5th Annual COB Networking Night

5th Annual College of Business Networking Night
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
Oshkosh Convention Center

5-8 pm

UW Oshkosh College of Business Networking Night:
An event that connects more than 700 College of Business students to over 200 employers by creating relationships while students explore career options within their major and develop/enhance their professional networking skills.
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The College of Business Networking Night is quickly approaching!

This incredible opportunity to network with professionals is perfect whether you are looking for an internship, full-time position or just need more direction on what you are looking for in a career. Even if you are not currently seeking an internship or full-time position, this event is a great way to learn and practice professional networking skills.

Are you prepared?

With less than a month to go, now is a great time to start gathering your professional attire and creating your business cards. It is also a good time to start researching potential companies you would like to network with at the event. Below is a list of businesses that will be in attendance.

2010 Businesses in Attendance:
(as of 8/25/10)

Platinum Sponsor:
Northwestern Mutual Financial Network - The Holter Group

Alta Resources
Baker Tillly Virchow Krause
Bemis
C.H. Robinson Worldwide, Inc.
Cintas
Direct Supply
Enterprise Rent-A-Car
Federated Insurance
Frito Lay
Great Northern Corp.
JJ Keller & Associates
Miles Kimball
Northwestern Mutual Financial Network - The Blevons Group
Nsight
Oshkosh Corporation
Primerica Financial Services
Prudential
Schenck SC
SECURA Insurance
Sherwin-Williams
Society Insurance
Target
The Knight Group
Thrivent Financial for Lutherans
US Bank
Vogel Consulting
Wells Fargo Financial
Wipfli LLC

Watch for upcoming emails with event details.

For more information, schedule of events and event preparation, click here.

Tocqueville Asset Management

Brian Krieger
BBA: Accounting

Tocqueville Asset Management focuses on contrarian value investing. The firm has about $8 billion under management. Tocqueville has six funds as well as many private accounts. I spend most of my time working with the Tocqueville Gold Fund.

The internship has a lot of freedom. The theme is you get what you put into it. I basically have the freedom to choose my own path. I told my superior I was interested in the precious metals industry and I was immediately introduced to the senior analyst of the Tocqueville Gold Fund. I have been working under him ever since. We do have somewhat of a “base” program, but the majority of my time is spent doing work that I have direct influence on.

Typically, I am given (or I choose) a company to look at. I start by trying to understand the industry if I am not familiar with it. Then I start looking at the company’s annual report and quarterly filings and building a financial model. For example, I am looking at platinum mining companies right now, so I started by learning the platinum and palladium markets (supply, demand, industrial uses, etc). After I understood the platinum industry, I started researching specific companies within it.

Having a background in accounting has helped me immensely. Knowing how the financial statements flow together is vital to my position since we often recreate them and project out into the future.

I have learned a lot in the first month of my internship. Some of the most valuable knowledge I gain is from our internal meetings. I am able to absorb how very intelligent individuals think about the market. It’s something that you will never learn from a textbook.

We (there are 3 other interns) are also allowed to sit in, with some limitations, meetings with CEOs, CFOs, industry analysts, etc. It is a great experience. I also have access to a variety of information sources that I would never have been exposed to if I was not working here.

The other analysts are always willing to help the interns out. They take time out of their day to show us what they are working on and give us a lot of valuable information.

My main challenge was encountered the first week of the internship. I had no idea what to expect. To my (pleasant) surprise, the work environment is very easy going and promotes self discipline. Spending all day surrounded by individuals on a whole different intellectual level as yourself creates motivation to put in extra time and effort to learn as much as I can while I’m here.

I didn’t really know what to do at first. My expectations were that I would show up and they would just tell me what to do. It took me a few days to realize I was going to have to put myself out there to get the most out of this experience. The challenge was having the courage talk to my superiors to open up new opportunities. In hindsight, I should have never hesitated since the culture here eliminates the typical company hierarchy. Overall, its a great experience being able to work alongside so many intelligent people.