distributors and suppliers, especially smaller ones, often rely on economists from their bigger customers to help decide whether they should add production capacity.
"There's not readily available market data or trends data available for the hose markets," said Joseph Thompson, executive vice president of the association, which represents manufacturers and distributors of industrial hoses, fittings and fluid-transferring equipment.
Veteran economists like Mr. Meil, who has been with Eaton for 29 years, are consulted on big acquisitions. When Eaton bought Cooper Industries PLC in 2012 for about $11.8 billion, he provided market research for key business segments and forecasts for the combined company's end markets.
Air Products and Chemicals Inc. uses its economist to devise hedges in a more volatile global economic climate. The Pennsylvania-based supplier of industrial gases enters into 10- to 20-year contracts with drug companies, steelmakers and refineries and needs price-escalator clauses to reflect higher production costs, such as energy.
"We set up formulas to where we're just trying to capture the inflationary pressure on the underlying contract," said economist Joseph Cardinale, who recently left Air Products for an economist's job at Illinois-basedpharmaceutical maker Abbott Laboratories.
Like all forecasters, corporate economists can miss the mark. In 2012 many company economists expected about 6.5% growth in manufacturing output in Asia. But it ended up being 3.5% due to a sluggish economy in China. "Forecasts by definition are going to be wrong," said Mr. Cardinale.
Retired economist Frank Schott, 87 years old, said new veins of data don't guarantee accuracy in forecasts. "The data are just as recalcitrant as ever to give you answers and the multiplicity of it invites further confusion," he said. "Everybody, including corporate bosses, thinks they're their own best economist."
Before Parker hired Mr. Reed, group presidents provided forecasts. "They weren't very accurate," said Jeff Cullman, president of Parker's hydraulic business. He said Mr. Reed has been able to forecast when hydraulic demand was about to fall, allowing the company to get a head start on scaling back production. "The market turns relatively quickly, but it takes us about three months to get on the brakes,' he said.
Forecasting can be tougher in developing countries where market demand can be difficult to quantify and data is spotty. Mr. Reed recently constructed a model for Parker's new president of Latin America to
indicate where the company should focus sales efforts. "His gut was telling him we're doing pretty well in Brazil; maybe we should look more at Argentina," he said.
By parceling out Parker's sales in specific industrial markets in Argentina and Brazil and comparing them with the two countries' total output in those markets, Mr. Reed demonstrated that Parker's sales potential in Brazil was far greater than in Argentina and to remain focused there. "Hopefully we avoided putting a lot of resources into Argentina where there's just not much to capture," he said.
Write to Bob Tita at robert.tita@wsj.com

Feature | 08/06/2019
Diego Legal-Cañisá Presents at 9th European Search & Matching Network Conference
In May 2019, Diego Legal-Cañisá presented his JMP on "Unemployment Insurance and Consumer Bankruptcy" at the 9th European Search & Matching Network Conference in Oslo, Norway, attended by prominent researchers such as Espen Moen, Guido Menzio, and Rasmus Lentz. Diego says the data shows that Chapter 7 bankruptcy rates across counties and Unemployment Insurance (UI) generosity are negatively correlated. This fact suggests that Chapter 7 bankruptcy and UI are substitute programs and raises the question about the implications of consumer bankruptcy for optimal UI. Diego constructed a model matching main statistics regarding the U.S. unsecured credit and labor markets, including the main features of Chapter 7 Bankruptcy and UI. The model successfully accounts for the negative relationship between bankruptcy rate and UI generosity observed in the data. In the model, for low levels of UI, a more generous UI reduces bankruptcy and allows more debt. As UI keeps increasing, employment falls and lenders react by contracting credit supply. From an ex-ante welfare perspective, an increase in the replacement rate from 50% to 60% is welfare reducing when bankruptcy is allowed but would be welfare increasing without bankruptcy.

Feature | 05/12/2020
Class of 2020: Homegrown Squash Player Shines in Growing Program

Feature | 01/16/2023
How to Be Happier at Work, According to a Resilience Coach
article written Jason Shen from The Muse
Modern workplaces can be an endless cycle of frantic stress, impending deadlines, and existential dread. Especially now, given the rise in headline-making layoffs at major companies like Twitter, Meta, and Amazon.
But it doesn’t have to be this way. As a resilience coach, I help my clients weather life’s challenges and find greater fulfillment and—dare I say it—happiness at work. My recommendations are grounded in the idea that resilience is not a fixed trait or a limited resource—it’s a set of skills we can all develop to improve how we respond, restore, rebuild, and reflect in the face of change.
Here are five strategies for cultivating resilience that can make us happier at work.
1. Embrace the messiness of work.
First, it’s important to accept that work is often messy and chaotic. This is not a bug—it’s a feature. The most important problems are the ones with no clear solution—everything else has been automated or outsourced away. This means the only work that’s left is the work that changes rapidly. Work that requires resilience.
As a former startup founder, I thought I knew what it meant to be nimble and adaptable. After being hit in a second round of layoffs at Etsy in 2017, I started Headlight, a tech hiring platform, with a former coworker. Eighteen months into the business we did a hard pivot into gaming and e-sports, and eventually landed a small exit by Facebook in 2020.
But only after ramping up as a product manager at Facebook/Meta did I realize just how seriously the term “move fast” applied to internal work culture. Reorgs, new project objectives, and stakeholder alignment became my day-to-day reality. I had to really get comfortable with the messiness and chaos of my work life. We can’t control everything at work, but we can control our attitude, our presence, and our dedication to our craft. Sometimes the moments of messiness can lead to the greatest triumphs—and that can be one of the best feelings in the world.
Put it into practice:
- Accept that your work is temporary, your projects are impermanent, and your objectives are not final—and look for new possibilities that emerge when change arises.
- Develop personal habits and routines at work and in your personal life that can ground you in a sense of stability when the work itself cannot. A weekly check-in with a trusted coworker, a morning yoga or meditation practice, or a regular happy hour with friends can reduce the anxiety of a constantly changing swirl of work.
2. Make time for joy and fun.
Finding moments of joy and happiness at work is essential to our well-being. We need to proactively look for the good and the delightful things in our day, even—especially—when things are tough. A five-minute chat with a colleague about weekend plans, a funny meme that gets passed around the office, or a team lunch (virtual or real) can make a big difference.
“It’s a shockingly recent notion that work and play should be mutually exclusive things,” Scott Berkun writes in The Year Without Pants about his time as an engineering manager at Automattic, a remote-first company since 2005. Much of the book talks about the fun times his team spent together at company retreats and all hands. “We learn about ourselves and each other through play, which helps us work together. Not everyone believes this, of course, but I do.”
We know that across the military, professional sports, and the entertainment industry, there’s often a great deal of play mixed into the work. That kind of fun can create deeper relationships, which in turn drive performance.
A big part of my work is to help my clients identify what brings them joy and then make time for it. One of my clients has a dream of leaving his 9-to-5 job to become a freelance consultant so he can take long bike rides during the week. I asked him why he couldn’t start doing that now, but on the weekends. If it’s not a priority now, it probably won’t be a priority later.
Put it into practice:
- Schedule in time for fun at work. This could be a recurring activity or an ad hoc event with a colleague or team. Some of my favorite remote-friendly team activities include online escape rooms (like a brainteaser or a detective game), drawing games (like Garticphone or Skribble), and guessing games (like Wavelength).
- Prioritize fun outside of work. How can you have something to look forward to after work is over? Consider enrolling in a craft, cooking, or fitness class—ideally with a friend. Or plan a bigger activity like camping, international travel, or a show further into the future and savor the ongoing anticipation as the event draws near.
3. Connect to your personal values at work.
In an ideal world, we could work in industries, companies, and roles where we feel total alignment between our personal values and our employer’s values.
The reality is that many people face a bit of a mismatch. Our values might be aligned with the mission of our company, but not necessarily with the project we’re working on, the department we’re in, or the people we’re working with.
When we find ourselves in a work situation that isn’t aligned with our values, it can be incredibly disheartening. But while changing your circumstances (read: getting a new gig) would obviously be the most direct approach to addressing the issue, it will inevitably come up again in your new job (see strategy no. 1).
Instead, look for smaller ways to express your values at work. For example:
- If you value teaching, maybe you can host a brown bag discussion about a popular topic (“last-touch attribution in marketing”) or tool (“no-code automation apps”) that has emerged in your field.
- If you value design, how can you make sure your next report or presentation is visually appealing, even if it’s only being shown to a few teammates?
- If you value contribution, can you come up with some ideas for how to improve a product, feature, service, or team process and see if anyone else wants to join you in working on them?
One big benefit of focusing on values over, say, goals is that you can fail to achieve a goal (“ship Project Sirius by May 1”) but you can always act in accordance with a value (“be transparent in communication”). No matter what’s going on at work, we can always do something that brings us closer to our values, which will make us feel less trapped by circumstance and more in control of our experience.
Put it into practice:
- Articulate your core values and put them in a place where you can easily see them. Here’s the template I often take my clients through to whittle down from a larger list into a smaller group of personalized values.
- Make some time at the beginning of each week to reflect on the week ahead and look for opportunities to insert your values at work.
4. Find communities where you can let your guard down.
Leaders often talk about supporting “authentic expression” or “bringing your whole self to work.” But when performance is being scrutinized during tough times, we tend to put on the mask of a bland, upbeat corporate persona. It quickly gets exhausting.
It’s really important to have other places where we can let our guards down and just be ourselves—where we can talk about the challenges we’re facing and get feedback on how to address them.
I recently facilitated a six-week resilience-at-work series with about a dozen employees across technical and business functions at a large tech firm. Each person there was seeking resilience in the face of a challenge: returning to work after family leave, being put on a performance improvement plan (PIP), or feeling isolated as a fully remote worker.
While initially guarded, there was a moment halfway through when people opened up. I was going over the third skill in my resilience framework: rebuilding in the face of change, and letting go of old dreams in order to dream new ones.
One by one, participants shared dreams they had lost—a career as a touring theater performer or a project they thought they would get to lead. And then talked about dreams they were holding out hope for—acquiring a rental property to build financial freedom or having a less combative marriage than their parents had. These vulnerable conversations built a sense of community and helped them feel more at ease in the midst of their struggles.
“My circumstances haven’t really changed,” one participant said toward the end of the series. “But I feel better about facing the unknown. I have some skills I can use and a community to turn to when I feel like things are hard.”
Put it into practice:
- Join an employee resource group (ERG) or other semi-private support group at work where you can find belonging with a smaller number of coworkers who might not be on your direct team. Contribute to the conversation, ask questions, and consider proposing a periodic get-together—either in person or on video call—to support one another.
- Find community in a professional network outside of your company. I’ve built relationships and found community through cohort-based courses (like Ship 30 and Great Founders Write), peer coaching groups (like Sidebar), and even dedicated Slack channels and Facebook or LinkedIn groups for product managers.
5. Think about the story you’ll tell.
As an amateur climber and outdoor enthusiast, my sister Amy introduced me to the idea of Type 1 and Type 2 fun. First coined by Rainer Newberry, a geology professor at the University of Alaska, the terms reflect the idea that some things are only fun in retrospect.
- The ambling hike up gentle hills on a sunny day? Pleasant, enjoyable in the moment. Type 1 fun.
- Crossing a river with your friend in the dark to search for your car keys after you lost them on the trail? Tiring and unpleasant in the moment, but pretty funny in retrospect. Type 2 fun.
Work is rarely Type 1 fun. The occasional brainstorming session, team offsite, or quietly productive afternoon are the exceptions, not the rule. But when things get hard, you might see the moment as Type 2 fun—an experience or accomplishment that’ll you’ll remember and talk about fondly afterward.
When my third startup got into a Amazon-affiliated startup accelerator, I had to relocate from New York City to Seattle. I left behind my new wife just a few months after our wedding to hunker down in a 250-square-foot dorm for several months as my cofounder and I prepared to wow investors on Demo Day. It wasn’t exactly pleasant in the moment, but I cherish the memories from that intense sprint as part of my life as an entrepreneur.
Extensive work by the psychologist James Pennebaker and others has shown that writing about our experiences during and after difficult circumstances—especially if these thoughts and feelings have been kept a secret—can be tremendously healing, even if we never show those words to anyone. Taking multiple perspectives on the situation and trying to piece together a narrative even when things felt out of your control (using words like “realize” and “because”) helped people move forward in a positive direction.
By retelling the story of our lives through a more empowering lens, we can take the edge off difficult events of the past and see the joy and growth they’ve enabled. Through the power of narrative and reflection, we can internalize lessons that will shape who we are today and who we become tomorrow.
Put it into practice:
- Reflect on past challenges you’ve faced. What did you learn from those experiences? How have they shaped who you are today? Write it out. Or publish your reflections to an audience: If a fully public platform feels like too much exposure, consider just emailing a group of friends or posting in a private social network.
- Think and freewrite about how you might want to tell the story of your current situation at work in the future. What actions will you want to say you took? How will you wish you’d handled it? What ending would you want the story to have?
Happiness is not possible at every moment, but by acting with resilience, we can create more consistent happiness in our lives—inside and outside of work.

