OUBC blogs

A First Time OUBC Experience

admin — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 01:15:25 +0000

Wondering what it's like to attend OUBC? Kat Muller, who will be spending this summer working at Monitor, tells us below a little about her first trip to OUBC and all the great people she met in New York!

Being a new board member on Penn's LGBT pre-professional society, the Wharton Alliance, I had heard the four letters "OUBC" uttered in conversation many times. But it wasn't until our Campus Ambassador's information session that I began to really understand what OUBC was and what it was all about. A conference for the LGBT community to come together and talk about business and how we as LGBT individuals could and would fit in. Sounded great. I applied, and a few months later, I was in NYC!

Little did I know how many amazing LGBT individuals there were living out and happy in corporate America. I literally teared up at the words of the keynote speaker, she was so passionate and kind, and had nothing but wonderful things to say about her time as an out lesbian in a bulge bracket bank. Throughout the conference, I met truly inspiring people, one after another. And that's what OUBC was for me. I certainly built upon my existing knowledge base of what consulting and finance are, and built up my network of professional contacts, and got a chance to address certain issues that could come up in the workplace as an LGBT individual. But OUBC really, for me, was about finally coming to the realization that I could be out and happy at work. Meeting a ton of incredible people who were out and happy was at the same time gut-wrenching and heart-warming.

OUBC is an incredible experience, with a slew of interesting workshops and conversations to be had, and an even greater number of friendly and diverse people with whom to share those workshops and conversations. As I look forward to my summer internship with Monitor, I also look forward to the opportunity to go back to OUBC, meet more new friends, and learn more new things about the intersection of business and LGBT individuals.

Looking for a Career in Private Equity?

admin — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 00:55:36 +0000

Private equity careers often follow careers in financial services and consulting, and many LGBT candidates have questions on whether LGBT professionals can succeed in the homogenous PE industry. OUBC is therefore pleased to offer an “Intro into private equity careers and interviews” conference call that will:

Provide background on the private equity industry,
Detail how to break into the industry from both investment banking and management consulting backgrounds, and
Provide specific tips on how to succeed in the interview process

The session will be led by Doug Kenney (OUBC ’05-’08) along with a number of OUBC alums and current private equity industry professionals. If interested, please email community@outforbusiness.com; further details will be forthcoming.

Meet Steven! A Campus Ambassador Profile

admin — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 14:29:37 +0000

Welcome to our second Campus Ambassador profile. Today we wanted to share a little about what it means to be a Campus Ambassador for OUBC and how it can serve as a great opportunity to help students at your school and to gain access to recruiters. Steven Weiner is one of our former Ambassadors now working for a sponsor firm, and his story follows. If you're interested in becoming a Campus Ambassador or learning more about the program, check it out here--applications are due March 23!

When I first heard about OUBC I was a sophomore trying to determine if the business world was a good fit for me. I had dabbled in the basic finance and accounting classes, but I was looking for something to really solidify my interests and show me that I could be comfortable working at one of the big firms that visited my campus. A graduating senior told me about the OUBC campus ambassador position and after applying I was ecstatic to hear that I had a confirmed spot at the 2011 conference.

The conference was the most informative and wonderful experience that I’ve had so far as an undergraduate. I was able to network with professionals from top firms, meet peers that I will be entering the business world with in the next few years, and get an inside look at the business world that isn’t normally seen when a recruiter visits your campus. I never realized the true LGBT inclusiveness in business, and without the conference I may not have properly come out on my resume or been comfortable speaking to my experiences in an interview. I kept in touch with the many professionals and peers I had met during the conference to get through the summer internship interview process.

After traveling back and forth from Binghamton to NYC multiple times during my first semester and understanding the greyhound bus schedule much better than asset retirement obligations, I landed an internship with a conference sponsor in their New York City office for the Summer of 2012. Without the conference I would not have met the many individuals throughout the application process who answered any questions I had before and after my interviews. I am very excited to start with PwC in the risk assurance field this Summer and begin to branch out in the firm to see what areas I could one day specialize in once I begin my full-time career.

A Note from the Executive Director

admin — Thu, 15 Mar 2012 21:29:57 +0000

Greetings,

Conference planning is already well under way! We are pleased to confirm J.P. Morgan, our underwriting sponsor, will host the conference on October 5th and 6th at their global headquarters in New York City. The organizing committee is working to improve the experience for all stakeholders – we’re seeking to add additional student attendees, offer more direct and impactful networking opportunities, and enrich programming.

