Meet the Boehly Center Staff – Corporate Relations

• How does the Boehly Center interact with the corporate world
• What services does the Boehly Center offer to students
• How many different industry options are available through finance
• How does the Boehly Center help improve a students soft skills
• What impact does your personal brand have on your future opportunities
• What the timelines is for applying for mentorships at financial institutions
• Why is it important to understand how to properly network
• How can alumni be involved in a students’ journey
• The importance of advice, information, and referrals

Jeffrey Rich

Welcome to Careers in Finance, presented by the Boehly Center for Excellence in Finance at William & Mary’s Raymond A. Mason School of Business. This podcast will explore various areas of the financial services industry, career paths in finance, and other practical insights that will help students better understand and prepare for professional success in the field of finance. Be sure to subscribe to the podcast and catch future episodes as we explore the field of finance. And now your host, Jad Howell.

Jad Howell

Well, Morgan, let’s turn our attention to you and some of your areas of focus. Talk to me a little bit about your interactions with the corporate world.

Morgan Hutter

Sure. Well, they change every day, you know. I mean, it’s such an exciting time in finance with so much going on. But at the end of the day, our goal is really to make sure that when a student comes in, and I want to clarify, too, I know we mentioned that all students when we are for all students, yes, it’s first year, sophomores, juniors, and seniors. But it’s also whether or not you want to come into the Mason school or not. You can continue to be your little arts education and then still come to us. If you would like to be a history major with maybe dabble in finance, that’s fine. So I just wanted to clarify that. But, you know, as far as the corporate world goes, you know, we are making connections every day. And that is so thanks to our alumni. Right. Alumni are the greatest asset to be able to open some of these doors, obviously, over time with especially the Boehly Center’s history. You know, we’ve made some great connections, and our finance faculty have great connections because the secret is all of the students listening. You’re all going to become alumni one day, and guess who is going to call you? We are, so, you know, the key is that you will learn. And as we all know, the end game is relationships. Right. And maintaining those relationships is so key, and we’re just so thankful for every single one of those relationships. That students can come to us for really all of their career education opportunities and needs. Right. I mean, if they want help with, you know, even starting with something like their LinkedIn profile. Right. I’ve had students ask me, do I really need another social media platform? Right. And it’s kind of educating, you know, why that LinkedIn is important. Or, of course, you know, we hope they’ve already met with Cohen, and they’ve done their resume review and their cover letter review. But it always helps to have another set of eyes on those things. So, you know, if we can take a look at those, we’re more than happy to. Industry education, right, I mean, and that’s where our companies are so helpful. You know, so many people think, and I’m sure we’ll have future podcasts about this. You know, finance is only investment banking, and investment is huge, and it’s a fantastic industry. But Jad, you came from real estate, and you would probably say your financial services.

Jad Howell

Absolutely, right.

Morgan Hutter

So there’s so many other avenues. And that’s why events like Melanie shared, like Dog to Wall, help kind of go through the different industry options and the importance of our alumni sharing not only what their industry is, but what does that mean and how do you get into it and what’s maybe the personality type that would be a good fit. And I think that’s a big part of my role is trying to be the liaison to try to help students kind of, again, that connector word. Right. We’re trying to connect students to those alumni and to those employers,

Jad Howell

And they may not begin, or for example, they may begin in investment banking,

Morgan Hutter

Hmm-mmm.

Jad Howell

but then find their way to real estate.

Morgan Hutter

Hmm-mmm.

Jad Howell

Right. So I think to the earlier comment where, you know, understanding what those various areas in the corporate world are, even if it’s not their entry position coming out of their program, it could they could find their way into that. And having that base knowledge would be very helpful.