Feature | 04/01/2019
10 Great Skills You Can Teach Yourself
10 Great Skills You Can Teach Yourself
by Stephan Maldonado | March 22, 2019
In a competitive job market, employers typically encounter many highly qualified candidates with impressive resumes and interesting backgrounds—particularly among MBA candidates. When making the tough decision between one excellent candidate and another, a hiring manager will often look for something that sets you apart—fluency in another language, for instance, or a special skill.
Many of the skills that stand out to hiring managers are taught in class or learned throughout your career, but taking the initiative to teach yourself new skills is a great way to bolster your resume. You can find anything on the internet these days. Platforms like Coursera, Udemy, or edX offer a bevy of free or low-cost courses that you can take at your own pace, and there are many other websites and products dedicated to teaching specific skillsets.
If you're looking for ways to bolster your resume and stand out from the crowd, here are ten great skills you can teach yourself.
1). Coding
Even if you didn't pursue your MBA with the intent to pivot to a career in web development, basic coding is still an excellent skill to have—especially if you work in the digital or tech spaces. Codeacademy and The Odin Project are two great, free platforms (although Codeacademy does have a paid option) that can teach you HTML, Javascript, CSS, and a variety of other coding languages.
2.) Graphic Design
Employers love to see experience in a wide variety of programs, and if even basic Photoshop skills are something you can add to your repertoire, you'll be able to demonstrate versatility and creativity. Format Magazine (a publication of Format, the portfolio-building platform) compiled a great list of 11 free online graphic design courses, which even includes a course from MIT OpenCourseWare.
3.) Content Management Systems (CMS)
A content management system is a platform that manages the creation of digital content for a website. While many companies use their own in-house, proprietary CMS to host their website content, many others use services like SquareSpace or WordPress. Because every CMS is different, learning how to use one is specific to each. However, platforms like WordPress offer free or low-cost tutorials to teach you how to use them (check out WP 101 as an example). Being familiar with the features of at least one CMS puts you at an advantage when it's time to learn a new one.
4.) Microsoft Excel
This seems either obvious or cliché (and it probably shouldn't go on your resume), but there is no overstating the importance of knowing at least a few handy Excel formulas. With enough formulas to fill an entire spreadsheet (there's a reason Udemy's course contains 16 hours of videos), there's virtually no limit to what you can do with Excel. Knowing your way around a workbook will make your job much easier.
5.) Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
Search engine optimization is an essential component of any company's online success. SEO is essentially a multidisciplinary strategy for optimizing a website in order to appear on the first page of Google when somebody searches for a term relevant to your business. It's a booming and rapidly changing industry, and employers are always on the lookout for people who keep up with it. Moz, a leading SEO platform, has a free Beginner's Guide to SEO and a truly insightful blog that offers plenty of resources.
6.) Marketing Analytics
Understanding how to analyze a company's performance with respect to its marketing efforts, and gleaning insights from trends, data, and user behavior is a highly impressive skill. Google Analytics, which is one of the most popular tools for measuring marketing performance, has a free online class called Analytics Academy that can teach you the basics or help you refine your advanced skills. The Moz blog also has an extensive analytics section.
7.) Social Media Marketing
A brand's reputation and growth on social media depend on so much more than posting content. Successful social media marketing is an entire strategy that depends on following trends, analyzing data, and maintaining a relationship with your followers. Again, Moz has an extensive section on their blog devoted to this topic, and DIY Genius has a great list of 10 free online courses for social media marketing.
8.) Copywriting
Being able to write professionally is absolutely essential; copywriting, however, isn't a skill that everyone has. The ability to write persuasively and with purpose, particularly for the web, is definitely a skill that might come in handy when you least expect it. Copy Hackers has an entire suite of copywriting tutorials, articles, and other resources.
9.) Stock Trading
Whether you're in investment banking or stock trading, knowing how the stock market works is an invaluable tool, both personally and professionally. Investopedia, StockTrader.com, and Morningstar, Inc. all offer great information to help get you started. Your bank may also provide resources and advice.
10.) Blockchain
Blockchain is the ridiculously complicated technology behind bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, which is arguably one of today's buzziest industries. The FinTech industry, especially, is looking for people who keep up with this emerging technology. Coursera has a Blockchain Basics course, and Medium also points to some good resources.
Read more here.
Feature | 11/13/2022
10 Things that Require Zero Talent
10 Things That Require ZERO Talent
Written by: Molly Fletcher
How often do we equate success with talent? All the time. But the reality is, success isn’t created by talent alone. Just like we might see immense talent squandered, we also see underdogs unexpectedly overachieve. Here are 10 behaviors that we can always control that require zero talent yet have a huge impact on our success.
1. Being on time. Punctuality is a keystone habit that requires organization and planning ahead—both of which lead to greater success. Here’s a good primer on why being on time is important and how anyone can make it a habit.
2. Work ethic. This is the discipline of showing up consistently and making the best decisions that lead to peak performance. Even at the pinnacle of his career, the late basketball superstar Kobe Bryant’s work ethic was legendary. Kevin Durant recalls the message a veteran Kobe sent the younger players at Olympic Trials back in 2008, just after Durant’s first year in the league. The players were given a day off, but there was Kobe, the only veteran getting on the bus to go work out at a high school gym. “He made 50 shots at each spot around the 3-point line,” Durant recalls. “We just looked down there and said, man, he’s the best player in the league and he took a bus to a high school to get some work in. It’s that work ethic that Kobe embraced throughout his career to become one of the all-time greats. As Kobe said after getting drafted straight out of high school in 1996, “I don’t want (fans) to think I’m just a high school kid coming in here thinking the world owes me something. I’m going to go out there and I’m going to work.”
3. Effort. Few athletes worked as hard as major league pitcher John Smoltz, who is now in the Baseball Hall of Fame. As his agent, I saw him extend his career by years through sheer effort and commitment. He made up his mind to make changes along the way, like going from starter to closer, that kept him in the game as a valuable contributor to his team. Effort is a mindset as much as it is a behavior.
4. Body language. How you move and express yourself around others shapes who you are and how you are perceived. Anyone can improve, and here’s a TED talk that explains why and how.
5. Energy. Everyone has energy to devote to a goal, and the decision of how much to give. Be conscious about where yours goes.
6. Attitude. It’s up to you to keep going. No one else can decide that. A great attitude maximizes the talent that you do have and offsets what you lack.
7. Passion. Perhaps the single most important way each one of us can suffocate the fear that keeps us from peak performance.
8. Being coachable. Anyone can become a better listener, learn from feedback, and embrace the success of others.
9. Doing extra. Go the extra mile. I saw it all the time with the athletes I worked with. The ones who sustained their success were the ones who consistently worked at their craft beyond what was required. That extra work and preparation fosters confidence. We can all learn from this approach and exceed our own expectations.
10. Being prepared. Only you can give yourself the time and space to be as ready as you can be. Make it a habit, and you will make the most of your talent. There is great truth in the saying: Failing to prepare is preparing to fail.

