Kira Cameron ’21 constantly raises the bar for fellow Girard School of Business students. On campus, she works with the Merrimack Investment Fund, while being an integral member of the Honors Program through her mentorship and student council guidance. With two Fidelity Investments internships under her belt, Kira sets sights on the full-time offer waiting for her after graduation: a financial analyst position at Raytheon! Today, Kira joins us to discuss her Merrimack experience, what the future holds, and why she ventured outside of the “big four” for her first post-grad opportunity.
Hi Kira, and welcome to Working Warriors! Congratulations on your full-time offer from Raytheon! That’s huge. As a financial analyst, what will you be in this role?
Raytheon is a defense and aerospace company, and they are very innovative technology-wise, so they are consistently working on big projects. From my understanding, my role will be to help analyze the budgets for these projects, as well as forecasting to ensure that projects have the necessary financing. It will be a role that involves communication and collaboration with a wide range of the business units.
They’re definitely very innovative! Thankfully, you are too. Your bachelor’s in business administration features a concentration on finance. When we think of finance and accounting firms, I think we usually picture the “big four,” such as PwC, or Fidelity, whom you interned with in 2019 and 2020. Were you surprised to find this opportunity at Raytheon? What might be the benefit of taking this more non-traditional route out of undergrad?
While I had great experiences at Fidelity, I wanted to branch out and see what other roles were out there that could be a strong fit for me. I came across the Raytheon opportunity on their career site because I had heard great things about the company. After reading the job description, I felt like the role would be a good match for my interests, and I am very thankful it worked out. I am also looking forward to working at a company that isn’t just strictly finance because it is exciting to me that I will be a part of some interesting projects involving futuristic technologies!
Branching out is really smart! You’re going to be working on some pretty cool projects. But speaking of Fidelity: could you tell us more about this role, as well? What did you do, and what advice would you give other students looking to break into these big financial institutions?
My roles at Fidelity were great because I worked on a team for both summers, which was fun! I also was able to intern in two different business groups: personal investing, and corporate real estate. I took part in projects designed to come up with solutions for the company, as well as helping clients with their accounts. I honestly can’t say exactly what the big financial institutions are looking for, but I’d say make sure you have some job experience or involvements on your resume, and make sure your resume is catered towards the role you’re applying to. My big selling point during my Fidelity interview was talking about my experience as a financial coach through the Financial Capability Center, which correlated a lot with my first Fidelity role.
That’s great to hear how your role with the Financial Capability Center had such impact with Fidelity. These on-campus experiences are transferable! You mentioned involvements in general—what resources and events have you been able to utilize at Merrimack for your personal and professional growth?
I have met with my career advisor, Joe Jenkins, several times over the past three years just to check in and see what he recommends, because the career search can get stressful. It was nice to have a resource to talk to and bounce questions off of. Before I landed my job at Raytheon, he was very reassuring that something was going to work out, and that there were many people in the same boat as me.
That’s true, it’s easy to forget the entire Class of 2021 is facing the same fears you did; in that sense, it’s great to hear when people do get those opportunities. Kira, as we wrap up, do you have any other advice for fellow students, or shout outs to make?
My advice would be that even if you don’t know exactly what you want to do for a career yet, you can still apply to anything that looks interesting, and that your skills match up with. Apply to as many jobs or internships as you can, and apply to them earlier rather than later; you’ll be putting yourself in a good spot to get an interview.
Perfect! Solid advice; you’re showing all the other soon-to-be-grads how it’s done! Thanks again for your time, Kira, and best of luck finishing out the semester!
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