It’s been an incredibly affirmative past year for LGBT people. Several states across the US legalized gay marriage and expanded the rights of LGBT people. And according to the HRC, many leading companies have instituted “Gross Up” tax equalization benefits for Domestic Partners. Underscoring this progress, in 2011, the OUBC hosted a record number of sponsors across Financial Services, Consulting, and Accounting&Professional services, proof that business is a phenomenal career for LGBT undergraduates.

Progress isn’t possible without community, and community doesn’t get built in two days. I will work tirelessly to provide opportunities to build community throughout the year and ask one simple thing in return: your involvement. I challenge you to get more involved in 2012 – become a mentor, meet and network with our alumni, build bridges with our sponsors, and pay your success forward.

I know firsthand just how powerful our organization is, because I attended as a student in 2008 and it opened my eyes to a wealth of opportunities. It’s from the OUBC that we cultivate our future LGBT business leaders and build a proud, thriving community. And that’s why I’m involved.

Best,

Jeffrey Kern
Executive Director, 2012 Out for Undergraduate Business Conference

ALSO: Meet the 2012 OUBC Organizing Team

Meet Yannis! A Campus Ambassador Profile

admin — Thu, 15 Mar 2012 20:56:00 +0000

Today we wanted to share a little about what it means to be a Campus Ambassador for OUBC and how it can serve as a great opportunity to help students at your school and to gain access to recruiters. Yannis Valtis is one of our former Ambassadors now working for a sponsor firm, and his story follows. If you're interested in becoming a Campus Ambassador or learning more about the program, check it out here--applications are due March 23!

Sometime in my junior fall, I received an email about a conference in NYC that aimed to introduce queers to the world of business. As a developmental biology concentrator, whose interest lied in the processes through which neurons are regenerated in the brains of adult organisms, I was completely clueless about the meaning of words like "consulting", "case interview", and "stock pitch". I applied to OUBC for the free trip to NYC and ended up getting a scholarship!

After three days at the conference I had developed an interest in how companies and organizations are run, a plan to apply to a consulting conference for a job after graduation, and the realization that there was a vibrant queer community of young professionals that I could be part of. My introduction to the world of business in an intimate and safe setting was something that I wanted to share with my fellow classmates. I decided to be a Campus Ambassador because I wanted to recruit students like me, who were not aware they had an interest in business and for whom OUBC could truly be a great experience.

After I attended OUBC for the second time, the craziness of recruiting began. The contacts that I had made during the conference were definitely helpful throughout the process. Particularly the friends that had been through recruiting before and offered to help me prepare for case interviewing. A few weeks later, having explained about thirty different times "what my toughest leadership experience in a small group setting" had been, I ended up getting an offer for the San Francisco office of the Boston Consulting Group. I am finally moving away from the cold New England winters in the fall! After my time at BCG, I plan to apply to medical school and find a place somewhere in the intersections of medicine, healthcare, and business.

Half of College-Educated Gays and Lesbians Hide their Orientation at Work

Michael Ruderman — Thu, 23 Jun 2011 17:28:49 +0000

Despite OUBC's growth in recent years, there is still a lot of work to be done!

A recent study showed that nearly half of college-educated lesbians and gays still hide their sexual orientation at work and nearly a third live "double lives," in the closet at the office but completely open about their sexuality outside of work. Obviously, there is massive opportunity to get more LGBT individuals to come out of the closet. With half of LGBT individuals remaining in the closet, it's likely that stereotypes non-LGBT individuals have about the LGBT community are being perpetuated. Nothing helps to educate and dispel stereotypes about LGBT individuals than meeting and working closely with an LGBT individual. But most worrying, according to the study, gays and lesbians who "keep their true sexual identity under wraps while at work are more likely to report job-related stress and isolation than their peers, and are also more likely to want to leave their current jobs." Staying in the closet hurts the broader LGBT community and its fight for equality but also hurts one's ability to succeed and be happy at work.

There are millions of LGBT individuals in America's professional ranks. Our conference can only touch the lives of a few hundred. It's important to realize that change starts at the top and change starts with the next generation. Hopefully, we can continue to affect the corporate cultures at some of the nation's leading companies so that their employees don't feel the need to be closeted at the office. And hopefully, we can do so by affecting the next generation of these companies' leaders. We still have a long way to go!

Check out the article here.

Past OUBC Exec Director Ruderman Featured in TopMBA Article

Peter Hart — Wed, 04 May 2011 22:27:17 +0000

OUBC participants are very focused on finding a great job after college. Students are looking for a leading company that will offer both a diverse environment and challenging, growth experiences. But at OUBC, our participants are also happy to discover that the nation's top business schools are able to offer such diverse environments and great experiences. OUBC was proud to have some of these top schools at the conference in the fall. Stanford's Graduate School of Business, Harvard Business School, Duke's Fuqua School of Business, and Cornell's Johnson School were all in attendance at this past event. They took part in a panel on the MBA experience and had tables at our career fair.

