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My journey into finance began long before college.
When I was 10, my father handed me a copy of Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki. My assignment was to read it and give him feedback.
At the time, I had no interest in anything that wasn’t a novel, so he would often read a few pages with me. Every time I thought, “what in the world is this man making me do?” Little did I know that he was planting a seed for my journey.
I grew up in Zimbabwe in a middle-class family when the country’s economy was becoming unstable. Many of my relatives and friends’ parents were losing jobs, and there was a high chance that the same would happen for our family. So, after receiving a tennis scholarship to the US for university, I knew I wanted to study a subject that would teach me to make, manage and grow money. I wanted to learn this for myself, my family, and my community.
Later in college, when I started internship and job hunting, I had my eyes set on a career as part of a finance/accounting firm.
In many of my interviews for consulting roles, I had little knowledge of what financial consultants did. In retrospect of the successful interviews, I most likely landed those roles because of my story ––my big “why.” I didn’t know much about the industry, and I hadn’t thought much about “my career goals in the next five years.” I just wanted a job!
As an undergrad student, I was a D1 full-scholarship tennis athlete. I was the National Association of Black Accountants(NABA) president, a LinkedIn Campus Editor, and a member and leader in a few other organizations. I constantly missed classes because of some tournament or development conference that was happening.
I attended events such as the Thurgood Marshall Leadership Institute Seminar, Beta Gamma Sigma Leadership Conference, NABA conventions, Business Today International Conferences, and various other conferences held by companies such as Goldman Sachs, Barclays, and S&P Global.
The whole point was for me to push myself to leave my shell and network with people from all walks of life.
I challenged myself before each conference: “today, I will build ten new valuable relationships.”
This goal meant staying in touch with them long after the event. From this mindset, I created a genuine community that helped me find opportunities and vice versa.
One excellent example of this is how I found out about most of the conferences I attended. Many were forwards from people I had met and connected with at previous ones. The best part, they were all free, free, free! These conferences were “all expenses” paid by their organizers. Networking right? It’s beautiful.
Leveraging LinkedIn As a Networking Tool
Furthermore, learning from these experiences, I took the same concept to LinkedIn.
I would reach out to any new connections to introduce myself, share my resume, and ask for a possible referral. That’s how I first met Charlene. Of course, many people ignored me, others couldn’t help, but most importantly, SOME assisted me with referrals.
In fact, most of those who responded and couldn’t help with a referral assisted me with mentorship. This process is the future of recruiting ––through socializing. Unfortunately, I had to learn this the hard way after spending hours on applications, customized resumes, and personalized cover letters. I maintained a 3.7/4.0 GPA; I was a D1 Tennis Player; I led many prestigious organizations; I was a well-rounded [international] student.
However, when I applied to over 100 companies, I received rejection emails from many of them.
The Power of Networking in Action
To drive my point of the importance of networking even further, one summer, I flew to New York for a week to network in person.
Before leaving, I scheduled coffee chats with strangers I found on LinkedIn, with whom I frequently communicated.
While in the Big Apple, at night, I slept on my cousin’s couch, and during the day, I went out into the city to network with professionals in finance. It was indeed like the movie “The Pursuit of Happiness.” I also attended many events that I found on Eventbrite. This experience was a game-changer.
Networking was the pivot I needed to kick start my career. Through it, I came across opportunities to interview with Barclays, Dow Chemicals, Goldman Sachs, Microsoft, and EY. In 2019, I accepted an offer from EY to be a Financial Services Consulting intern, and the following year, I took a full-time Financial Services Consultant role.
Today, I am a grad student at Bentley University pursuing a Master’s Degree in Financial Analytics. I’ve also been actively acquiring multiple certifications to equip myself with more knowledge. Nonetheless, I’m still networking and growing my community of connections.
So, if you’ve been experiencing anything remotely relatable to what I went through, I invite you to network, network, network!
Rufaro Chirewo is an Author, Finance, YouTuber, and Forbes Under 30 Scholar.