Feature | 10/09/2017
ARTICLE- WHY YOU SHOULD CHOOSE A CAREER IN SALES
"Brian Tracy describes sales as the "ultimate default career." By that, he means that many people get into sales because they can't find any other job that pays them what they need. Some of the top sales professionals in the world will admit that they had no intention of getting into or staying in the sales industries, yet most wouldn't change their decision to stay. But while sales may be a default occupation, there are several reasons why you should choose a career in sales instead of being a salesperson until something else opens up." - Thomas Phelps
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Feature | 10/30/2018
Identify Your Network: Who do you Know?
Identify your Network: Whom do you Know?
Miriam Salpeter
A common complaint job seekers make is, “I don’t have a network!” It’s very frustrating to realize job search networking is the best way to land an opportunity but to believe that avenue isn’t open to you. Luckily, you do have a network! In fact, anyone who knows one person has a network, and it’s likely your acquaintances, friends, and family members number many more than one. In other words, it’s just a matter of learning how to identify people most interested in your expertise.
Identify Your Network
Social Media
Do you use Facebook? Are you connected to anyone on that social network? Your “friends” there, whether you really like them or not, are part of your professional network. (Even if you’ve never exchanged a word you’d consider “professional” with any of them.)
Do you use other networks, such as Instagram, Pinterest, or SnapChat? Believe it or not, people whose photos you comment on or whose pins you share are also part of your network.
You don’t need to have 500+ LinkedIn contacts to call yourself networked. However, you do need to learn how to tap into these networks of people to access professionally useful information. Ideally, you’ll want to identify any of the people in these networks who may also leverage any of the more typically accessed professional networks, such as LinkedIn, and then connect with them there.
People You Know
Maybe you don’t use social media (although it’s nearly a job-search necessity these days). “Ah ha,” you’re thinking, “I really don't have a network.” Perhaps, if you’ve never taken a class, had a job or internship, or left your house, you may make an argument that you don't have a network. However, most readers won’t accurately fit into those parameters. You have the potential to grow your network every time you leave your home. Do you grocery shop? Attend sporting events? Go to family dinners? Belong to a walking group in your neighborhood? All of these places provide great opportunities to expand your professional network.
Do you see a pattern here? Your professional network doesn’t come with special stickers or labels that say “job networking.” Your network encompasses everyone you know, and everyone those people know, too. If you really want to be fancy, it technically includes at least one more degree of separation, which would capture everyone who is a friend or acquaintance of those friends.
Start thinking about the strength of your professional network using this list:
- Your family members and friends. (They don’t need to have jobs to join your network.)
- Everyone you’ve ever worked with, including volunteer jobs.
- People who attended school with you. Teachers count, too. This includes elementary school through college and grad school. Don’t forget to include people you met at professional development classes or fitness and exercise classes.
- People you know from religious groups. If you go to religious services, everyone you meet there can be part of your network.
- People you meet in your community or neighborhood, including at the dog park, kids’ soccer games, or the local street festival.
- Anyone you know via your children’s activities.
- People you meet while practicing your hobby, whether it is gardening, golfing, or skydiving. Anyone you meet can be part of your network.
- Military contacts.
- Your hairdresser or barber, the bartender at the local watering hole, and your dry cleaner are all in your network. Professionals who interact with a lot of people on a daily basis make great networking contacts. In addition, any one in a profession involving dealing with other professionals, such as accountants, lawyers, and business coaches make good contacts. They know a lot of people, and probably have someone in their network to connect with you.
If you don’t believe your extended network can help you get a job, these stories may change your mind.
Bettina Smalley recalled how she landed her first job out of college: “Divine intervention got me my first job at Scientific-Atlanta many moons ago. The pastor of my little Lutheran church was friends with a recruiter who needed to fill a sales position ‘at some big company’ with someone who spoke German. My pastor called me at 10 p.m. one night to tell me about it. By the end of the week, I had the job. If you're referred by a man of God, I guess they assume your references are good!”
This is a perfect example of the “you never know” factor when it comes to a job search. Bettina’s pastor knew something personal about her that also related to her professional potential: she speaks German. Are people in your network clued into your special skills and goals? One way to make sure they are in the loop about your plans and skills is to share information related to your professional life on more personal networks, such as Facebook. Do your grade school or high school friends and contacts know you’ve returned to school to study human resources, or that you just obtained certification as a massage therapist? If not, it’s a good idea to make sure they do. Either spread the word in person or via online networks to ensure you tap your network efficiently.
Andrea Clement, a PR and media professional in the medical recruiting industry,
found her current job after running into a former boss at Nordstrom on Christmas Eve. She explained, “We both scrambled to do last-minute holiday shopping. At the time I was happily employed and he had just started his own firm. He asked if I was interested and I said that I really loved my job so I wasn't sure, which was true. After the holidays, my then boss resigned, and she was my favorite aspect of that job. That February, I became the first employee of the start-up firm working for the former boss I'd seen in Nordstrom! That was 2007. I'm still here and now we have 80+ associates!”
While not every networking success story begins with a random meeting, if you ask people you know, you may be surprised to find out how many found their jobs, not just via networking, but through very random networking circumstances. The lesson in this case is that you never know when you’ll run into someone who can be influential to your career. Keep this in mind if you’re in full-on networking mode. For example, be sure you go out dressed to meet professional contacts. This doesn’t mean donning a three-piece suit to go to the bank, but consider your networking goals when you’re out and about and tweak your appearance to ensure you are comfortable introducing yourself to people no matter the circumstances.
Levels of Networks
Your network has multiple levels. Your immediate network includes the people you know directly, either in person or via social networks. You also can access the people they know as part of your extended network. In other words, your brother’s boss, your neighbor’s professor, or your college friend’s accountant, are all in your network. Don’t forget: each network links you to another network of potentially untapped contacts.
You never know when “someone will know someone.” Corey-Jan Albert, a writer and marketing consultant, shared a great networking connection story about her son, Cameron, a recent college graduate seeking a journalism position: “About a week ago, he mentioned a position he applied for. I asked him if he knew who he'd be working for there, and he said he did. I told him to check the guy's LinkedIn and see what he could find. He called me back and said, ‘YOU know someone who knows him! I can't see who that is since I'm two degrees of contact removed, but you can.’ It turns out the common connection was Cameron's 5th grade soccer coach—now living in NY, working at Reuters. Cameron reached out to him. The former soccer coach was thrilled to hear from him, and not only gave him some Intel on the situation at hand; he also offered to link him up with the editor at Reuters in charge of freelance assignments. Double win!”
This story proves a few important lessons about networking. You may find the best networking contacts are people who would never have considered members of your official network. (Most college graduates don’t think their 5th-grade soccer coach will be a key player in their job search efforts. It’s also a good reminder to tap into family member networks.) Especially if you believe your network is small, connect with relatives on LinkedIn. It’s perfectly acceptable (and expected) to “link in” with your parents, grandparents, and their friends. If Cameron hadn’t been linked to his mom, he would not have realized this terrific contact. Unexpected results may happen from networking. In this case, Cameron accessed a freelance contact, even though he is seeking a traditional, full-time job. You never know what surprises await when you explore your networking potential.
Miriam Salpeter is owner and founder of Keppie Careers (http://www.keppiecareers.com/), a coaching and consulting firm helping job seekers and entrepreneurs leverage social media and other tools to achieve their goals. She has appeared on CNN, and major media outlets, including The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Forbes and others have quoted her advice. In addition to her own blog, Miriam writes for U.S. News & World Report and for AolJobs.com. She is the author of the books, Social Networking for Career Success, Social Networking for Business Success: How to Turn Your Interests into Income, and 100 Conversations for Career Success. Named to CNN’s list of “top 10 job tweeters you should be following” and a “top 5” influencer on Twitter for job seekers by Mashable.com. Miriam also had her blog selected as a top career resource by Forbes. A vice president for a Wall Street firm prior to earning a master’s degree from Columbia University, Miriam ran the Career Action Center at the Rollins School of Public Health of Emory University before launching her own business.

