tag:www.stanford.edu,2008:/group/swib/news/headlines//3 2008-04-20T02:08:52Z Interesting business news from Stanford and around the world Movable Type 3.34 tag:www.stanford.edu,2008:/group/swib/news/headlines//3.37 2008-04-20T00:16:13Z 2008-04-20T02:08:52Z

The New York Times Bear Stearns’s New Hires Become Job Seekers By: LOUISE STORY Published: April 19, 2008 Thousands of people are losing their jobs on Wall Street — some before their first day of work. Bear Stearns CompaniesThey polished...

Anna Khan The New York Times Bear Stearns’s New Hires Become Job Seekers By: LOUISE STORY Published: April 19, 2008 Thousands of people are losing their jobs on Wall Street — some before their first day of work. Bear Stearns CompaniesThey polished résumés; they sweated interviews; they landed dream jobs. But now a small group of college and business school students are discovering that their careers at Bear Stearns ended before they began. JPMorgan Chase, which bought the beleaguered investment bank last month, rescinded many of their job offers. Yashoda Khandkar, a senior at the University of Pennsylvania, is among 250 Bear hires who now find themselves unemployed in one of the worst financial job markets in years. “The worst part about the entire situation is that it’s a really hard market for us to look for other jobs,” Ms. Khandkar said. “We probably can’t get as good of jobs as we would have had.” Ivy Leaguers like Ms. Khandkar have more options than most, of course. And for now few of them have mortgages, unlike millions of Americans who are struggling just to pay the bills. But instead of starting new jobs at Bear, these students are now hunting for work along with a growing number of bankers and brokers. Since August, the financial industry has shed more than 38,000 jobs as a result of the credit crisis and the collapse of Bear Stearns. Citigroup added to the misery on Friday, saying it would eliminate 9,000 more jobs. No one thinks the pain will end there. The angst is most acute at Bear. Many of its 14,000 employees are expected to lose their jobs in the coming months. JPMorgan is running what its chief executive, James Dimon, has called a “military operation” to decide which employees at both banks will stay and which will go. For now, many of Bear’s might-have-beens say they will keep hunting for jobs on Wall Street, where the typical new college graduate earns a starting annual salary of $80,000 or more, plus bonus. And JPMorgan is offering the student recruits consolation prizes, provided they play by its rules. They can keep hefty signing bonuses that Bear promised them — $10,000 for college seniors, and about $50,000 for M.B.A. students — if they sign contracts in which they agree not to sue the bank over their rescinded jobs. If they do not sign, JPMorgan says, they cannot keep the money, which many of the students received last fall. JPMorgan is also offering to let the students use its career counseling center, where they can hone interview skills and brush up résumés. The bank will pay students who accepted summer internships at Bear Stearns, putting some to work in its own divisions and others to work at charities. Before disaster struck, Bear Stearns — one of the most prestigious employers in campus career offices — signed on about 300 undergraduates and M.B.A.’s for full-time positions and about 300 interns for the summer. But those offers were thrown into question in March, when the 85-year-old company, undone by what amounted to a bank run, agreed to be acquired by JPMorgan in a controversial deal brokered by the federal government. The students’ fate depended on which corner of Bear they were going to join. Those who had signed on in the equities, banking and fixed-income divisions generally lost their jobs. Those who had joined in the energy, prime brokerage and merchant banking division will go to work for JPMorgan. Elsie Mbugua was one of the lucky ones. A senior at Tufts who grew up in Kenya, Ms. Mbugua will work in energy trading at JPMorgan. “I could have been where any of my friends were,” Ms. Mbugua said. “In another department, the outcome would have been different.” For the Bear analyst class that will not be, the last month has been a roller coaster. The fate of their first jobs — the culmination of years of hard work — seemed to rise and fall with news from the financial markets. The first sign of trouble came March 12, when Alan D. Schwartz, the chief executive of Bear, appeared on CNBC as rumors swirled that the bank was in trouble. After the program, a Bear human resources staff member e-mailed the clip to a group of incoming analysts and wrote a note telling them the bank was sound. Even after JPMorgan agreed to buy Bear for a fire-sale $2 a share, Bear staff members assured some students their jobs seemed safe. When JPMorgan subsequently raised its offer to $10 a share to placate angry Bear shareholders, the message turned less certain. Continue reading at: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/19/business/19bear.html?_r=1&scp=2&sq=bear+stearns&st=nyt&oref=slogin ]]> tag:www.stanford.edu,2008:/group/swib/news/headlines//3.32 2008-01-20T09:53:58Z 2008-02-01T01:59:15Z

The Associate Packages included the following: 1) SWIB coffee mug for stressful days where one hasn't gotten enough sleep 2) Hershey kisses for finals 3) The Associate Handbook - the Business Bible that includes crucial information exclusively for our...

