L AU REN L I N D20

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Strategic Management Dr. Susan McNamara

PERSON AL SU RVEY REPORT

As I am f inishing up my business f inance degr ee at Fr edonia State Univer si t y of N ew Yor k, I am cur r ent ly tak ing my capstone class 'st r ategic management '. This class consists of pr ojects that help me to develop per sonal ly and pr ofessional ly. On Febr uar y 23, 2016 I developed and administer ed a per sonal st r ength sur vey thr ough Sur veyM onkey.com. This sur vey was sent to fami ly, fr iends, co-wor ker s, & super visor s via emai l and social media. The tar get r esponse r ate was 20 and I r eceived a total of 42 r esponses.

This per sonal sur vey was cr eated to help gain insight on my futur e in the f inance wor ld and in gr ow ing per sonal ly. I developed quest ions that would help me to gain a bet ter per spect ive on how to pr epar e for an inter view , my st r engths and weaknesses, & var ious advice in pr epar ing to apply for a job in a f inance r elated f ield. I also r eceived feedback on what car eer and type of wor k envir onment I would best f i t in.

By cr eat ing this sur vey I r eceived feedback that w i l l help me gr ow per sonal ly and pr ofessional ly. I t has given me advice that w i l l st ick w ith me thr oughout my ent i r e business car eer.

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PERSON AL F I N AN CE CAREERPAGE 6

D EVEL OPM EN TPAGE 4 & 5

A L I T TL E AB OU T M E

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M y name is Laur en L ind and I am a senior at SUN Y Fr edonia major ing in Business Finance w ith a double minor in stat ist ics and psychology. I am cur r ent ly a student assistant at The Faci l i t ies Ser vices Center on SUN Y Fr edonia Campus. I wor k r oughly 20 hour s a week complet ing var ious secr etar ial tasks and assignments. I am also involved in Enactus helping w ith data & outcomes, a captain on The Fr edonia State Dance Team, and I am also par t icipat ing in mult iple r esear ch pr ojects.

When I f i r st star ted at Fr edonia I was skept ical of what i t had to offer , but as I am f inishing up my last semester I could not imagine myself anywher e else. Fr edonia has pushed me out of my comfor t zone and al lowed me to gr ow in ways that I did not know I could. One day someone told me "do not disl ike Fr edonia unt i l you get involved", so I took that advice and star ted to join var ious act ivi t ies on campus. These act ivi t ies wer e l i fe changing and the students and pr ofessor s that I met along the way have molded me into the per son that I am today. I know that I w i l l take the know ledge that I have gained dur ing my four year s at Fr edonia and use these sk i l ls both pr ofessional ly and per sonal ly in the futur e.

M Y STORY

PERSON AL SURVEY REPORT | 3

This sur vey was sent out on Febr uar y, 23 2016 and r eceived 42 r esponses.

-69% of the r espondents wer e fr iends or classmates, 17.2% wer e family member s, & 13.7% wer e super visor s or co-wor ker s.

-58.6% of the r espondents have known me for 1-4 year s whi le 24.1% have known me for 11+ year s. 3.4% have known me only for a few months whi le 13.8% have known me for 5-10 year s.

-62.1% wer e between the ages of 18-25 3.4% wer e between the ages of 26-35, 17.2 wer e between the ages of 36-45, 13.8% wer e between the ages of 46-55, and 3.4 wer e 56 year s or older.

SU RVEY STATI STI CS

am most inter ested in f inancial analyt ics, I was inter ested in seeing how the r espondents fel t that I would f i t in that posi t ion. 61% of the r espondents fel t that this job somewhat sui t s me.

L isted in Table 3 ar e the di f fer ent t ypes of wor k envir onments. Based on the sur vey 29 out of the 42 r espondents answer ed this quest ion. 48% of the r espondents bel ieved I would f i t best in a M ODERATE N OISE AN D FAST PACED envir onment . I think that this is ver y accur ate and this is a t ype of wor k envir onment that I would be happiest in.

L isted in Table 1 ar e 6 di f fer ent sk i l ls that I bel ieve ar e necessar y in the f inance f ield. I cr eated a quest ion that would help me f ind out which sk i l ls ar e most necessar y in pr epar ing for a f inancial job. al l 42 r espondents answer ed this quest ion and as shown in Table 1 the sk i l ls that they found to be most impor tant in f inance ar e ORGAN IZATION , FOCUS AN D EFFICIEN CY. Sur pr isingly, the sk i l l that they found to be the least impor tant was being analyt ical .