Feature | 01/20/2017
ARTICLE- ARE YOU, LIKE, SAYING SOMETHING WITHOUT, LIKE, KNOWING THAT IT'S, LIKE, HURTING YOUR CAREER
"My bet is anyone born during the 1970s likely does it at least 10 times a day. Anyone born during the 1980s likely does it at least 20 times a day. And anyone born after 1990 probably has no clue that they do it close to 100 times a day. What I'm referring to is using the word "like," and using it incorrectly at that. And, like, it is not such a good thing. In fact, it is likely, like, hurting you in, like, interviews, meetings, and, like, pretty much any other work-related setting where you have to speak. Here's why: When you use the word "like" as a filler word or improperly, you typically come across as unengaged in what you're speaking about, unintelligent, nervous, indecisive, and as someone who's lacking a mastery of the English language."-Derek Loosvelt
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Feature | 08/12/2016
MacroDigest

Feature | 12/12/2018
A One Stop Shop For All Things Diversity Recruiting - The Most Exhaustive List On WSO
Diversity Investment Bank Programs
The opportunities are separated into two buckets: introductory programs and internship opportunities.
Introductory programs are 1-3 day programs where candidates are invited to the firm (transportation and lodging expenses covered by the firm) for presentations, workshops, and networking events.Introductory programs are designed to get you in front of professionals and human resources, and, if done properly, they will get you in the pipeline for internship opportunities the following year (in my experience, accelerated interviews have been the result of this). The key here is to dress sharp and make a concerted effort to leave a good impression. Ask questions when the opportunity arises, brush up on the firm / recent news for speaking points, ask for business cards of the people you speak with, and FOLLOW UP (cannot emphasis this part enough). These programs are an opportunity for you to make connections with people that will resources during the recruiting process, so it is imperative that send thank you emails after the events and keep in touch with these people from time-to-time.
The second bucket is internship opportunities. These opportunities are in the format of either:
- An introduction with a superday attached (e.g. JP Morgan Launching Leaders)
- a diversity-specific internship application drop and process
Keep in mind, with these programs you can also submit a general summer application as well, so I highly encourage you to double down and submit a diversity program application and a general application where applicable (e.g. Goldman Sachs Insights Day + Goldman Sachs general internship application for sophomores, Credit Suisse America CEO Awards Program + Credit Suisse general application for juniors).
IBank Diversity Scholarship Opportunities
Additionally, some firms offer scholarships as a component of their diversity recruiting efforts, not all scholarships include an interview for internships as part of the process (e.g. Morgan Stanley Richard B. Fisher, Goldman Sachs Scholarship for Excellence), so make sure to submit an internship application in addition to the scholarship application to cover your bases.
Boutique Banks Diversity Programs
Most of these programs are hosted by BB firms, but boutiques are starting to organize similar events. Perella Weinberg has hosted a program for a few recruiting cycles. 2016 is the inaugural year for Lazard's and Evercore's sophomore women's programs. I aim to update this as I come across more programs.
Diversity Recruiting Talent Organizations
Lastly, I included two partner organizations: Sponsors for Educational Opportunity (SEO) and Management Leadership for Tomorrow (MLT). These are two organizations that firms partner with to secure diverse candidates. SEO gets a lot of crap on these forums, but, as with all recruiting, you get very strong candidates and some not so strong ones--you should aim to be a strong one. With SEO you can go through their process and interview with firms, or you can independently secure your own offer and join their program to receive access to their comprehensive training materials / program.
Introductory (Fly-In) Programs:
The Blackstone Group - BX Diverse Leaders Program
- Description: 2-day program in NYC
- Eligibility: URM, Sophomore/Junior
- Deadline: February 15, 2016 (Every Spring)
- Program Dates: March 10-11, 2016
The Blackstone Group - Future Women Leaders Program
- Description: 2-day program in NYC
- Eligibility: Sophomore Women
- Deadline: March 1, 2016 (Every Spring)
- Program Dates: April 14-15, 2016
BAML - Elevate Diversity Forum
- Description: 2-day program in NYC
- Eligibility: URM, Freshmen/Sophomores
- Deadline: Sunday, March 27th, 2016 at 11:59pm (Every Spring)
- Program Dates: Week of May 9, 2016
BAML - Emerging Women's Program
- Description: 2-day program in NYC
- Eligibility: Freshman/Sophomore Women (Every Spring)
- Deadline: Sunday, March 27th, 2016 at 11:59pm
- Program Dates: Week of May 9, 2016
BAML - Ignite With STEM
- Description: 2-day program in NYC
- Eligibility: Freshman/Sophomore STEM majors
- Deadline: Sunday, March 27th, 2016 at 11:59pm (Every Spring)
- Program Dates: Week of May 9, 2016
Barclays - Freshman Foundation
- Description: 1-day program in NYC
- Eligibility: URM/Female/LGBT/Veteran/Disability
- Deadline: Spring 2017 (Every Spring)
- Program Dates: March 4, 2016
Barclays - Sophomore Springboard
- Description: 1-day program in NYC (includes mentorship program for junior year recruiting)
- Eligibility: URM/Female
- Deadline: March 6, 2016 (Every Spring)
- Program Dates: April 15, 2016 (females), April 16, 2016 (ethnically diverse)
Credit Suisse - BA Explorer Program
- Description: 2-day program in NYC
- Eligibility: URM, Freshmen/Sophomores
- Deadline: April 15, 2016 (Every Spring)
- Program Dates: May 19-20, 2016
Credit Suisse - Top Talent Women's Mentor Programs
- Description: Multi-day programs in NYC, specific programs for IBD, S&T, AM, and Technology
- Eligibility: Female, Sophomores
- Deadline: March 1, 2016 (Every Spring)
Evercore - Women's Sophomore Symposium
- Description: 1 day program
- Eligibility: Sophomore Women
- Deadline: March 13 (Every Spring)
- Program Dates: April 8 (Every Spring)
Goldman Sachs - Undergraduate Camp
- Description: Multi-day programs in NYC
- Eligibility: URM, Female, freshman
- Deadline: Every Spring
- Program Dates: Every Spring
Goldman Sachs - Pride Summit
- Description: 2 day program in NYC
- Eligibility: LGBTQ, freshman/sophomore/junior
- Deadline: October 25 (Every Fall)
- Program Dates: November 23-24 (Early Fall)
JP Morgan - BA Early Advantage Program
- Description: 2-day programs in NYC, Dallas, Chicago
- Eligibility: URM/Female/LGBT/Veteran/Disability, Freshmen/Sophomores
- Deadline: March 6, 2016 (Every Spring)
- Program Dates: Varies by location; NYC is late May 2016
Lazard - Sophomore Women's Event
- Description: 1 day program
- Eligibility: Sophomore Women
- Deadline: March 27 (Every Spring)
- Program Dates: April 8 (Every Spring)
Morgan Stanley - Early Insights Program
- Description: Various 1-day firm-wide programs in NYC
- Eligibility: URM/Female/LGBT/Veteran, Freshmen/Sophomores/Juniors (varies by program)
- Deadline: Varies by program (Winter/Spring)
- Program Dates: Varies by program
Perella Weinburg Partners - Women's Advisory Prep Program
- Description: 2-day program in NYC (pipeline for accelerated junior SA position)
- Eligibility: Sophomore Women
- Deadline: March 13, 2016 at 11:50pm (Every Spring)
- Program Dates: April 7-8, 2016
Wells Fargo - (Various Programs)
- Description: Multi-day programs in NYC/Charlotte
- Eligibility: URM/Female/LGBT/Veteran/Disability, Freshmen/Sophomores/Juniors
- Deadline: Varies
Summer Internships - High School Senior
J.P Morgan - 2015 CIB Summer High School Program
- Description: 3-week summer rotational internship program in NYC
- Divisions: Sales and Trading and Investment Banking rotations
- Eligibility: URM, must attend a New York Metro area high school or have a permanent residence in New York Metro area
- Deadline: spring 2015
J.P Morgan - Smart Starts Scholarship Program
