Dec 31, 2020 By: yunews
On Monday, Dec. 21, 2021, 38 students had the chance to find the answer to 鈥淲hat is Wall Street ... Other Than Investment Banking?鈥 Thanks to Zoom and the , Investment Banking Society, and Finance Club, the annual event featured six finance professionals (five of them YU alumni) describing the many other career opportunities available on 鈥渢he street鈥 besides investment banking.
According to Susan Bauer, executive director of the Career Center, the purpose of 鈥淲hat is Wall Street?鈥 is help students realize 鈥渢hat Wall Street offers a wealth of different career paths beyond the obvious one of investment banking,鈥 a point that Dr. Noam Wasserman, dean of the , emphasized in a to his students encouraging them to sign up for the event: 鈥淚f you鈥檙e one of those people who are searching or are rethinking things, then this is the event for you.鈥
The evening began with a spirited keynote address by Jillian Mariutti, director of debt and equity financing at JLL Capital Markets, described by Mariutti as 鈥渘umber one in the capital markets.鈥
She traced her career from her work at Wachovia in 2007 as an interest rate derivatives specialist to her current work in helping developers obtain the money they need to pursue their projects.
Based upon her experience, she offered several takeaways for the people on the call, all of which offered excellent advice about how to position oneself for success.
First, and foremost, mentors. 鈥淢y mentors were instrumental to me to be able to get the interviews and make the calls I needed, and they also helped me decide what were good choices,鈥 she noted. 鈥淭hey were like my board of trustees, and they were instrumental in my making my big decisions.鈥
Second, networks: 鈥淭alk to everyone! In this industry, you have to start growing your network, and that is crucial to knowing and understanding what鈥檚 out there. It was through this process that I began getting clear about what I wanted to do next.鈥
Third, people need to become very clear about their strengths: 鈥淜now what it is that you bring to the table that鈥檚 strong.鈥
Fourth, practice your interviews. 鈥淒o your mock interviews and concentrate on having strong answers to these questions, which will come up: Why you? Why this industry? Why this firm? You have to have those be really clear,鈥 she explained. 鈥淚f you don鈥檛 know the answer to a question, stay calm, stay confident, let them hear what you鈥檙e thinking about so that they can see your train of thought, and then you can always say, 鈥業 want to give that a little more thought, can I come back to you after the interview?鈥 鈥 that is more important than the actual correct answer.鈥
(Todd Lotcpeich, director of employer alumni relations as well as the event鈥檚 emcee, put in a plug for Big Interview, a service offered by the Center to help people improve their interview skills.)
Last, but definitely not least, 鈥淵ou always want to challenge yourself鈥攄on鈥檛 be complacent. If you become complacent, that鈥檚 when you know you need to make a move and make a change.鈥
After a brief interlude, during which Lotcpeich introduced Jobscan, another service being offered by the Center that helps optimize r茅sum茅s to better navigate online job applications, the executive panel swung into action. Moderated by Meir Lewis 鈥98YC, Head of Financial Institutions Investment Banking, Americas, Nomura Securities International, the panel included Rafi Friedman 鈥15YC (Private Equity Associate, Waterfall Asset Management), Isaac Hagler 鈥91SB (Vice President, Wealth Management, Deutsche Bank); Dr. Avi Rosenbaum 鈥02YC (Partner, Tectonic Capital) and Isaac Zimmerman 鈥98YC (Senior Vice President, Treasury, Jefferies).
Lewis kicked things off by giving an overview of what he called the 鈥淲all Street ecosystem,鈥 which he divided into three segments: buy side vs. sell side, public vs. private, and institutional vs. retail. 鈥淚t鈥檚 important to dissect Wall Street into their major 鈥榝ood groups鈥 so that you can think clearly about what you want to do.鈥
The panelists then took several minutes each to describe their own backgrounds鈥攃ollege, major, first job, how they got to where they are, what it is they do and what trajectory they鈥檙e on. In their presentations and discussions, the panelists noted the many opportunities for interesting work on Wall Street that spanned the gamut from operations in the back office to make sure that IT systems function properly or managing corporate treasuries to middle-office work in areas like analytics and auditing to front-office work where people can handle personal client relationships or engage in retail sales.
Zimmerman counseled the listeners to 鈥渇ind an area you like and develop an expertise in it so that you can be the go-to person for that knowledge and establish credibility for yourself.鈥 He also noted that while 鈥渋nvestment banking is sometimes considered the 鈥榠vory tower鈥 of being on Wall Street, if you find that you鈥檙e a math person or an analytics person, then risk is an awesome place to be.鈥 Hagler not only seconded that but went further, saying that 鈥渘owadays, even in something like operations, it鈥檚 not not just about operations, it鈥檚 about risk. Everyone should have some understanding about risk control because whatever you do, it鈥檚 about risk control. Understanding that aspect of it will help you grow in the company.鈥
Friedman pointed out that banking, sales and trading, operations, wealth management, risk, compliance, product management 鈥渁re all great roles and all of which give you great optionality and opportunity down the road.鈥 The reason people get attracted to finance, he noted, is that finance can cover anything. One can work in finance at a financial firm but can also work in finance at a television company, at a media company, at a clothing company, at a food company: 鈥淲orking at a financial firm like Goldman doesn鈥檛 mean you work in finance while you could work in finance at Disney. This expands the choices people have when they think about their careers.鈥
As the evening wound down, Zimmerman spoke for the panel when he said, 鈥淥ver the course of your career, you should expect to be flexible鈥攖ake the time to learn new skills as you go on through your career because you will find that you will change. Be open to learning new skills and taking on new challenges over the course of your career.鈥
Lewis offered the attendees excellent counsel as he brought the discussion to a close: 鈥淲hen exploring Wall Street, be curious, be exploratory, consider the wide ecosystem of Wall Street, make sure to network and ask questions about other areas and certainly try to strike a balance in all the things that are important in your lives. We wish you all luck in your future in finance.鈥
According to Susan Bauer, executive director of the Career Center, the purpose of 鈥淲hat is Wall Street?鈥 is help students realize 鈥渢hat Wall Street offers a wealth of different career paths beyond the obvious one of investment banking,鈥 a point that Dr. Noam Wasserman, dean of the , emphasized in a to his students encouraging them to sign up for the event: 鈥淚f you鈥檙e one of those people who are searching or are rethinking things, then this is the event for you.鈥
The evening began with a spirited keynote address by Jillian Mariutti, director of debt and equity financing at JLL Capital Markets, described by Mariutti as 鈥渘umber one in the capital markets.鈥
She traced her career from her work at Wachovia in 2007 as an interest rate derivatives specialist to her current work in helping developers obtain the money they need to pursue their projects.
