Abhi Shanbhag: How the ACE Program Shaped My Career Journey

The Leavey School of Business Accelerated Cooperative Education (ACE) program– a tight-knit community of ambitious students–has driven a substantial amount of my professional growth at Santa Clara University. The program hosts executives from various industries–corporate banking, wealth management, marketing, accounting, and more–in exclusive “Lunch and Learns” allowing ACE cohort members to explore new industries while building a precious network of veteran industry professionals. My favorite “Lunch and Learn” was speaking to Chloe Feingold–a financial advisor at Edward Jones–who helped provide advice on breaking into the wealth management industry. I realized the industry was a perfect fit for my dual social and analytical nature but I could also exhaust all other career options through amazing networking opportunities through ACE. Further, I truly loved the professional development opportunities including leadership seminars, LinkedIn Workshops, and Resume Refreshes which taught me how to utilize SCU’s expansive resources for career development while learning more about myself on a deeper level. 

The ACE community–both alumni and current students–have been extremely supportive throughout my time at SCU as well. Having a familiar face in group projects for every business course, upperclassmen to lean on for career and networking advice, and being connected to most premier business organizations on campus is always a great feeling. I remember an ACE alumni in Intuitive Surgical’s finance department taking a full day to give ACE members a tour of their Sunnyvale office while connecting us with analysts willing to share more about their day-to-day, motivations for choosing corporate finance, and advice for breaking into the industry. I loved this tour so much because I realized every single ACE alumnus was very willing to give back to the program and help mentor students throughout their college journey–I always have someone in a plethora of business industries to lean on if I ever need help! 

Although ACE has been a significant reason as to why I chose wealth management, I believe there are a couple of important tips I received from upperclassmen that helped me secure wealth management internships as a first-year. The first is that networking is key; you never know who can help you. For this reason, I would search LinkedIn for professionals whose careers interested me and ask them about their work; this helped me figure out which career I wanted to pursue, provided valuable industry knowledge that set me apart in interviews, and helped me get referrals that put me on top of the stack of resumes hiring managers see. Although many of the coffee chats you have may not lead somewhere, I truly believe in maintaining professional relationships by reconnecting every 6 months to a year (a simple email with updates or call to reconnect works perfectly) as everyone has a unique perspective. Another important piece of Wealth Management is being highly sociable and personable – the people working with will see you 5 days a week for 8 hours which is why they want someone who connects with the company’s culture. Showing personality in coffee chats is very important in wealth management–or any other industry for that matter. It’s important to note that your first couple of years at college is truly an exploratory phase – completing an internship in an industry you later realize you don’t like is never bad as it’s better to exhaust various options than pigeonholing yourself too early. For this reason, I highly recommend giving every industry a chance even if it doesn’t initially match your personality/skills since you never know. I know students who have switched from finance to accounting–for example–after touring a couple of firms even though they never considered accounting in their first year. Remember: network, explore, and show your personality!

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