Blog: under construction

Hey, I'm making this blog into something cool, or at least I hope it will be cool once we're done with it. I want it to be the kind of place where you can get news, information, the weather, sports updates, and most importantly make contributions to meaningful blog posts. Do you have any suggestions for this blog?

My vision: get online and check (in this order): 1. your e-mail 2. your other favorite website (ESPN, CNN, etc.) 3. This site.

Feel free to make posts, talk about your political qualms, books you've read, etc. Thx!

Cuba, being progressive?

Reuters reports that Cuba's former leader Fidel Castro said on Thursday his country could talk to U.S. President-elect Barack Obama, in Havana's latest overture to the incoming Democratic administration in Washington.His remarks followed comments from his brother, President Raul Castro, who told a U.S. magazine he could meet Obama in a "neutral place" to try to end the Communist-run island's four-decade conflict with the United States.

He hasn't even taken office yet and people are already talking. Will anything come of this, this time?

Congrats, Bill!

Congratulations to Bill B. for beating the game at the bottom of the blog. Maneuvering that dirt bike can be pretty tricky. I'm not gonna lie, I tried to beat the game, but gave up on the second to last level.

Prop. 8

Please, I encourage all able California voters to support Proposition 8. This amendment to the California constitution will literally preserve marriage for that state and set a precedent that will reinforce and protect marriage.
Thank you! If anyone reads this post I would ask them to comment, whether Californian or not. I would love to hear the thoughts and feelings on your minds.

The Final Decision

I went to PwC last week in San Francisco. They offered me an internship in their TS office. It will be a great experience, but I was torn. Sierra Pacific Resources in Las Vegas seemed like such a good offer: BOTTOM LINE: I wanted them both!

I am very happy that both companies have agreed to work with me and allow me the opportunity to work with them this summer in Las Vegas AND San Francisco. I am grateful to all of the people who helped me get this far.

Personal Thanks: My wife, Laura, has dealt with me and all the questions I've been asking her about the whole internship saga. She even dealt with the fact that the first blog I've created had little to do with her (maybe this is my shameless excuse to make up for that). Also, I have had some wonderful mentors and friends along the way, with PwC and with SPR. They know who they are.

If anyone out there is interested...I seem to know a little bit about the internship process, at least how to obtain one. If you have ANY questions, please feel free to e-mail me. I want to help. THANKS!

How to Start (Mid-season Update)

Now it's mid-season. Here's where I stand:

• PriceWaterhouseCoopers-flyback to San Francisco next month for the Transaction Services internship. Paid.
  

• Sierra Pacific Resources- OFFER EXTENDED! Paid, free housing, in Vegas

• Smuckers- Shipping/Receiving Manager, final interview this week (via phone). Paid, free housing, Oxnard, CA.

• Kohl's-Buying Office Intern- waiting for results from first interview (held last Thursday), paid, Menomonee Falls, WI.

• KLAS Enterprises- Utah healthcare research firm. I declined after the on-site interview. I wasn't interested in the job after shadowing an employee. Very nice people, though!

• Echostar-Dish Network-Waiting for results of phone interview. Paid, housing provided, Denver, CO.

I said we started en medias res, so here's the beginning:
Despite all the resources available to BYU students, it's still difficult to find an internship for the summer. Here's what I have done:
1. Defined my goals/criteria: I want an internship that will give me a real-world taste of corporate finance. Paid, not in Utah if possible (just to get away for the summer), housing provided would be nice, hopefully the option to go full-time after graduation.
2. Define Resources: I found eRecruiting helpful (byu.erecruiting.com), the Business Career Center, the BYU Career Center (connected with eRecruiting), Vault guides (free on the BYU site), hoovers.com, the BYU career fair, friends, family, the Marriott School Internship database.
3. Figure out how to search. If you have some idea of where you want to live, that'll be most helpful. I didn't, nor do I care right now. So I just used the "shotgun" technique. I uploaded one resume to eRecruiting, and then used it to apply for over 40 positions, any position that only needed a resume. It takes about an hour to do. SOOOOO EASSSSYYY. If one position was particularly interesting, I pasted the e-mail address of the contact in my Gmail and sent them a quick e-mail about how interested I was in the position. From that, I got accepted for about 7 interviews.
4. Dates/Deadlines: You should be searching SERIOUSLY by December. A lot of deadlines pass over Christmas break.
5. What I wish I'd done: won the lottery so I could afford to go to Goldman-Sachs or a big investment firm in NY and schmooze executives for an opportunity to intern. Since I'm poor, and newly married, that's not in the budget. If you don't know someone already, you have a lot of footwork to do to get in with a firm like that, but it's not impossible, just really difficult.
Also, tailor your resume. I wish I'd done that now. I will in the future.
6. Know Someone: Once you narrow down some options, know someone. If you don't know someone in that company yet, find them. Look at the Marriott School's new intern database for a contact that did the internship last year. Look at the alumni directory. Find them, ask questions, show you're interested, then milk them for referrals, I mean, co-workers! They might not be the ones to get you into the company, but they might know someone who can.