Based upon her experience, she offered several takeaways for the people on the call, all of which offered excellent advice about how to position oneself for success.
First, and foremost, mentors. 鈥淢y mentors were instrumental to me to be able to get the interviews and make the calls I needed, and they also helped me decide what were good choices,鈥 she noted. 鈥淭hey were like my board of trustees, and they were instrumental in my making my big decisions.鈥
Second, networks: 鈥淭alk to everyone! In this industry, you have to start growing your network, and that is crucial to knowing and understanding what鈥檚 out there. It was through this process that I began getting clear about what I wanted to do next.鈥
Third, people need to become very clear about their strengths: 鈥淜now what it is that you bring to the table that鈥檚 strong.鈥
Fourth, practice your interviews. 鈥淒o your mock interviews and concentrate on having strong answers to these questions, which will come up: Why you? Why this industry? Why this firm? You have to have those be really clear,鈥 she explained. 鈥淚f you don鈥檛 know the answer to a question, stay calm, stay confident, let them hear what you鈥檙e thinking about so that they can see your train of thought, and then you can always say, 鈥業 want to give that a little more thought, can I come back to you after the interview?鈥 鈥 that is more important than the actual correct answer.鈥
(Todd Lotcpeich, director of employer alumni relations as well as the event鈥檚 emcee, put in a plug for Big Interview, a service offered by the Center to help people improve their interview skills.)
Last, but definitely not least, 鈥淵ou always want to challenge yourself鈥攄on鈥檛 be complacent. If you become complacent, that鈥檚 when you know you need to make a move and make a change.鈥
After a brief interlude, during which Lotcpeich introduced Jobscan, another service being offered by the Center that helps optimize r茅sum茅s to better navigate online job applications, the executive panel swung into action. Moderated by Meir Lewis 鈥98YC, Head of Financial Institutions Investment Banking, Americas, Nomura Securities International, the panel included Rafi Friedman 鈥15YC (Private Equity Associate, Waterfall Asset Management), Isaac Hagler 鈥91SB (Vice President, Wealth Management, Deutsche Bank); Dr. Avi Rosenbaum 鈥02YC (Partner, Tectonic Capital) and Isaac Zimmerman 鈥98YC (Senior Vice President, Treasury, Jefferies).
Lewis kicked things off by giving an overview of what he called the 鈥淲all Street ecosystem,鈥 which he divided into three segments: buy side vs. sell side, public vs. private, and institutional vs. retail. 鈥淚t鈥檚 important to dissect Wall Street into their major 鈥榝ood groups鈥 so that you can think clearly about what you want to do.鈥
The panelists then took several minutes each to describe their own backgrounds鈥攃ollege, major, first job, how they got to where they are, what it is they do and what trajectory they鈥檙e on. In their presentations and discussions, the panelists noted the many opportunities for interesting work on Wall Street that spanned the gamut from operations in the back office to make sure that IT systems function properly or managing corporate treasuries to middle-office work in areas like analytics and auditing to front-office work where people can handle personal client relationships or engage in retail sales.
Zimmerman counseled the listeners to 鈥渇ind an area you like and develop an expertise in it so that you can be the go-to person for that knowledge and establish credibility for yourself.鈥 He also noted that while 鈥渋nvestment banking is sometimes considered the 鈥榠vory tower鈥 of being on Wall Street, if you find that you鈥檙e a math person or an analytics person, then risk is an awesome place to be.鈥 Hagler not only seconded that but went further, saying that 鈥渘owadays, even in something like operations, it鈥檚 not not just about operations, it鈥檚 about risk. Everyone should have some understanding about risk control because whatever you do, it鈥檚 about risk control. Understanding that aspect of it will help you grow in the company.鈥
Friedman pointed out that banking, sales and trading, operations, wealth management, risk, compliance, product management 鈥渁re all great roles and all of which give you great optionality and opportunity down the road.鈥 The reason people get attracted to finance, he noted, is that finance can cover anything. One can work in finance at a financial firm but can also work in finance at a television company, at a media company, at a clothing company, at a food company: 鈥淲orking at a financial firm like Goldman doesn鈥檛 mean you work in finance while you could work in finance at Disney. This expands the choices people have when they think about their careers.鈥
As the evening wound down, Zimmerman spoke for the panel when he said, 鈥淥ver the course of your career, you should expect to be flexible鈥攖ake the time to learn new skills as you go on through your career because you will find that you will change. Be open to learning new skills and taking on new challenges over the course of your career.鈥
Lewis offered the attendees excellent counsel as he brought the discussion to a close: 鈥淲hen exploring Wall Street, be curious, be exploratory, consider the wide ecosystem of Wall Street, make sure to network and ask questions about other areas and certainly try to strike a balance in all the things that are important in your lives. We wish you all luck in your future in finance.鈥