- Description: 4 year full-tuition scholarship and 4 years of internships (full-time during summers; part-time during school year)
- Divisions: Sales and Trading, Investment Banking
- Eligibility: URM, must attend a New York Metro area high school student, attend a participating college
- Deadline: Every Winter
Summer Internships - Freshman
Morgan Stanley - Freshman Enhancement Program
- Description: 10-week freshman summer analyst program in NYC
- Divisions: Sales and Trading, Investment Banking, Global Capital Markets
- Eligibility: URM
- Deadline: varies (fall / winter / early spring)
Summer Internships - Sophomore
BAML - GBAM Sophomore Summer Program
- Description: sophomore summer analyst program
- Divisions: Investment Banking and Global Capital Markets
- Eligibility: URM, Women
- Deadline: Every Fall
BAML - GBAM Sophomore Summer Rotational Program
- Description: sophomore summer analyst program
- Divisions: Sales and Trading
- Eligibility: URM, Women
- Deadline: Every Fall
BAML - Global Banking & Markets Scholarship Of Distinction
- Description: scholarship of $5,000 for sophomores
- Divisions: GBAM
- Eligibility: URM/Women/LGBTQ/Veterans sophomores/juniors
- Deadline: Every Fall
Barclays - Sophomore Skills
- Description: 2 day program with interviews for sophomore summer analyst program in NYC
- Divisions: Sales and Trading, Investment Banking
- Eligibility: URM, Women, LGBTQ
- Deadline: November 22, 2015 (Every Fall)
- Program Date: January 7-8, 2016
Citigroup Diversity - Sophomore Leadership Program
- Description: sophomore summer analyst rotational program
- Divisions: Sales and Trading, Investment Banking
- Eligibility: URM
- Deadline: Every Fall
Credit Suisse - Steps To Success / Doug Paul Program
- Description: sophomore summer analyst program in NYC, scholarship of $5,000
- Divisions: Investment Banking, Sales and Trading, Asset Management, Equity Research
- Eligibility: URM, Sophomores
- Deadline: November 2015 (Every Fall)
Deutsche Bank - DB Achieve Program
- Description: sophomore summer analyst program in NYC (SF as well for IB)
- Divisions: Investment Banking, Markets, Asset & Wealth Management
- Eligibility: URM, Women, Sophomores
- Deadline: November 2015 (Every Fall)
Goldman Sachs - Insights Day, Securities Insight Day, Diverse Abilities Insight Day, LGBTQ Insight Day
- Description: 2 day program with interview for sophomore/junior SA programs
- Divisions: IBD, IMD, S&T
- Eligibility: URM/LBBTQ/Women/Diverse Abilities, sophomore/juniors
- Deadline: August/September
- Program Dates: Varies, Early Fall
Goldman Sachs - Summer Analyst Program
- Description: general summer analyst program
- Divisions: IBD, S&T
- Eligibility: URM, women, sophomores
- Deadline: Every Fall
J.P. Morgan - CIB Launching Leaders Program
- Description: 2 day program with interview for 10-week sophomore summer analyst program in NYC; $5,00 scholarship (additional $7,500 if you return for junior year, $2,500 if you return full-time)
- Divisions: IBD, Investor Services, Public Finance, Research, S&T, Treasury Services, Risk
- Eligibility: URM, sophomore/juniors
- Deadline: September 30, 2015 (Every Fall)
- Program Dates: October 29-30, 2015 (Every Fall)
J.P. Morgan - Asset Management BA Launching Leaders
- Description: 2 day program with interview for 10-week sophomore summer analyst program in NYC, $5,00 scholarship (additional $7,500 if you return for junior year, $2,500 if you return full-time)
- Divisions: Global Wealth Management, Global Investment Management
- Eligibility: URM, sophomore/juniors
- Deadline: October 11, 2015 (Every Fall)
- Program Dates: November 13, 2015 (Every Fall)
Morgan Stanley - Sophomore Summer Analyst Programs
- Description: 10-week sophomore summer analyst programs in NYC
- Divisions: Sales and Trading, Investment Banking, Global Capital Markets, Investment Mgmt.
- Eligibility: URM, sophomores
- Deadline: varies (Every Fall)
Morgan Stanley - Richard B. Fisher Scholarship Program
- Description: Scholarship of up to $15,000; to be considered candidates must fill out summer analyst application in addition to RBF scholarship application)
- Eligibility: URM
- Deadline: varies (Every Fall)
UBS - Sophomore Women's Program (CCS)
- Description: 8-week sophomore summer analyst programs in NYC
- Divisions: Coverage and Advisory (IBD) and Capital Markets Solution
- Eligibility: Sophomore Women
- Deadline: January 3, 2016
Wells Fargo - Sophomore Conferences (Various)
- Description: conferences in NR that include interviews for summer programs
- Divisions: various
- Eligibility: URM, Women, LGBTQ
- Deadline: Every Fall
- Program Every Spring
Summer Internships - Junior
BAML - Global Banking & Markets Scholarship Of Distinction
- Description: scholarship of $10,000 for juniors, must complete formal internship application in addition to scholarship application
- Divisions: GBAM
- Eligibility: URM/Women/LGBTQ/Veterans, sophomores/juniors
- Deadline: Every Fall
Barclays - Junior Success Program
- Description: 2 day program with interview for summer analyst program; opportunity to be considered for $10,000 Inspiring Excellence Scholarship
- Divisions: Investment Banking, Research, Markets
- Eligibility: URM/Female/LGBTQ
- Deadline: Early Fall 2016
- Program Dates: November 5-6 (Banking), November 3-4 (Markets and Research)
Credit Suisse - Americas CEO Awards Scholarship
- Description: Summer analyst program, scholarship of up to $10,000
- Divisions: Asset Management, Equities, Fixed Income, Investment Banking
- Eligibility: URM, Juniors
- Deadline: Fall 2016
Goldman Sachs - Insights Day, Securities Insight Day, Diverse Abilities Insight Day, LGBTQ Insight Day
- Description: Summer analyst program, scholarship of up to $10,000
- Divisions: Asset Management, Equities, Fixed Income, Investment Banking
- Eligibility: URM, Juniors
- Deadline: Fall 2016
J.P. Morgan - CIB Launching Leaders Program
- Description: 2 day program with interview for 10-week sophomore summer analyst program in NYC; $15,000 scholarship
- Divisions: IBD, Investor Services, Public Finance, Research, S&T, Treasury Services, Risk
- Eligibility: URM, sophomore/juniors
- Deadline: September 30, 2015 (Every Fall)
- Program Dates: October 29-30, 2015 (Every Fall)
J.P. Morgan - Asset Management BA Launching Leaders
- Description: 2 day program with interview for 10-week sophomore summer analyst program in NYC, $15,000
- Divisions: Global Wealth Management, Global Investment Management
- Eligibility: URM, sophomore/juniors
- Deadline: October 11, 2015 (Every Fall)
- Program Dates: November 13, 2015 (Every Fall)
J.P. Morgan - Winning Women Scholarship Program
- Description: 2 day program with interview for 10-week sophomore summer analyst program in NYCand SF, $15,000
- Divisions: ALL
- Eligibility: Junior Women
- Deadline: September 20, 2015 (Every Fall)
- Program Dates: November 13, 2015 - SF, November 5-6, 2015 - NYC IBD / Treasury Services, November 19-20, 2015 - NYC Risk / Research / S&T / Public Finance / Investor Services (Every Fall)
Morgan Stanley - Richard B. Fisher Scholarship Program
- Description: scholarship of up to $15,000, must complete a formal summer analyst application in addition to RBF application
- Eligibility: URM/LGBT, Sophomores/Juniors
- Deadline: Fall 2016
Partner Organizations
Sponsors For Educational Opportunity (SEO)
SEO is the premier organization firms partner with in order to order to get diverse candidates into their summer analyst programs. In addition to getting students in front of BB partners, the program providing students with mentorship, technical training, and interview prep. Great resource for students interested in front office roles, but attend a school not heavily represented on the Street. The earlier you join the SEO the more value you gain (e.g. freshman have opportunity to secure sophomore internships through SEO pipeline).
Learn more about SEO on their website.
Management Leadership For Tomorrow (MLT)
MLT is another great organization for underrepresented minorities. Unlike SEO, MLT is Corporate America focused and includes opportunities beyond financial services. I would also recommend joining MLT as early as possible.
Learn more about MLT and apply on their website.
Check Out This Other Relevant List of Diversity Recruiting Programs:
Teller's Comprehensive Guide to Diversity Recruiting