Anna Khan The Table of Contents SWIB Overview Letter from SWIB Co-Presidents Leadership Flow Chart SWIB Programs and Events Associate Program Overview Finding a Job Resume Prep Cover Letter Prep Interview Tips On the Job Internship Best Practices Powerpoint Shortcuts Excel Shortcuts Learning More In the News Stanford GSB Case Study Finance Classes at Stanford Reference Material ]]> tag:www.stanford.edu,2008:/group/swib/news/headlines//3.29 2008-01-20T09:17:07Z 2008-01-20T09:19:51Z

The New York Times How Will Wall Street Weather the Storm? January 18, 2008, 10:42 am The financial carnage isn’t over yet. The Federal Reserve chairman, Ben S. Bernanke, may not use the “R” word, but more and more analysts...

Anna Khan The New York Times How Will Wall Street Weather the Storm? January 18, 2008, 10:42 am The financial carnage isn’t over yet. The Federal Reserve chairman, Ben S. Bernanke, may not use the “R” word, but more and more analysts and investors are. For Wall Street firms recovering from last year’s huge losses, that means there may be even fewer sources of new business to give earnings a much-needed boost in 2008. So how will financial firms make up the difference? Aleksandrs Rozens of Investment Dealers’ Digest has rounded up a few ideas. Mr. Rozens questioned an array of financial experts to get the lay of the land for Wall Street’s business prospects in 2008. Some predictions sound hauntingly familiar: Banks will look to sovereign wealth funds for infusions of capital, while the megamergers of yesteryear will be replaced by smaller deals among middle-market companies. Other trends to look out for: larger firms such as Morgan Stanley, JPMorgan Chase and Goldman Sachs may expand further into markets outside the United States. Meanwhile, layoffs on the home front are generally considered a good bet. And if consumer spending declines — as it usually does in hard economic times — corporate restructurings within the retail sector could prove to be a healthy source of advisory work. In addition, some predicted that financial firms’ fees from commodities trades, which should stay active given the high prices of oil and precious metals, will most likely increase. Mr. Rozens’s story, published Monday, came before Citigroup and Merrill Lynch announced their gaping fourth-quarter losses. But the gist of the story is unchanged: Wall Street firms have a tough year ahead. ]]> tag:www.stanford.edu,2008:/group/swib/news/headlines//3.28 2008-01-20T09:12:06Z 2008-01-20T09:16:32Z

The Dow Toll: Down 507 Points in 5 Days By JEFF SOMMER Published: January 20, 2008 The stock market fell every day last week, despite statements by Ben S. Bernanke, the Federal Reserve chairman, and by President Bush, aimed in...

Anna Khan The Dow Toll: Down 507 Points in 5 Days By JEFF SOMMER Published: January 20, 2008 The stock market fell every day last week, despite statements by Ben S. Bernanke, the Federal Reserve chairman, and by President Bush, aimed in part at reassuring investors. Separately, the Fed chairman and the president said that they would support tax rebates and other measures intended to stimulate the economy. And Mr. Bernanke hinted that the Fed was on the verge of cutting short-term interest rates again. The markets are predicting a cut of at least half a percentage point by Jan. 30. But reports showing that the economy has been slowing, and enormous write-downs of assets by big financial institutions, including Citigroup and Merrill Lynch, deepened the gloom. For the week, the Dow Jones industrial average lost 507 points, or 4 percent, to close at 12,099.30. The Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index fell 75.83 points, or 5.4 percent, to close at 1,325.19. The Nasdaq composite index dropped 99.92 points, or 4.1 percent, to close at 2,340.02. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note fell to 3.63 percent, from 3.78 percent the previous week. JEFF SOMMER tag:www.stanford.edu,2007:/group/swib/news/headlines//3.27 2007-12-28T16:04:56Z 2007-12-28T16:38:21Z

The presence of mentors have been a recognized source in inspiring young females to venture into the business world, although studies show that MBA students want to see more role models who they can learn from in balancing a growing...