Morgan Hutter

Sure. And I’ll take it a level deeper out. It goes to, you know, there’s investment banking, and maybe we all understand what investment banking is in a big level. Right. High level from the five thousand foot view. Right. But there’s 16 to 20 different divisions within investment banking that you could work. So we also worked very hard to try to educate the students. So when they go to an interview, and they’re meeting with capital markets, they actually understand what capital markets is, and they can speak to it. And I think that’s the depth. I think we really try to focus on depth and breadth, I suppose. But, you know, the employer conversations also for students are around prep. And again, our partners at Cohen are fabulous. But, you know, we can also assist with, you know, hey, I’m considering X, Y, Z application. How many applications should I send? Hey, I’ve got an interview. I’m ready for a super day, which, if you don’t know what a super day is, a lot of the big banks invite you in after you’ve received an interview to kind of do a day on campus right at their office. And you get a chance to meet a lot of different employers. Well, or excuse me, colleagues that work there. But you’ve got to prep for that. Right. And it can be really, at times, intimidating. Or maybe you think because your parents worked on Wall Street that you’re ready. But and maybe you are right. But there’s always more we can learn. And I think that goes back to what I mentioned earlier, that you will get ready. Well and Jad, another thing I just want to mention, too, is, you know, an opportunity with the Boehly Center and just so many here on campus, you know, I think we can all learn so much about situations. And I mentioned relationships earlier and kind of those real-life experiences. Right. The practical experience. And I think it  Melanie shared so much about our programming that we offer. And, you know, I think a big piece that is underlying a lot of these programs is this common term of soft skills. We hear it all the time

Jad Howell

Absolutely, yeah.

Morgan Hutter

professionally. What is that?

Melanie Weast

Hmm-mmm.

Morgan Hutter

Right. And I think when you break it down, it’s really how somebody probably perceives you and how you interact with people. It might be how you physically present yourself to how you’re verbally articulating yourself. And I think we don’t know what we don’t know. I think about my first job and what I just learned on the job. Right. I mean, that is a valuable experience. And I think you learn from leaders.

Jad Howell

Absolutely.

Morgan Hutter

And I think we’re so fortunate here with our leadership at William & Mary, with President Rowe, Dean Pulley, you know, the faculty here, you know, these are role models.

Jad Howell

Hmm-mmm.

Morgan Hutter

And I aspire just to be a good model. And I think some of those soft skills come down to, you know, what is networking and how do you actually do that and how do you draft a formal email when you’re used to talking to your friends on text?

Jad Howell

Right.

Morgan Hutter

Right. I mean, it is different. And I think different industries are different. So I think that’s another asset that we can help with. Right. You know, investment banking is different than risk, and risk might be different than endowments. Right. And it’s kind of understanding the culture.

Jad Howell

Hmm-mmm.

Morgan Hutter

And

Jad Howell

It’s like the term emotional intelligence.

Morgan Hutter

Yes.

Jad Howell

It’s just having awareness of individuals personalities, preferences, and being able to adapt and accommodate those while working together for a common goal.

Melanie Weast

Right.

Morgan Hutter

Right.

Jad Howell

You know, I can just briefly, I mean, in my career, technical skills will only get you so far. You know, you have to have and possess those soft skills that you’re describing, Morgan, to really, I think, achieve your career aspirations.

Melanie Weast

Mmm-mmm.

Jad Howell

Especially if you’re in a visible position where you’re necessarily interacting with investors outside of the workplace.

Morgan Hutter

You know, and I think that leads to another topic, your personal brand, your being, whoever is listening right. You represent yourself; you represent your family, your friends. But it goes deeper when you’re associated with William & Mary. Right. And it goes deeper to who made that connection for you with some employer, maybe. You know, professor Agnew was mentioned earlier; Professor Marble made that connection for you. And how you represent yourself is also how you’re representing them. How you’re representing William & Mary, and how that impacts the future opportunity for a student coming up behind you?

Jad Howell

That’s right.

Melanie Weast

Absolutely.

