Success Story: Kristen McDonough ’17 in Goldman Sachs analyst role
Success Stories | Jun 20, 2017 | admin
Teacher. Doctor. Firefighter. These are some of the responses you might expect when asking children what they want to be when they grow up.
If you had asked Kristen McDonough, BS ’17, what her dream job was, she would have told you it was working for Goldman Sachs.
This summer, McDonough will realize that dream when she starts at Goldman Sachs as a financial analyst.
She first got the idea for her career from her childhood mentor, who is in investment management. Always interested in what he did, as she developed a strong relationship with him, she learned more about the “teamwork that goes into building a portfolio for a private wealth client.”
When she got to Fordham, McDonough gained her own experience working with a team through the Gabelli School’s integrated projects, or IPs—group projects that require students to apply business skills to real-world situations. “Those were hands-down the most crucial courses,” she recalls.
McDonough’s junior-year IP also compelled her to try something outside of her comfort zone—and outside of the business school. During a panel session comprised of Fordham alumni, a PwC executive’s story inspired McDonough to ask herself, “What is one thing I’d like to do that I’ve never done before?”
Her answer? Take a drawing class.
Not only did the experience of trying something different expose her to new challenges, but she says “I’ve overall become more open and creative, which I think will help me in the long run.”
Her eagerness to learn new things helped lead to an internship at Goldman Sachs. Once there, she found the employees to be “genuinely interested and intellectually curious,” which further encouraged her to pursue a full-time role.
Though she’s only just graduated, McDonough is already paying forward the support she received from her mentor and future colleagues by connecting with current students. “There’s a special bond between people who have graduated from the same college,” she shares, “and I think that’s magnified at Fordham.”
McDonough will spend much of the time before her new role begins fishing, boating, and reading at her family’s home in Lake George. She’s especially looking forward to a book called Concentrated Investing.
That may not sound like summer reading to most, but for McDonough, poised to fulfill her lifelong dream of working in finance, it makes perfect sense.