I hope this helps other students get a feel for where and how to look for an internship, and also lets them know that they're not walking this path alone.

The Flyback

It happened! A company flew me back for an on-site interview. Sierra Pacific/Nevada Power flew me to Las Vegas Thursday night. I stayed the night in a La Quinta Inn & Suites, ate at Claim Jumper, and had SIX interviews on Friday morning.

8:20 Continental Breakfast at the office. Meet and greet with all the Finance staff.
Advice: Eating isn't what should really be going on here. I took the time to meet people on the staff, ask questions, etc... "Hi, I'm Brandon Hightower. Thanks for having me here." "Hey guys, could you point me in the direction of the restroom?" "Do people in the office usually have a continental breakfast on Fridays?" SMILE. Use a little charisma.

9:00 Interviews: We had six 30-minute interviews with managers in the office. They managed different areas of finance within the company: risk, debt financing, equity financing, treasury, accounting, etc.
Advice: Be yourself. I know it's simple, but it's true. Here's some more truth: being yourself may screw up your chances of getting the internship, but it's better to not get this job than to get it and have to fake your personality for the rest of your employment.
The questions were behavioral based, and no two interviewers asked the same questions. I was ready with some experiences where I had to "make a tough choice" or "achieve a hard goal" or "solve a disagreement between team members." I was NOT prepared for the questions of "Tell me about a time when you failed at something." I talked about how I didn't make the school b-ball team after freshman year, and wasn't sure why. But don't leave it at that! Tell the interviewer that even though it didn't work out, it wasn't a failure BECAUSE you learned something, or because you haven't made the same mistake since then.
BIG ADVICE: Again, interviewing isn't what's really going on here. The company is looking for fit. They know you are technically qualified (although they threw in a few basic finance questions) and now they just want to know if they can stand working with you. Use the time of the interview to get to know the person, find something in common with them. Sports, a picture, something on their desk, anything so they don't forget you!


12:30 LUNCH in a presentation room, chicken, rice, veggies, dessert, the usual. YUM!
Advice: Again, don't just eat! Meet and greet, THANK every interviewer. If you forgot to get business cards during interviews, try to now. They love to hand out cards in front of their coworkers. The CFO came and spoke with us and asked if we had any questions. ASK QUESTIONS!!! If you can't think of a question to ask, put your hand up in the air anyway, there's nothing like being put on the spot to evoke the thought process. I mean, I was the only guy to ask a question of the CFO and he is ultimately responsible for picking the interns. How much more do you think I stood out just because I asked him a question?! After the lunch I followed up with the CFO and asked him what his goals for interns were. I wanted to see if they were in line with my own goals, i.e. provide experience in the corporate environment, hopefully leading to full-time opportunities after graduation. He thanked me and said, "that was a good question you asked up there." (My question related to what his focus was for the financial path of the company over the next few years. It gave him an opportunity to take credit and boast a little about the company's recent accomplishments.)

1:30 Ride back to hotel. Thank the driver!
We took a cab to the airport after dinner. Sierra Pacific, NYSE: SPR, footed the bill for everything. While we were packing, the interviewers wasted no time in deliberating. I received a call back the following morning from John, one of the finance employees. He wanted to share the "good news" with me: I was chosen for the internship.

Competition was fierce, two undergrads and 5 MBAs. I lucked out as an undergrad. They had reviewed over 53 resumes and recruited from 5 colleges. My hard work has paid off and I'm guaranteed an internship!

An Invitation to the Second Round

Alright! I got invited to a 2nd round of interviews for Sierra Pacific, a Nevada power company located in Las Vegas! I received the e-mail today from the HR director, Amanda. I immediately accepted via e-mail (remember to do this), and arranged travel. I'll fly out next Thursday, spend the night in a hotel, and have interviews on site on Friday. I'm excited and a little nervous. I don't know what to expect at this point.

Pricewaterhouse Coopers--Today I had my initial interview with PWC. I'll explain more about the interview process later, my tips and tricks. These ideas have worked this far to get me the callback for SP. Hopefully the same holds true for the interview that happened today.

But like I said, we started "en medias res" so I'm just updating you on the current.

The Internship Search Begins

This blog will serve to help others find a good summer internship by learning from my advice and or mistakes as I search for the perfect internship this summer. I hope to do this by showing you how I started looking for an internship, what sources I researched, and what I wish I would have done differently. Right now, we're beginning "en medias res" as I have already had a few interviews and am awaiting callbacks from some big name companies. We'll see how it goes!