Morgan Hutter

And I think that sometimes the bigger picture that gets lost. Right. And I think that’s those conversations are worth having. And we’re putting together, for instance, a best practice guide on some of these key things. You know, in LinkedIn, we mentioned you get 140 characters to impress somebody and see if they’ll connect with you. Well, how do you put what you want in 140 characters? Not words, characters, right? I mean, that’s a sentence and a half.

Jad Howell

Right.

Morgan Hutter

And we can help you with that. So you know

Jad Howell

Very practical solutions for these students.

Morgan Hutter

We try. We try. Exactly. And when you’re talking about practical, you know, it’s probably a good transition to talk about recruiting. You know, when I was a student in 2006, which for those listening is either a really long time ago or not at all a long time ago. You know, I can remember my teammates that were in business. They were recruiting going into their senior year, and that gave them three years and three summers to some of them are coaching lacrosse. Right. And that was fine. That doesn’t exist anymore, at least not with banking and not even really with consulting. And I think that’s something to be aware of. With Mason School of Business being a two-year business school, students will come in, for the most part, their junior and senior year, minus a few sophomore educational opportunities before that. Recruiting now is starting first-year spring to sophomore fall.

Melanie Weast

Hmm-mmm.

Morgan Hutter

So you’re not in the business school yet, which is why we are working so hard, and we hope you will share this report, you know, with those listening, if you know, first-year and second-year students that are interested in banking and consulting, they really need to contact us. They’ve got to understand that really, as, by the time you enter your sophomore year of school, Cohen Career Center puts on a fabulous career fair mid-September. So you’ve been on campus three weeks. Information sessions are happening in September and October. Your big banks have already closed hiring in August. So you haven’t even.

Jad Howell

Right.

Morgan Hutter

if you’re not paying attention to our emails that go out every Thursday, by the way, that pull from Tribe Careers, which is the job board that you want to make sure you’re following, and the cohen career center can make sure you’re set up in that. You know, if you’re not paying attention to those deadlines, you’ve missed your window. And that’s you know, it could be as early as a sophomore student. Now, we’re not saying if a junior or senior is listening right now and you’ve never applied to a job, and you’ve never come to us that you’re toast. We’re not saying that at all. But we’re encouraging you to contact us today, and we’ll get you squared away sooner’s better than later. And I’ll mention to you that consulting is probably a little bit behind the big I mean, it goes if you want to know the truth, it goes big banks. You’ve got to be in over the summer. Your middle market, boutique banks, and kind of any other financial job is probably in by September or October, and consulting is, probably October, November.

Melanie Weast

Hmm-mmm.

Morgan Hutter

And that’s not a hard rule. That’s really, really loose. So any alumni listening, and if I’m wrong, I’m sorry, but for the most part, that’s kind of your guide. And in the big four accounting firms are probably in that September, October timeline as well, which is a great because we have that MAcc program here, which is a fabulous program, you know, and students can do that, you know, either three year and one-year MAcc or four year and one-year MAcc. You know, for the accounting teams, too.

Jad Howell

I can attest to the greatness because I have a MAcc.

Melanie Weast

Hmm-mmm.

Morgan Hutter

Our fellow MAcc right here. So so I just share that because I think it’s so important because the timeline has moved up. And as you’re in the mentor match program or you’re participating and networking with alumni, all of our alumni, and I hope we’ll get you to talk about alumni, are fabulous. And but depending on when they graduated, like you’re talking to a 2006 grad or one of my teammates, that maybe is going to share their experience of senior year, that’s actually not what it’s like anymore. It’s changed. So the relevance, I think, is very important.

Jad Howell

Hmm-mmm.

Morgan Hutter

But we don’t want you to be embarrassed. We welcome everybody. There’s no silly questions I’ll share. You know, a student the other day just asked me, you know, I feel really silly asking, but what is networking like? What is it?

Jad Howell

Hmm-mmm.

Morgan Hutter

And that really made me realize, you know, to my point earlier; you don’t know what you don’t know. And it really made me want to step back and kind of say, wow, okay, that’s a really great question, because if you’re asking, then I guarantee other students are wondering

Jad Howell

Sure.