Roxanne Teti The presence of mentors have been a recognized source in inspiring young females to venture into the business world, although studies show that MBA students want to see more role models who they can learn from in balancing a growing career with a growing family. [Newsweek Magazine]--A graduate of Brown University, Rachel Hochheiser says she was out to heal the world when she first joined the workforce in the nonprofit sector. In her wildest dreams, she never imagined she would set foot inside a business school, let alone graduate from one. But she did just that in May, 2005, when she received her MBA from the Olin School of Business at Washington University in St. Louis. What changed her mind about B-school? Her role model, Rhoda Weisman Uziel, the executive director of The Professional Leaders Project, a group that cultivates young leaders in the Jewish community. Uziel, by example, showed Hochheiser that applying for-profit skills to nonprofit work would help her make even more of a difference. Recent research suggests that showcasing the achievements of women in business would attract women to MBA programs. For years now, B-schools have been struggling to understand why the share of women students pursuing an MBA plateaus at about 30%, while increasing percentages of women seek medical and legal degrees (see BW Online, 12/1/04, "Breaking B-School Gender Barriers"). GENDER PARITY. Catalyst, a research and advisory group based in New York, recently teamed up with University of Michigan's Stephen M. Ross School of Business and the Center for the Education of Women at the University of Michigan to survey 1,684 female students from 12 top B-schools. More than half of the women said having few role models was the main reason why women don't pursue the MBA. Nearly 90% said that B-schools should feature more women business leaders to attract a diverse student body. But what do women MBAs really want in a role model? You could probably come up with as many different answers as there are women. But a brief, nonscientific survey of some of the women that B-school administrators consider role models sheds some light on what it takes to set a good example and how to get gender parity in the classroom. For starters, women need representation in the administration at top B-schools. That's why the recent appointment of Judy Olian, currently dean of the Smeal College of Business at Penn State University, as the new dean at UCLA's Anderson School of Management is noteworthy. When Olian starts at Anderson in January, she'll be one of very few women heading a top-tier business school. She says she'll be doing all she can to attract a more balanced student population. "Schools must have representation of both sexes, so it's clear that each can have success in business," she adds. "There's a much bigger picture than what goes on in B-school." SPEAKING PARTS. Women want to see reflections of themselves in academia and their chosen profession. They're also asking for more representation at top-tier schools in the faculty, student body, and roster of guest speakers and lecturers. Case studies should feature more women leaders, they add. "When you don't have people to emulate, you're left floundering," says Erika Hayes James, an associate professor of business administration at the University of Virginia's Darden Graduate School of Business. Sometimes, simple suggestions can do the trick. Nan Langowitz, the director of the Center for Women's Leadership at Babson College, noticed that one of her male colleagues was always inviting male speakers to discuss finance issues. She offered to help him track down potential women guests for the next series of lectures, and he welcomed her ideas. "Women role models are out there," says Langowitz. "Educators just have to find them and bring them into the classroom." Emulation is only part of the equation. Self-confidence is a necessity. "Women need to know that they can be women and still be incredibly successful," says Catherine Tinsley, associate professor of management at the Robert Emmett McDonough School of Business at Georgetown University. When Tinsley first launched her career, she thought she had to be gender-neutral in her behavior to succeed. When she realized what she was doing, she decided to liberate herself by recognizing her femininity. MINORITY BENEFITS. Women applicants to B-school need to see patterns in the lives of the other women who have come through the school's doors, says Erin Cochrane, regional director of development at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College. Students say they look to role models to get a sense of how they can navigate both school and the job search. Meghan O'Meara, a second-year student at Olin, quickly noticed that being in the minority has its benefits. Women have a high level of support because they're fewer in number and therefore tend to stick together, she says. "I realized that as women, we have a built-in differentiator when marketing ourselves to recruiters," adds O'Meara. "Our opinions and thoughts are highly valued and sought out because they're often different from those of our male counterparts." What most B-school administrators are recognizing is that they have to embrace the differences between the sexes and make women feel welcome. One way of doing this is by creating women-friendly venues. Linda Wells, the executive director of the Center for Entrepreneurial Studies at Stanford Graduate School of Business is offering a course called "Entrepreneurship from the Perspective of Women," which lasts five days and features women from the venture-capital community. The idea is not only to showcase powerful women but also to help female entrepreneurs find each other. BABY ON BOARD. Just about every woman who talked with BusinessWeek Online said she needed to see more role models who were successfully balancing the needs of their family with their careers. Timing is everything. Most students are around 28 when they enter an MBA program, which is about the same age many women are thinking about starting a family. After graduation, most MBAs are expected to get on the fast track in the corporate world to make up for lost time and salary. As a result, applicants are getting the message that you can't be both an MBA and a mom, and they need examples to the contrary. And they don't just want to see women doing the juggling act, they're looking for a few good men, too. "Raising kids is a family issue, not a women's issue," says Tinsley. So, a father taking paternity leave could just as easily serve as a useful example. Having students talk to MBA moms might help. Joan Lavis, managing director for Global Strategy & Business Development at investment bank UBS (UBS ) in Stamford, Conn., and a 1983 MBA graduate of the William E. Simon Graduate School of Business Administration at the University of Rochester, says women need to know that it's possible to have it all -- as long as B-schools and employers are flexible. HIGHER PROFILE. "I'll do a 6 a.m. phone call for work, but I'll also be the mystery reader at my daughter's school that day," says Lavis, who in the same week won the Chairman's Award at UBS and recognition for being the mom who volunteered the most for her daughter's fifth-grade class. The bottom line is that B-schools need to make role models a part of their strategy when trying to attract women students. Institutions like the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business and London Business School already offer scholarship money -- and assigned mentors -- to outstanding women applicants. But most students, alumnae, and professors say that schools won't get credit for these gestures until more women earn an MBA and land important jobs in the corporate world that allow them time for a family, too. After all, seeing is believing. tag:www.stanford.edu,2007:/group/swib/news/headlines//3.25 2007-12-26T19:41:45Z 2007-12-26T20:18:50Z