Feature | 07/05/2022
Employers Ranking High in Diversity Recruiting, Forbes
Meet America’s Best Employers For Diversity 2022
Forbes Staff
I cover stories at the intersection of business and race
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Apr 26, 2022,09:45am EDT
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Over the past two years, the focus on racial disparities has put a spotlight on several industries. The impact of Covid-19 on the lives and livelihoods of Black families has raised questions about healthcare equity. The economic fallout for Black workers and Black-owned businesses has once again illustrated the need for financial inclusion and access to capital. Meanwhile, remote learning has turned attention to the disparities in resources and academic outcomes for students in underserved communities.
So perhaps it’s no surprise that those sectors have been laggards in embracing the importance of racial diversity in serving the underserved. However, the devastating impact of Covid-19, combined with heightened attention to racial inequities following the murder of George Floyd in May 2020, appears to be having some impact. Although far from sufficient, those sectors made the greatest gains in addressing one of the key factors in advancing representation in Forbes’ 2022 list of America’s Best Employers for Diversity.
This year’s list features a higher proportion of companies in banking and financial services, the healthcare and social sector, and education. Each sector increased its presence on the 500-company list, with each making up 8% of the list versus 6% last year.
“The impact of Covid-19 took the world by storm and revealed the magnitude of inequalities that exist in communities of color, especially Black- and minority-owned businesses,” John Patton, head of U.S. diversity and inclusion at TD Bank, told Forbes in an email. “To stay on track and continue on our path to diversify talent across the organization, we’ve enhanced our focus on diversity and inclusion and we report on our progress annually as part of our Environment, Social and Governance Reporting suite.”
This commitment helped earn TD Bank No. 9 on our fifth annual list of America’s Best Employers for Diversity. Forbes partnered with market research firm Statista to survey 60,000 Americans working for businesses with at least 1,000 employees and pinpoint the companies they identified as most dedicated to diversity, equity and inclusion. Respondents were asked to rate their organizations on criteria such as age, gender, ethnicity, disability and sexual orientation equality, as well as that of general diversity. More than 10,000 companies were reviewed and roughly 2,000 were given a diversity score, which takes into account surveys of a firm’s diverse employees and its publicly disclosed information about representation.
Statista found that some of the best-performing companies on the list have tangible action plans and initiatives aimed at providing support and representation for diverse employees. That includes initiatives such as leadership programs that target underrepresented groups and women. According to Statista, 16% of researched companies had women CEOs, and 31% had executive leadership and board positions filled by women. More than 55% had an executive leadership position with the explicit task of promoting diversity and inclusion.
Despite the progress companies have reported in increasing diversity, much work remains. A case in point is ChristianaCare in Newark, Delaware, which set a goal in July 2020 to grow the number of people of color in leadership roles there by 15% in three years.
Caregivers from ChristianaCare's Pride Employee Resource Group and Inclusion & Diversity department celebrated Pride Month with a special flag-raising ceremony on ChristianaCare campuses to symbolize the organization's commitment to diversity and inclusion of the LGBTQIA+ community.
Ranked at No. 40 on the list, the company is on track, growing to 46 from 41 since July 2020, a 12% increase. However, the percentage of non-white employees ranked at or above director level actually got smaller, from 15.9% that summer to 14.7% today. In other words, the growth rate for managers of color was slower than that of the overall pool.
“I saw this 12% increase, and I got excited. And then I saw that the overall percentage went down, and I stopped being excited,” says Pamela Ridgeway, the chief diversity officer and vice president of talent at the 13,000-employee healthcare system. She says she’s encouraged, though, and that experience taught her to celebrate wins and set new targets.
The healthcare industry is under pressure to improve DEI-related outcomes given some of its glaring racial disparities in health outcomes, such as higher death rates for Black women in maternal care. The mandate for many DEI healthcare leaders has included lowering racial disparities within employee and patient populations, and the belief is that the former can help with the latter.
“We are bad to Black patients, and we’re bad to Latino patients,” says José Rodríguez, associate vice president for health equity, diversity and inclusion at the University of Utah Health system, referring generally to outcomes in the healthcare industry. The Rocky Mountain-based healthcare system ranked No. 41. “However, there’s emerging data that shows when you have more Black providers, the health outcomes for your Black patients go up. And the same is true for your Latino population. So we’re working to end disparities.”
Progressive Insurance and technology company VMware ranked first and second, respectively, on the list this year, up last year from No. 20 for Progressive and No. 11 for VMware. Progressive’s DEI related efforts include a “Dare to Disagree” diversity workshop, while VMware has won acclaim for its efforts around disability inclusion.
Adobe, which ranked No. 6, has a number of efforts underway, including partnerships with historically Black Colleges and Universities and Hispanic-serving Institutions, and the Equity and Advancement Initiative. The latter initiative involves collaborating with 11 nonprofit organizations and is designed in part to foster discussions around issues of importance to diverse populations, such as voter rights.
“We really want to make sure we create an ecosystem outside of Adobe that enables us to see around corners,” says Brian Miller, chief talent, diversity and inclusion officer at Adobe. “So where companies can get very reactive … we wanted to start creating organizations that allow us to get in front of that conversation and then tie them to our employee networks.”
For the full list of America’s Best Employers For Diversity, click here.
Methodology
To determine the list, Statista surveyed 60,000 Americans working for businesses with at least 1,000 employees. All the surveys were anonymous, allowing participants to openly share their opinions. Respondents were first asked to rate their organizations on criteria such as age, gender, ethnicity, disability and sexual orientation equality, as well as that of general diversity. These responses were reviewed for potential diversity gaps. Statista then asked respondents belonging to underrepresented groups to nominate organizations other than their own. The final list ranks the 500 employers that not only received the most recommendations but also boast the most diverse boards and executive ranks and the most proactive diversity and inclusion initiatives. The survey period ran from September to October 2021.

Feature | 05/23/2022
Joaquin Saldain Presents at Midwest Macroeconomics Conference
In May 2022, 6th-year student Joaquin Saldain presented his paper, "A Quantitative Model of High-Cost Consumer Credit," at the Midwest Macroeconomics Conference in Logan, Utah. Joaquin summarizes the paper this way: "I study the welfare consequences of regulations on high-cost consumer credit in the US, such as borrowing limits and interest rate caps. I estimate a heterogeneous-agents model with risk-based pricing of loans that features standard exponential discounters and households with self-control and temptation. I use transaction-level payday lending data and the literature's valuations of a no-borrowing incentive to identify different household types. I find that one-third of high-cost borrowers suffer from temptation. Although individually targeted regulation could improve the welfare of these households, I find that noncontingent regulatory borrowing limits and interest-rate caps—like those contained in typical regulations of payday loans—reduce the welfare of all types of households. The reason is that lenders offer borrowers tight individually-targeted loan price schedules that limit households' borrowing capacity so that noncontingent regulatory limits cannot improve welfare over them."

Feature | 05/23/2022
Yooseon Hwang presents at European UEA Conference
In April 2022, fifth-year student Yooseon Hwang presented her paper,"The Welfare Effects of Congestion Pricing," at the European Urban Economics Association Conference in London. The paper estimates the effects of congestion pricing on welfare by developing a quantitative spatial model with endogenous commuting costs.

