Sophomore Summer Information Session
This meeting was an information session regarding corporate recruiting (particularly for banking and consulting) that will take place this summer for sophomores. The panel consisted of juniors who had all gone through the process and they talked about their varying experiences and gave some helpful tips about the process. One of the points that most stood out to me was the importance of one’s resume. The panelists stressed the importance of having a professional looking resume because companies spend about 30 seconds looking at your resume, and little to no time looking at your cover letter. They also suggested networking and following up with people you meet from companies in order to show your interest. The panelists also touched upon the difference between consulting and banking. Overall, consulting is slower paced and has fewer projects which are analyzed more deeply whereas banking is faster paced and deals with many more companies on a daily basis—overall, both are fairly different and the best way to choose is to try both and see where your personality fits best. The panelists also said that sophomore summer recruiting is relatively laid back (although they still require a lot of work) and that the interviews are generally not that difficult as compared to recruiting later on. Finally, they recommended visiting Dartmouth’s Center for Professional Development as well as upperclassman for help preparing for the process.
This session was definitely the most useful session that I have been to so far. Corporate recruiting has always been extremely daunting to me and before this meeting, I had absolutely no idea what actually went into the process nor the relative importance of your resume, cover letter, interview, etc.; however, being able to hear about the process from people who had just gone through it, as well as learning the different ways to make myself stand out, definitely made me feel less anxious and better equipped to take the next steps to prepare for the process.
Raveena Gupta ‘16