Fortune's Carol Loomis examines the executive gender gap in conjunction with the release of Fortune's Most Powerful Women issue. The gender gap gains over the past decade are overshadowed by tremendous lack of parity still to be overcome. DANA POINT,...

Heidi Boyd Fortune's Carol Loomis examines the executive gender gap in conjunction with the release of Fortune's Most Powerful Women issue. The gender gap gains over the past decade are overshadowed by tremendous lack of parity still to be overcome. DANA POINT, Calif. (Fortune) -- The good news for women is that they have gained ground in the corporate hierarchy. According to Catalyst, a New York organization that works to expand corporate opportunities for women, in 1995 women held only 9.6% of the Fortune 500's board seats. Today, their share is significantly higher, 14.6%. But the really bad news is that at this rate of gain - about a half of a percentage point per year - it will take women 73 years to achieve what Catalyst's president, Ilene Lang, calls "parity" (boards divided 50-50 between men and women)... Such parity might seem reasonable considering that women make up a large 46.3% of the total work force. Historically, though, once the jobs in question are above middle manager, women become far scarcer. Catalyst's Lang, a participant in Fortune's Most Powerful Women Summit, says that women hold only 15.7% of the Fortune 500's corporate officer positions. That's up from 8.7% in 1995, but again, at that rate, "parity" is 43 years away. What accounts for the paucity of women at high corporate levels? Lang does not believe that motherhood is to blame. For an example of a woman doing it all, Lang points to Susan Wojcicki, who in 1999 became Google's (Charts, Fortune 500) first marketing professional and is now the company's vice-president for product management. Wojcicki has three children and is pregnant with a fourth. The true reasons that women are held back, Lang contends, are the "old-boy" network; stereotypical doubts that people have about the ability of women to lead; and the fact that women lack role models at the top. Says Lang, "If women don't see themselves there" - on boards and in the executive suite - "they don't see themselves there." The world doesn't have to work this way, says Lang. She describes the ascent of Indra Nooyi, who heads FORTUNE's list of the most powerful women, to her job as chairman and CEO of Pepsico (Charts, Fortune 500). The company recognized Nooyi's talents and nurtured them, says Lang admiringly: "Pepsico encouraged everything about her that makes her what she is." In stark contrast, many FORTUNE 500 companies do not have even a single woman in their corporate officer list. And on the board front, Catalyst counts more than 50 of the 500 that lack women directors entirely. Among those companies are Rupert Murdoch's News Corp (Charts, Fortune 500)., Apple Computer (Charts, Fortune 500), and Bear Stearns (Charts, Fortune 500). Lang particularly commends those companies that have two or three women directors. "If they have that many," she says, "you know they've worked at it." That many women on a board, or still more, allows these directors to stop representing their gender and be themselves. Each can be an individual, Lang says, and that's the kind of thinking and voice you want on a board. tag:www.stanford.edu,2007:/group/swib/news/headlines//3.22 2007-06-11T05:52:41Z 2007-06-11T05:53:53Z