Feature | 11/18/2021
RESEARCH: COLD NETWORKING KEY TO FINDING INTERNSHIPS AND JOBS
Taken from the National Association of Colleges and Employers
NACE Journal, August 2020
There are only faint predictions as to what the post COVID-19 job market is going to be like. The economy has some of the highest unemployment rates since the Great Depression coupled with huge decreases in GDP. It is a sure bet that workplaces will be more distributed and virtual, at least for the foreseeable future. College campuses will likely be predominantly virtual as well, closed to in-person classes, with nearly all coursework online, and an increased number of both high school graduates and college students taking a gap-year to figure out their educational plans. Career centers, often already feeling understaffed, will likely be faced with resource cutbacks at a time when seniors especially (but the majority of students) will be even more desperate to find jobs. Traditional recruiting strategies with employers, such as on-campus career fairs and information sessions, will be essentially nonexistent.
The results from our survey conducted early this year—January through February 2020, prior to the coronavirus pandemic in the United States—offer some possible pivot points, some of which have probably already been implemented by foresighted career center professionals. For the record, here are some highlights of what we found in our nationwide online survey of 541 college seniors and recent graduates. (Note: Fifty-nine percent of respondents were men, and 22 percent were first-generation college students. Thirteen percent were attending or had attended a community college.) In this study, we focused on how students actually obtained internships. Our findings have clear implications for career center professionals moving forward.
INTERNSHIPS HAVE MANY BENEFITS
Internships make college students more competitive in the job market because they give students a chance to gain knowledge, skills, and experience valued by potential employers. From a career development perspective, even more importantly, they provide an opportunity for students to see if the particular career field is the right one for them. Getting their feet wet, so to speak, affords them perspective about whether they could see themselves working full time (or even the rest of their lives) in this field. Even in the worst case, when students realize this is not the work they would want to do, they can still come away from the internships with their eyes opened to issues of organizational culture, politics, and leadership, and with lessons learned about the ropes to know and the hoops to jump through. Mentors may often be found during internships, providing invaluable advice in the job-search process, both internal to the internship employer and external. Finally, there are the real financial benefits associated with internships beyond summer employment. NACE surveys show that students who had internships were 20 percent more likely to receive full-time job offers than those without an internship. Having an internship also resulted in receiving significantly higher starting salaries.1
These facts are evident in these common refrains from corporate recruiters: “As a recruiter, I value students who have gotten great internship experiences over those [who] have not.” “A student who has an internship upon graduation will be more highly desired by employers than someone who did not venture into the ‘work world’ at all during college.” “Internships are imperative.”2
Nearly all of the employers responding to NACE’s 2019 Recruiting Benchmark Survey Report indicated that internships provide them with an important opportunity to identify talent early.3
NETWORKING IS KEY
Cold networking involves contacting someone without having any established or preexisting relationship versus warm networking, which involves making use of one’s network, e.g., family, friends, neighbors, teachers, and so forth, to make a connection between the applicant and the potential employer. While traditional wisdom has asserted that “who you know matters” and would seem to favor warm networking, our survey found just the opposite.
Somewhat initially surprising was the finding that students who engaged in cold networking were twice as likely to earn an internship as students who only engaged in warm networking. Moreover, those who found their internship through warm networking were less likely to report that the internship turned into a job offer. For those who reported that their internship resulted in a job offer, 70 percent found the internship through cold networking, while only 40 percent found the internship through warm networking. This finding suggests a possible intangible benefit of cold networking is that the internship may be perceived as earned on one’s merits rather than on riding the coattails of some personal relationship.
These trends continued to be evident for first-generation college students. First-generation student who engaged in cold networking were 38 percent more likely to earn an internship than first-generation students who did not similarly reach out. Moreover, first-generation students who did cold networking were four times more likely to have their internships turn into jobs than first-generation students who did not report doing cold networking.
Most students struggle with doubts about the significance of their accomplishments and have some sense of being exposed as a “fraud” or “imposter” related to reaching out and networking with business professionals.4 For first-generation students, imposter syndrome and insecurities are even more prevalent.5 Most students think to themselves, “No professional will want to meet with me” or “I might do something wrong and jeopardize future opportunities—it’s not worth it,” or “I’m not a good enough student to be worthy of a professional’s time,” and the like.
Networking makes a difference. In our study, more than nine out of 10 students who had an internship during college engaged in networking with business professionals via informational interviews. Students with two or more internships were eight times more likely to have conducted an informational interview. As Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor reflected on her own career: “Sometimes people are put off by the whole business of networking as something tainted by flattery and the pursuit of selfish advantage. But virtue in obscurity is awarded only in heaven. To succeed in the world, you have to be known by people.”6
An additional benefit from networking, as students reported in our survey, is that it increased their self-confidence. In support of the notion that “practice makes perfect,” we found that the more informational interviews students reported conducting, the higher the levels of confidence they reported in themselves, as reflected not only in obtaining an internship, but in their feelings of career readiness and skillfulness in networking. Low confidence levels in their networking skills were reported by 42 percent of those students who did not have an internship during college.
TEACH INFORMATIONAL INTERVIEWING
A constricted job market due to COVID-19 issues has many profound implications for students as well as college career professionals and corporate recruiters. While our survey was conducted before “the world/economy turned upside down,” the lessons are still applicable to helping students earn internships and jobs upon graduation/completion. Their chances increase when they can a) conduct informational interviews and b) use cold networking avenues. The imperative lesson is that, if students want to obtain internships and jobs, they need to conduct informational interviews, and the key to obtaining them is achieved through cold networking.
Career professionals need to engage with students to help them understand that “who you know” does not matter so much until “you know someone”! Moreover, the payoff from an internship appears to be greater (in terms of leading to a job offer) if it is obtained through cold networking rather than warm networking. This entails shifting from working with students to develop relationships with employers per se to teaching students how to network and conduct informational interviews, in the same sense as the proverb: “Give people a fish and you feed them for a day, but teach people how to fish and you feed them for a lifetime.”
Historically, four out of five jobs are not advertised7 and this hidden job market is likely to be even greater these days. Career professionals can make a concerted effort to teach students how to access those opportunities through cold networking. Doing so will improve the chances of students of not only gaining internships, but of securing full-time employment.
We can help students improve their confidence and ability to cold network by teaching strategies on how to most effectively conduct informational interviews. For example, in our study, we found that students who conducted informational interviews were considerably more likely to land an internship than those who relied on online job boards, career fairs, or information sessions. The massive switch to online classes has boosted students’ experience with digital connecting at the same time that employers have pivoted to virtual workplaces; this means that both parties should be increasingly confident in this medium for informational interviews.
Teaching students how to network creates a virtuous cycle. Each connection increases the likelihood of securing an internship (and finding employment). Most career centers were never meant to be in the job placement business and, during these very turbulent times both on and off campus, we must empower students to be proactive and even more accountable for their careers. The students generally have the will, and we need to make certain we are providing them with the skills and techniques to find their way.
ENDNOTES
1 National Association of Colleges and Employers (March 2016). “Paid interns/co-ops see greater offer rates and salary offers than their unpaid classmates.” www.naceweb.org/job-market/internships/paid-interns-co-ops-see-greater-offer-rates-and-salary-offers-than-their-unpaid-classmates/
2 Ibid.
3 National Association of Colleges and Employers (December 2019). 2019 Recruiting Benchmarks Survey Report.
4 Kolligan, J., & Sternberg, R. J. (1991). “Perceived fraudulence in young adults: Is there an ‘imposter syndrome’? Journal of Personality Assessment, 55(1), 308-326.
5 Canning, E. A., LaCrosse, J., & Kroeper, K. M. (2019). “Feeling like an imposter: The effect of perceived classroom competition on the daily psychological experiences of first-generation college students.” Social Psychological and Personality Science, 11(5), 647-657.
6 Sotomayor, S. (2014). My beloved world. New York: Vintage Books.
7 Burnett, B., & Evans, D. (2018). Designing your life: How to build a well-lived, joyful life. New York: Borzoi Book.
Sean O’Keefe is an award-winning professor at Santa Clara University where he teaches in the Leavey School of Business and in campuswide programming for first-generation students. In 2018, he launched a social enterprise (www.launchyourcareer.academy) that helps colleges scale the skillset of launching a job or internship search with encouragement and financial support from his university. His book Launch Your Career will be published spring 2021. He can be reached at sokeefe@scu.edu.
Barry Z. Posner holds the Michael J. Accolti, S.J. Chair in Leadership at Santa Clara University (SCU), where he is professor of leadership in the Leavey School of Business. While at SCU, he has received numerous teaching awards and has served as associate dean for graduate education, associate dean for executive education, and dean. He is the co-author of The Leadership Challenge and more than 100 academic and practitioner-oriented publications. He can be reached at bposner@scu.edu.

