The Power of Networking

Ice on the car window- Montreal

Second Week of Class
(January 16- 22)

As I had Monday off for Martin Luther King Jr. Day, my second week of class starts on Tuesday.

I do a bit of work on Tuesday morning before my 11:30 am check in at work. I hear back from some prospective students I reached out to last week and am able to answer some of their questions (which I love doing!)

I have also already scheduled my first office hours appointment with my Finance professor. You might ask, but isn't it only the second week of class? Yes it is; but hey, he offered for me to come in when I needed help so I'm going to take him up on it. My professor is very patient with me and I come away feeling much more confident with my assignment.

That night is Entrepreneurial Finance where our assignment is to submit a new business idea that will be the framework for our semester-long project. The project entails developing all of the financial documents to support our new venture including Income Statements, Balance Sheets, estimated funding, etc. In class we also hold a lottery for which topic each of us will cover in an essay due later this year. Mine? "Managing Non-Traditional Inventories in Customer Service".

Wednesday is a pretty amazing day of networking for me. I start out my morning by taking the 'T' out to Wellesley Hills to meet up with a guest speaker from my Market Research class. The informational interview goes amazingly well. I can't believe he spends an hour chatting with me, answering all of my pestering questions and offering me his network of LinkedIn connections to peruse for more networking opportunities. I'm even able to set up a connection with him and the Career Center to potentially recruit Northeastern MBAs in the future.

I don't have much time once I get back to Boston before my Innovation and Enterprise Growth class, but in the time I do have I cram some homework, grab lunch and head to campus.

Innovation and Enterprise Growth lets out a bit early today and thank goodness for that because I have an Ocean Spray Insider Insight Session to attend from 4:00-6:00 pm. The presentation is awesome and super informative. It's so nice to see people passionate about the company they work for. I particularly liked learning about the unique opportunities available within a cooperative business model (and the free Craisins and sparkling cranberry juice!).

After the info session gets out I head across the street to meet a few classmates for drinks at Conor Larkin's.We sip the new house brew and catch up on the past several months. It's hard to believe it's been that long since seeing some of them. Time flies!

Alas, I cannot stay with them long. I have much work to do. When I get home I make sure to send out my thank you notes in between my intense homework load.

Thursday I'm back in the office at 8:30 am with a special assignment. Today I get to help out with prospective students! Love it! Besides my research for the day I escort two prospective students to a class visit. This was particularly rewarding for me because this time two years ago I attended a class and it was the kind admissions staff, welcoming students and engaging course that really convinced me to apply. Plus, they attended a Strategy class with one of my favorite teachers from last year.

After the students get out I take them to lunch at International Village in one of the undergraduate dorms. We spend more than hour talking and I hope that I answered all of their questions.

That night in my New Product Development class we get to see students present real-life examples of the stage-gate process in their companies. I thought that this was a very cool way to teach us about the topic: by having our own classmates present slides with examples from their own experience.

When I get home I cram homework in between packing for my drive to Montreal tomorrow to visit Nick (did I mention that I'm loving that his work keeps bringing him to the same coast as me?).

Chipotle Poutine with Chorizo and Guacamole - Jack Astor's Bar & Grill

Raisin Bread French Toast with Bacon and Cheese - Le Dejeuner Cosmopolitain

That weekend is a relaxing one. After the six-hour drive up to Canada on Friday the next two days are decidedly less hectic. Nick and I eat good food (see examples 1 and 2 above), watch movies and take walks around the cold and snowy Mont Royal Park.

Sledding course set up in Mont Royal Park

I'm able to get some homework done as well (which relieves a lot of stress for me). One of those productive activities is sending in a revised version of my resume. I can't believe I'm already gearing up for that full-time job search. What works out even better is that one of my assignments for Brand & Advertising Management is to interview someone about a brand they love. Fortunately for me, Nick has more than slight addiction to Perrier. Perfect!

*The views expressed in this blog are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of Northeastern University, it's employees or affiliates.