Discrepancies in angel funding; gender stereotypes in Europe; the correlation between leisure time and new business ideas; and more BusinessWeek: Why Few Women Seek Angel Investment...

Dana Nguyen Why Few Women Seek Angel Investment]]> tag:www.stanford.edu,2007:/group/swib/news/headlines//3.21 2007-06-05T08:50:34Z 2007-06-05T08:51:36Z

The partners who built the Ladies Who Launch networking group explain how they support female entrepreneurship and connect like-minded women. Business Week: Rethinking How Women Build Businesses...

Dana Nguyen Rethinking How Women Build Businesses]]> tag:www.stanford.edu,2007:/group/swib/news/headlines//3.20 2007-05-24T15:36:11Z 2007-05-24T15:38:57Z

The American Association of University Women reports on the continued gender pay gap. Time Dashboard: Equal Pay Debate...

Heidi Boyd Equal Pay Debate ]]> tag:www.stanford.edu,2007:/group/swib/news/headlines//3.19 2007-05-24T15:30:14Z 2007-05-24T15:32:58Z

Training execs to overcome their biases doesn´t help minorities and women join their ranks. Time magazine discusses whats working and whats failing in efforts to diversify the work force. Time: The Diversity Delusion...

Heidi Boyd The Diversity Delusion]]> tag:www.stanford.edu,2007:/group/swib/news/headlines//3.17 2007-05-17T05:28:03Z 2007-05-17T05:30:36Z

Middle Eastern Businesswomen discuss challenges they face at home and agroad. Interviews with 3 of the 37 women attending University of Pennsylvania & Wharton's 4 week legal and busines fellowship program. Knowledge@Wharton: Middle Eastern Businesswomen Discuss Challenges...

Dana Nguyen Middle Eastern Businesswomen Discuss Challenges]]> tag:www.stanford.edu,2007:/group/swib/news/headlines//3.16 2007-05-16T21:17:08Z 2007-05-16T21:18:59Z

The baby-boomers' kids are marching into the workplace, and look out: This crop of twentysomethings really is different. Fortune's Nadira Hira presents a field guide to Generation Y. An interesting look at prospective employer and co-worker perceptions of the current...

Dana Nguyen Attracting the twentysomething worker]]> tag:www.stanford.edu,2007:/group/swib/news/headlines//3.15 2007-05-16T21:08:23Z 2007-05-16T21:09:10Z

Hiring is up and so are salaries, but there's lots of competition, too. Raise the odds of getting your dream job by avoiding these common errors. FORTUNE Magazine: 5 big mistakes new grads make...

Dana Nguyen 5 big mistakes new grads make]]> tag:www.stanford.edu,2007:/group/swib/news/headlines//3.14 2007-05-16T17:56:50Z 2007-05-16T18:00:41Z

Stanford Women in Business was one of the student groups recognized and awarded the Dean of Students Outstanding Achievement award. The Daily Article reporting on the Stanford Student Awards Dinner...

Dana Nguyen The Daily Article reporting on the Stanford Student Awards Dinner]]> tag:www.stanford.edu,2007:/group/swib/news/headlines//3.13 2007-05-12T23:22:05Z 2007-05-12T23:23:15Z

Organizations that do good and companies that are doing well both rank high with students, according to Universum's latest findings. BusinessWeek: Undergrads' 25 Most Wanted Employers...

Dana Nguyen Undergrads' 25 Most Wanted Employers]]>