The Graduate Baruchian

By Aliaksandra Vilchynskaya

On December 6, 2012 Zicklin Women in Business club treated its members to an exclusive event – a company visit with HSBC in its office located in Midtown Manhattan.

“HSBC is one of the world’s largest banking and financial services organizations. With around 6,900 offices in both established and faster-growing markets, we aim to be where the growth is, connecting customers to opportunities, enabling businesses to thrive and economies to prosper and, ultimately, helping people to fulfill their hopes and realize their ambitions.”

30 female graduate students attended this banking event aimed to provide them with a unique opportunity to learn about HSBC’s business and culture, talk to female employees about their professional experiences, and receive valuable advice on career development.

The visit included a panel with three HSBC’s female employees:

Amy Shang, EVP Strategy & Analysis

Namita Sofat, Vice President SR Branch Manager, HSBC Bank

Peggy Yip, Global Banking, Chemicals, HSBC Securities (USA) Inc.

The panel was moderated by Mark Martinelli, SEVP & Chief Auditor, Group Audit North America. Panelists touched upon many burning topics drawing on their personal experiences and challenges they faced building their careers. They spoke about the importance of networking and mentorship, underscored the significance of personal brand, shared insights on a career change, and highlighted the skills women can leverage to improve their chances of getting a promotion or a job offer. For example, they all mentioned how essential it is to show one’s confidence. A woman need to speak up for herself, show her accomplishments, and realize that there is no such thing as a perfect match. We should not be discouraged if our resume does not seem an ideal fit. Also, Amy suggested analyzing the way we speak as women tend to end sentences with a question in their voices. She stressed that we need to learn to end all sentences on downturn to emphasize confidence. Another great advice was to always follow-up, do not afraid to ask appropriate questions, and bring ideas to the table.

Mark mentioned that a great way to differentiate yourself would be to know regulations appropriate for the industry of your interest regardless of your area of study (finance, human resources, statistics, etc.).

After the panel, our attendees enjoyed a networking session with panelists and other female executives who joined in – Satyabama S Ravi, EVP General Audit HBIO; Lisa M Sodeika, EVP Corporate Affairs HNAH; Paulomi Shah, Head of HSS, Americas; Suzy White, COO of GM & Americas; Diane D’Erasmo, EVP Commercial Banking HBUS.
An additional perk came from Suzie White who kindly offered a tour of HSBC’s trading floor.

After receiving positive feedback from attendees, ZWIB decided to plan more company visits in the future. So, please, stay tuned.

About ZWIB: ZWIB is a professional organization that provides career, networking and mentoring opportunities for women and men at Baruch’s Zicklin School of Business.  Our goal is to create a rewarding long term network for our community.  We actively connect our 400+ members with distinguished alumni and professionals.  We host discussions on important topics such as successful negotiation techniques, the use of emotional intelligence, and the breaking of the corporate glass ceiling.