Morgan Hutter

the same thing, and in short, networking is just connecting or building relationships. But if you’re wondering how to do that, that’s why we’re here.

Melanie Weast

Hmm-mmm.

Jad Howell

It’s kind of like, you know, start begin where you’re at now. Right. And in terms of your understanding, you could be, you know, a first or second-year student who, like you say, has known that they’re going to pursue a finance degree. Others maybe, you know, sophomore juniors, and they’re still uncertain, and I think begin where you are today. And if I’m hearing both Morgan, you, and Melanie correctly, you’ll meet them right wherever they are

Melanie Weast

Exactly.

Jad Howell

and help them get ultimately to where they need and desire to be.

Morgan Hutter

Totally.

Melanie Weast

Exactly.

Morgan Hutter

Customized approach, you know, Melanie mentioned the word intentional earlier. You know, I mean, we will layout short, and long-term plans to help any student academically or professionally. And I want to you know; I think it’s an appropriate time to probably give a really good shout out to our partners at Cohen Career Center. We could ask the question, why are you different or who do I go to? And the answers come to both of us. We’re both a great resource. We all believe in the career services industry and academic connection. You know, we’re it’s one William & Mary, right? We’re one tribe. That’s what we’re here for. And, you know, Cohen has a fantastic advising events and trainings that complement ours or we complement theirs. You know, we partner also on many practical applications,

Melanie Weast

Hmm-mmm.

Morgan Hutter

right. There’s that word practical again, we want to kind of get you in the door, so when you show up to your first internship or job, you know what to actually do on the job. I think the only other difference is that our specific lens is finance. They also do finance. But, you know, our specialty is finance. So that’s why we just encourage if you have any interest or you think you might want to look at financial services, which is incredibly broad, you know, it could be as broad as being in a nonprofit and doing their books, you know, all the way to the big banks, wherever those might be, you know, globally.

Melanie Weast

Mmm-mmm.

Morgan Hutter

So

Jad Howell

That’s great. Thank you, Morgan. That’s a terrific description and hopefully very helpful for our listeners. You know, we’re coming to the end of this particular podcast. And, you know, you mentioned how important alumni are. We discussed the mentor match program, Melanie, earlier. And, you know, I, for one, recognize that as well, that they are incredibly instrumental. And again, if you recall that vision that we mentioned at the outset, it’s to continue to create connections with these students such that they desire to come back and to themselves, be alumni, and to support these students that are coming behind us. I think the last question that I would pose, and maybe Morgan will stay with you on this, how can alumni we talk so much about students, right. And all the things, the good things that the center does for our present students. But how can alumni become involved? How can they, in fact, come back if that’s our vision for them to come back? What is that door look like that they should be opening?

Morgan Hutter

Well, I’ve got to give another plug. We have the best alumni. And I’m not just saying that because I am one of them, but I mean, I think the our alumni are so engaged, so driven, so successful, and really sincerely helpful. It’s been so fun for me because I’ve gotten a chance to reconnect with people. You know, when I graduated, I didn’t know if I’d see you again. And now they’re fantastic roles, and I can connect with them and connect students to them. So, which goes back to relationships. If I hadn’t kept positive relationships, they probably wouldn’t help us now. So, you know, I think relationships is key and don’t burn bridges. But you know a phrase I’m going to steal from our friends at the law school here at William & Mary. They like to use the term AIR, and that stands for advice, information, and referrals. And to break that down a little further, let’s call AIR our advice, you know, maybe it’s that information about, you know, when a student’s curious about your industry. Right. We can set a student up to connect with you, whether it’s through the mentor match program or just separately. Right. You’ll find that students will message you on LinkedIn. That’s what we encourage. You know, we ask that you write them back. We realize your time is valuable. So you just share that with them. Hey, follow up with me in a week. You know, we’ve trained them that if you say that, they will follow up with you in a week. So, you know, follow through with that, or maybe it’s trends. This industry is changing so rapidly. And what’s maybe the next thing we have to prepare our students for, give it, you know, provide us that advice in addition to providing scenario or coaching advice to our students. You know, the information, it overlaps a little, but maybe that’s a time to come back and participate in our events and share your knowledge and experiences and tips and tricks. Best practices. Right. I mean, that information is invaluable for our students and learning that depth of industry. I mean, to me, that is the biggest help when it comes to information—lastly, referrals. You know, we’re not sitting here saying we wouldn’t mind it, but we’re not sitting here saying you better hire our students. You better put them in touch with recruiters. That’s really not the goal. I mean, of course, that wouldn’t hurt, but it’s more a referral of, hey, I don’t know if you saw that my company just posted this job.

