MBA Jobs: A Duke MBA At Bank of America

What I love most about my job at Bank of America is that I can see my strategies be implemented in the market. That is very satisfying.

The hard finance skills that I learned at Duke have made me competent in my job; however, I’ve gotten even more value out of the soft skills that I’ve learned.  For instance, in India, we are not very familiar with the concept of networking.  When I came to Duke, it was very difficult for me to go out and sell myself within a network.  I am a very shy person to begin with. So, between my natural personality and lack of networking skills at the time, I did not land an internship after my first year of business school.

During my second year, I reached out to my career management center.  I was coached to reach out to two people each day, no matter how I felt.  I was scared in the beginning but it got easier with time.  Some of the career center staff even went so far as to put appointments on my calendar to follow up with me periodically to give me feedback and check my progress.

As a result, my networking skills improved tremendously during my second year. In fact, I landed my job at Bank of America solely through networking. I did not land it through on campus recruiting.

I went to a fair in Chicago and spoke to the B of A representative at their company booth.  Due to the financial training I received at Duke, I was very familiar with the finance-oriented questions that were hurled my way as a screen.  After the fair, I followed up right away with a thank you note.  People like humility and courtesy.  Just showing people that you care and that you are appreciative of their time will take you a long way.  Without Duke, I would not have even known about the importance of such follow up.

Dealing with the fallout from The Great Recession has been a big challenge for me.  As an immigrant, I need sponsorship to work in this country. Currently, there is no incentive for companies to hire internationals. There are, however, tax benefits for hiring American citizens, which I understand and can appreciate—especially during economically competitive times such as this. Still, this has been a huge hurdle that I struggle with on an ongoing basis.

If I could choose just one thing that stands out in terms of the value of a Duke MBA, it would be its curriculum. I believe that Duke’s academic curriculum is the best.  As a mechanical engineer, I can tell you that there were some operational concepts that I had been exposed to previously but did not fully understand until I attended Duke. I also had never studied accounting prior to earning my MBA. Today, however, 3 years after my graduation, I still remember the accounting concepts I learned at Duke and use them regularly in my job.

I would say that the biggest lesson that I’ve learned in all of this is to never underestimate yourself because of a bad showing.  There are a lot of different factors that play into things like getting or not getting an internship, a job offer or getting into a particular business school. You can’t let one or two unsuccessful attempts stop you. I am a living testament to that. I did not even land an internship while in business school and still ended up at a blue chip firm in the end because I did not give up. I was open to constructive evaluation and I committed to improving my skills.

I also advise aspiring MBAs to remember humility and courtesy. The way that you treat someone who can do nothing for you communicates volumes about who you are as a person. Even if someone is not able to help me in any way, I will still send that person a closing communication and thank them for their time.

My final advice for those who come behind me is to not listen to anyone who is negative about your goals.  Believe in yourself and don’t let anyone convince you that you haven’t got a shot at a particular opportunity.  Figure out what you want and go for it with everything you’ve got.

Other “My Story” features:

From an Army Ranger in Iraq to Harvard

From Communist Romania to London Business School

From a Hollywood Talent Agency to Chicago’s Booth School of Business

From Deloitte Consulting to Harvard

From the Israeli Army to London Business School

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