L isted in Table 2 ar e 6 di f fer ent car eer s that I would be inter ested in pur suing once i gr aduate. I asked which job I would be best sui ted in and 35 out of the 42 r espondents answer ed. The most common job that the r espondents fel t that best sui ted me was FIN AN CE WITH IN A COM PAN Y, FOLLOWED BY FIN AN CIAL ADVISIN G AN D BAN KIN G. Given that I

M Y U N I QU E B RAN D

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TABLE 1

TABLE 2

TABLE 1

TABLE 3

I developed a quest ion that would help me to see what other s thought my top st r engths wer e. Each st r ength was l isted and the r espondents had to decided whether i t was one of my gr eat st r engths, simply a st r ength or i t that i t needs impr ovement . Out of the 42 r espondents 34 answer ed this quest ion. Table 4 above shows the six wor ds that I chose and the total r esponses for each wor d. Accor ding to Table 4 most individuals bel ieved my gr eatest per sonal st r engths to be PERSON ABLE, M OTIVATED, & ORGAN IZED.

Top St r en g t h 's

One quest ion that I developed was for the r espondents to l ist what wor d comes to mind when they thought of me. Out of the 42 r espondents 34 r espondents answer ed this quest ion. The wor ds that wer e used most often wer e DRIVEN , ORGAN IZED, DETERM IN ED, EN TH USIASTIC, & LEADER. Other wor ds that wer e used wer e upbeat and fr iendly. I think that these wor ds descr ibe me ver y wel l & help to bui ld my confidence in each char acter ist ic.

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TABLE 4

TABLE 5

H aving a stat ist ic minor , I bel ieve that this w i l l be an advantage in f inding a car eer as a f inancial analyst . With the amount of r esear ch pr ojects I have completed and the upper level stat ist ics cour ses I have taken, I was cur ious to see i f other people thought this would be beneficial to me as wel l . Out of 42 r espondents, 31 answer ed. 7 1 % said that this w i l l be ver y much as advantage whi le 2 9 % said that having a stat ist ics minor w i l l be somewhat of an advantage. N ot one of the 31 r espondents bel ieved that this w i l l not be an advantage when fur ther ing my car eer.

71%

29%

" RESEARCH W EB SI TE , ASK GOOD QU ESTI ON S, REVI EW F I N AN CI AL

STATEM EN TS, RESEARCH I N TERVI EW ER, SEN D TH AN K YOU H AN D W RI T TEN N OTE,

W EAR A SU I T , PRACTI CE."

I also asked sever al other opened ended quest ions such as what advice would you give for pr epar ing for an inter view , and what do you feel is the most impor tant thing when looking for a job. The answer s I r eceived wer e honest and ver y helpful . As for advice when inter view ing one r espondent said to "Resear ch website, ask good quest ions, r eview f inancial statements, r esear ch inter viewer , send thank you handwr i t ten note, wear a sui t , pr act ice" . This was the answer that I found to be most beneficial because i t acts as a checkl ist for me to make sur e that I am pr epar ed in ever y si tuat ion. One answer that stood out to me for the most impor tant thing when looking for a job was "consider whether or not the job ut i l izes al l the sk i l ls you have gained in school" . This r esponse was my favor i te because I think that i t is necessar y to take the sk i l ls that I have gained in school and put them to use in the r eal wor ld.

I plan on tak ing each r esponse into consider at ion when pr epar ing to sear ch & inter view for a job. Based off of this sur vey I w i l l be looking for mor e jobs in f inance w ithin a company and in banking. I w i l l be mor e conscious of the sk i l ls that need impr oving and at tempt to st r engthen these weaknesses. The r esponses w i l l guide and help me in ever y aspect in choosing the r ight car eer path for me.

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M Y CAREER PL AN

Over al l , I think that this per sonal sur vey r epor t was ext r emely beneficial for me. I t helped me to gain bet ter insight on how people view me and what they bel ieve my

st r engths and weaknesses ar e. I t helped me to discover what t ype of job I would be best sui ted in and what t ype of wor k envir onment I would wor k best in. N ot only did i t help advance me pr ofessional ly, but the advice and k ind comments helped me to bui ld confidence in in ar eas such as pr epar ing to inter view , accept ing a job, and descr ibing myself. When consider ing

f inancial posi t ions I w i l l look back on this sur vey for guidance and help in choosing what is best for me.

REF L ECTI ON

" Consider w hether or not the j ob

uti l izes al l the sk i l ls you have

gained in school ."