Jad Howell

Mmm-mmm.

Melanie Weast

Mmm-mmm.

Morgan Hutter

And that’s just more we can post in tribe careers and market to our students because again, we don’t know what we don’t know. We try to look on all of these sites, but there’s things we miss, and not every company naturally puts things into tribe careers. So, you know, job referrals, that’s kind of what we mean. And networking referrals, you know, I encourage students when I give them networking and or connection advice, don’t leave a conversation without another contact. That’s how you build your network. So if you can help them, if you maybe do risk and you’re hearing through speaking with the student, that they’re actually more interested in the insurance side than the risk side. Right. Well, maybe you have a classmate that is in insurance, and you’re willing to connect them. That referral is huge. But, you know, the alumni are in it, right? You’re the experts. We are looking to you to share those shifting landscapes. And if you’re listening to me and thinking I don’t have anything to offer, you’re lying because you have so much to offer. And yes, you can help. And yes, we want you. And whether that’s. That’s at your capacity. Right. It could you know, we like to kind of say time, talent and treasure. You know, if you have the time to dedicate and you can be in events, and you can do mentor match if you want one student, if you want five students, Melanie as you’re looking at me, you know, but, you know, whatever it might be, you know it or if it’s your talent that you want to share, you know, we welcome that. You know, it’s been fun this year. We put together an alumni map. So if you come by when you come by our new space in 2002 in Miller Hall, we have this blown-up map of the world, and there’s different pushpins by color. And the colors range with how many alumni are in those respective cities. And what’s really fun to see, our alumni are everywhere, and that’s globally. And so whether you’re an international student or you’re a student that wants to go back to home or you want to get away from home, you know, we can put you in touch with those alumni. And that’s all thanks to this incredible tribe network and that I’m so proud to be a part of. And I hope the alumni listening are proud to be a part of it, too, because you matter, and the students are why we’re here. But we couldn’t do what we do without your help.

Jad Howell

Right. Absolutely. Yeah. Well, thank you, Morgan. That’s a great, I think, segway into ending the podcast. You know, it’s been incredibly helpful even for myself to hear once more all of the aspects of your specialties from your vantage points. And it’s apparent how important you are and what you do. And so, as the listeners that have made it through the podcast, we thank you for your participation. But before going once more, I would just encourage you to take advantage of this terrific opportunity to work with both Morgan and Melanie and to, you know, help yourself. Not to accomplish, in fact, what goals you may have because these are real resources and individuals that care and want to help you. So with that, we’ll end. Thank you so much, Morgan, for joining us today. And Melanie.

Melanie Weast

Thank you.

Jad Howell

Likewise. And we’ll see you next time on the Boehly Center podcast series.

Jeffrey Rich

Careers in Finance presented by the Boehly Center for Excellence in Finance is a production of Raymond A. Mason School of Business at William & Mary. Executive producer is Jeffrey Rich in association with Magenta Text Productions. Find out more about the Boehly Center by visiting https://boehlycenter.mason.wm.edu. If you enjoyed this podcast, please share it with a friend and leave us a rating and review on Apple podcast.