Feature | 06/28/2021
Blog: Making the Most of Your Summer Internship/Work Experience
How to Make the Most of Your Summer Internship/Work Experiences
Whether it is virtual, in-person, or a bit of both, your summer work experience is a chance to build skills, relationships, and possibly parlay the internship into a full-time offer or renewed employment!
Think of the summer as an extended job interview - where you are getting the chance to be a first-pick for full-time work, and you are determining if this is an employer/job function that interests you!
Plan Your Internship!
Design goals for yourself. These may be:
- skills or concepts you'd like to build (For example MSExcel, Python, data analysis, Tableau, project management, etc.)
- projects you'd like to design (Design a website, analyze data and produce a written and oral report)
- relationships you'd like to build (Meet 5 people in the organization through a virtual or in-person meeting)
- experiences you'd like to have (Attend a staff meeting of senior-level team members; represent your team on a committee)
- meet with your hiring manager to discuss relevant goals (some may be your personal goals and not for your supervisor's consumption)
Interview! (Yes, you are conducting the interviews!)
- You want to learn more about this employer, your job function, and the industry. Can you see yourself working with this organization? With this supervisor?
- Spend time in the office (if possible) to learn about Team Culture and Employer Culture (These are not always the same.)
- You can learn about the firm's virtual culture through their interactions with you and your peers/colleagues
- Schedule 15 minutes with staff in varying roles and levels, starting with those working full-time in your possible future role
- Get to know people, both by reaching out and developing a positive reputation.
- Stay connected to your recruiter
Get Involved!
- Attend events (in-person or virtual) that you are invited to
- Ask questions of your supervisor or recruiter
- Join clubs or affinity groups, especially if your employer is large and has organized groups for employees/interns
Find a Mentor/Employee You Trust
- Your mentor may be assigned to you through a formal program in which case make the most of the opportunity
- Find a mentor, or someone with whom you feel comfortable and may ask questions. This is not always possible; but, don't be shy about asking other employees to meet with you in person or virtually to discuss their work. You may hit it off and find an informal mentor
- Mentors can help you navigate through new situations at work
- Mentors can be future advocates for you with your current employer or a future employer
Document Your Work!
- Catalog all of your projects in a notebook or spreadsheet
- List these by responsibilities and results
- Brainstorm the skills you used and developed and the people with whom you worked to get the work done
- Add this information to your resume and LinkedIn account
- Create a website (wix.com or wordpress.com) to showcase your work, if applicable
- Practice speaking about your summer experiences
- Record the names and contact information of the people you worked with and connect with them on LinkedIn
Next, read the article from the PennyHoarder Rock Summer Your Internship!
Adapted from the Muse and the ECO's summer internship PowerPoint, How to Make the Most of Your Summer Internship and alum Sabrina Grandhi's recommendations.

Feature | 09/27/2016
ARTICLE- HOW TO PREPARE FOR THE "TELL ME ABOUT YOURSELF" INTERVIEW QUESTION
"We all know the question is coming: So tell me a little about yourself.
Here’s the funny thing: even though we’re expecting it, most of us don’t feel fully prepared to respond. How can this question seem like a no-brainer, but then end up being so tricky? Well, for one, it’s easy to get mired down by all the possibilities of just how to answer it. The key is to approach the question strategically, making sure it has a clear story and distinct purpose. Here are 4 ways to help you prepare to ace the prompt: “Tell me about yourself.'"-Caroline Grey
Click here to read the rest of the article

Feature | 02/08/2022
Flash Seminar with Prof. Kerem Cosar "Geopolitics of International Trade"

Feature | 01/02/2023
IN MEMORIAM: Ben McCallum
Bennett McCallum, who was a member of the department’s faculty from 1967 to 1980 died on December 28, 2022 in Charlottesville. Ben grew up in Texas, trained as an engineer at Rice and then earned an MBA at Harvard. He studied economics at the graduate level at Rice earning his PhD in 1969. Ben joined the Departmental faculty in 1967 as a microeconomist with a strong interest in econometrics, which he taught at the graduate level. In 1974, he went on leave to the University of Chicago where he encountered Robert Lucas who was a central figure in the nascent rational expectations revolution in macroeconomics. Ben came back from his year on leave as a macroeconomist and solidly in the intellectual vanguard of the rational expectations movement. He was key to Virginia being able to recruit several promising new assistant professors who themselves have gone on to prominence in economics.
Ben was an ideal colleague – intellectually curious and rigorous, friendly with a great sense of humor, and a devoted departmental citizen. It was a big loss for the Department when Ben moved to Carnegie Mellon in 1980. When he moved, he and his wife, Sally, kept their house in Charlottesville and returned often. The McCallums were avid music fans and benefactors of the Ash Lawn (now Charlottesville) Opera.
At Carnegie Mellon, Ben became the H.J. Heinz Professor of Economics, retiring in 2016. His research in monetary economics and policy is internationally respected and he has advised central banks around the world, including Japan and New Zealand. His professional recognitions include being a Fellow of the Econometric Society, co-editor of the discipline’s flagship journal, the American Economic Review, a member of the Shadow Open Market Committee, and a research associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research.

Feature | 11/01/2018
MarketWatch: Why Oil Prices are Plunging...
Why oil prices are plunging despite U.S. sanctions on Iran’s energy sector
The oil market has had nearly six months to assess the possible effect of U.S. sanctions on Iranian oil exports. Surprisingly, the prospect of significantly tighter global supplies has resulted in lower prices.
President Donald Trump announced on May 8 that he would end the participation of the United States in the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, a 2015 pact aimed at curbing Iran’s nuclear activities, signed by Iran, the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council, and the European Union.
Read more...https://www.marketwatch.com/story/why-oil-prices-are-plunging-despite-us...\
Feature | 09/19/2022
Career Advice from Mindy Kaling
Mindy Kaling Can Make You Laugh, But She Also Has Career Advice for You
By: Stav Ziv article from The Muse
Never have I ever admitted, until now, how eager I am to binge the new season of a teen dramedy (I am…not a teen). But Never Have I Ever—brainchild of Mindy Kaling and Lang Fisher—is too good and refreshingly weird not to be excited about, no matter how old you are. (Weird because, for example, notoriously confrontational tennis pro John McEnroe narrates the high school trials and tribulations of an Indian American teenager in California, what of it?) It’s one of the best teen shows I can remember watching—where most of the characters, minus Paxton, actually look like teens—and I’m not surprised Kaling had something to do with it.
An alum of Dartmouth who got her foot in the door on The Office, Kaling has spent her career painstakingly carving a path for herself in a very white, very male industry where she was, as she often talks about, a “diversity hire” who came up through NBC’s diversity program. “For a long time I was really embarrassed about that,” she told The Guardian. “It took me a while to realize that I was just getting the access other people had because of who they knew.”
She’s had to work just as hard to get onscreen as more than a forgettable sidekick as she has to get in the writers’ room. “My career has only become what it has out of sheer need, not because I wanted it that way. I knew if I wanted to perform I was going to have to write it myself,” she told Entertainment Weekly for a 2013 cover story. In a 2017 cover story of her own, Reese Witherspoon recounted a conversation she’d had with Kaling. “Don’t you ever get exhausted by always having to create your own roles?” Witherspoon had asked. Kaling replied: “Reese, I’ve never had anything that I didn’t create for myself.”
Well, create she did. After The Office—where she played Kelly Kapoor and wrote more episodes than anyone else—Kaling created and starred in six seasons of The Mindy Project. More recently, she wrote, produced, and played a leading role in the 2019 movie Late Night, loosely based on her own story as the lone woman and sole person of color in a writers’ room.
Never Have I Ever, which draws on Kaling’s formative experiences as the daughter of immigrants, takes representation to the next level. Not only did Kaling create roles for a diverse cast—and hire a previously unknown Tamil Canadian actress, the excellent Maitreyi Ramakrishnan, to take the helm as Devi through an open call—but she also filled the writers’ room with young Indian women. Together they shaped characters and storylines for a show that’s have inspired some mixed feelings, but also been hailed as a “win” and a “watershed moment.”
If you, too, want to know more about Kaling as you watch this new season, here’s a collection of inspiring quotes and real talk on diversity, hard work, success, mentorship, motherhood, and more—all in one place.
- On the “right” order: “Don’t be scared if you don’t do things in the right order, or if you don’t do some things at all… If you have a checklist, good for you. Structured ambition can sometimes be motivating. But also, feel free to let it go. Yes, my culminating advice from my speech is a song from the Disney animated movie, Frozen.” —Dartmouth University commencement speech 2018
- On dreaming of success: “I don’t remember lying up at night thinking, the dream I have is something where no one who looks like me has ever succeeded. I just thought that I would somehow find a way to succeed.” —The New York Times Magazine
- On possible paths forward: “Don’t trust any one story of how to become successful.” —Dartmouth University commencement speech 2018
- On writing your own part: “Write your own part. It is the only way I’ve gotten anywhere. It is much harder work, but sometimes you have to take destiny into your own hands. It forces you to think about what your strengths really are, and once you find them, you can showcase them, and no one can stop you.” ―Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns) by Mindy Kaling
- On not letting people stop you: “People get scared when you try to do something, especially when it looks like you’re succeeding. People do not get scared when you’re failing. It calms them. But when you’re winning, it