The summer after his first year at Denison, Pede Regmi ’24 began taking his career more seriously. Working as a video editor for ITS at the time, he was staying on campus during summer break and decided to use the time to work on his resume and cover letter writing skills. After working with a career coach to nail down his application materials, Pede continued to engage with the Knowlton Center on a regular basis during his sophomore year, whether it was attending employer events or just stopping in to say hi.
During this time is when Pede encountered his first internship opportunity in finance. After attending an event with alumni from Diamond Hill, he reached out to the alumni, eventually getting connected with the HR team at Diamond Hill. Thanks to his resume and cover letter preparation, Pede received a job offer after less than a week! Here, Pede discovered his interest in finance through analyzing public companies, building financial models, and other intellectually stimulating work.
After his summer at Diamond Hill, Pede knew that he wanted to continue his journey within the value investing field, spending his next summer as a rising senior interning at Harris Associates in Chicago, another asset management company. He enjoyed this internship just as much as the last one, and knew that he wanted to seek out a full-time role in finance after graduation. After networking with some of his high school alumni (you always have a professional network!), Pede learned about the economic consulting industry, an industry based on providing economic, financial, and statistical analysis of companies for use in litigation. This would allow Pede to combine the financial research skills he gained from his internships with the skills he gained through his coursework. So, the search for an economic consulting job began through LinkedIn and email.
Eventually, Pede came across Keystone Strategy, where he has accepted a full-time Associate position. As mentioned above, Pede’s networking skills are no joke–prior to receiving an offer, he reached out to 10-15 people at the firm, expressing his interest to learn more about a career at Keystone Strategy. He may have only yielded two responses out of ~15 (which is still a good rate), but one of those two responses was from the CEO of the company! After making these important connections, the CEO forwarded Pede’s resume to the HR team and the other contact connected Pede with a current associate in the role that Pede was applying for. With the CEO’s connection and the associate’s advice for how to prepare for the application process (six interviews, including case studies), Pede received a full-time, post-graduation offer for an associate position.
It’s no accident that Pede’s investment in his career journey from an early time led to a post-graduation job offer in the field of his choice. From taking full advantage of the Knowlton Center’s resources to constantly reaching out to his network, he designed his own career path with the tools available to him. No small part of Pede’s success is also owed to the fact that early on, he did the work of figuring out what a successful career looks like to him, as opposed to chasing open job positions with a lack of intention or direction. It’s much easier to land in a place that you enjoy when you have figured out what you enjoy!
For other students looking at a career in economic consulting or other financial fields, Pede has some advice. For the former, Pede believe graduating students should feel confident applying to positions in economic consulting as it is a relatively new field constantly hiring new talent as current employees leave to pursue MBAs, law school, PhDs, etc. “Please make sure to highlight your data analytics and economics skill sets and experience and be prepared to talk about it in detail,” he says, as interviewers are likely to ask increasingly specific questions to get a feel for the range of your knowledge. He believes that any STEM major who has taken ECON 101 and 102 are prepared to ace any interviews. Reviewing your ECON class notes prior to interviewing is also a good idea.
Above all, Pede’s career journey is not only impressive, but a reminder of how Denison prepares students to be the architects of their own lives. With access to the Knowlton Center and an extensive network of alumni and fellow students, every Denison student has the tools to build the future of their choice. They need only put the work in, both in the form of career preparation as well as deciding what exactly that future should look like.