Past OUBC Executive Director Michael Ruderman was recently interviewed by TopMBA.com, a leading site dedicated to MBA admissions and programs. He will be a student at Stanford's Graduate School of Business in the fall. He said, "There's no doubt business schools are looking to attract LGBT talent to their campuses." Just as being LGBT can be helpful in the job application process to our top OUBC sponsor firms, it can also be helpful in business school admissions. But Ruderman cautions against coming out in one's application "just for the sake of coming out. Be sure coming out makes sense in the context of the broader story you're telling."

Check out the article here: http://www.topmba.com/articles/admission-advice/MBA-applications-LGBT

We are now accepting applications for the 2011 OUBC!

Peter Hart — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 14:54:23 +0000

We are now accepting applications for the 2011 OUBC!

A committee of OUBC organizers and professionals from sponsoring firms will review the applicants. Each application will be reviewed for strong academic performance, extracurricular and professional involvement, and a thoughtful personal statement. While a resume is not required for acceptance, it is highly encouraged that you upload a copy of your resume.

You should also consider applying for one of our merit-based travel scholarships. We have limited funds to offer students free travel to and from New York City and a hotel room over the weekend. So, if you are traveling from out of town, we encourage you to click the travel scholarship box on the application form. Nothing additional is needed if you are applying for this scholarship, though you must submit a resume to be considered.

We will review applications on a rolling basis and will get back to you within four weeks of your application, so apply now! You will also save $20 on conference registration so the earlier the better.

If we are not able to offer you a spot at OUBC or you are unable to attend for any reason, you can log back in to receive a full refund. You can also continue to update your resume and other personal information as needed before the conference just by logging back in.

John Berry Speech Written About in Harvard Business Review

Michael Ruderman — Mon, 08 Nov 2010 19:24:00 +0000

John Berry's speech at the OUBC was profiled in a blog post for the Harvard Business Review. J.D. Schramm, an OUBC Board Member who leads the student networking session at the annual conference, was inspired by Director Berry's words and his ability to effectively turn a difficult speaking opportunity into an effective call to action. As J.D. quotes Director Berry, who pulled on the recent suicides of LGBT college students, "We can build a lighthouse as a beacon of hope in dark times and opportunity for others to see that the tragedies of the past several weeks are unnecessary. Get involved, wherever you are, whatever field you pursue. Get involved. Because the tree of liberty grows in one direction: out, by adding rings. What will you add?"

Check out the HBR blog post here.

Amazing Conference

Michael Ruderman — Wed, 06 Oct 2010 18:06:35 +0000

This past weekend, we finally got to show everyone what we'd been planning for the last year. And we were delighted to have the largest number of students and professionals ever in attendance to take part in our long-awaited conference. We had over 350 students and professionals attend OUBC, and the feedback we've received has been overwhelmingly positive and down-right heartwarming.

With the recent high profile suicides of LGBT students, the empowerment, inspiration, and community that OUBC provides have never been more important. These quotes, which I've pulled from e-mails I've received since the conference, show that OUBC is more than just a conference. It is, to borrow a phrase from our keynote speaker John Berry's words from Friday night, a beacon of light for those in the dark.

"The conference was an enormous leap of faith and confidence for me, and it delivered more powerfully and effectively than I had ever anticipated. I think it was the first time I've really been fully comfortable being gay. Thank you for being a part of it. It truly means a lot. I can't wait to contribute to it." - Male Bowdoin student

"Thank you so much for a wonderful weekend. I'm certain I don't speak for only myself when I say I learned so much, made so many connections - both personal and professional - and received so much reassurance. This year's OUBC conference has greatly influenced my life, and I am extremely grateful. Thanks again from the bottom of my heart." - Female UNC Chapel Hill student

"I was completely blown away by the passion, enthusiasm, and community that was present this weekend. I was absolutely exhausted by work, life, and applications, but this weekend helped refresh my perspective and get me really excited about consulting.... It was an unbelievable experience. Please know that all your work paid off." - Female Northwestern student

"It was an incredible experience that I'm so happy to have taken part in." - Male Harvard student

"I had no idea what to expect when I signed up, and my attendance paid off more than I could have imagined. Every aspect of the OUBC - from professional networking to personal relationship-building to structured learning - helped me grow and become more comfortable as a gay professional." - Male Middlebury student

"I was impressed by the caliber of the OUBC candidates as well as the flawless execution of the event." - Platinum Sponsor recruiting professional

Thanks to everyone who made OUBC 2010 a huge success, a powerful community, and a lighthouse for those who might otherwise be lost. We look forward to your support next year.