Kale Vincent Smimmo graduated from Geneseo in May 2008 as an Economics major and math minor. That was six months ago, and he has already dug his heels into the workforce with a drive to succeed amidst a difficult economy. 

 

 

 

Smimmo works with individual tax returns at Klynveld, Peat, Marwick & Goerdeler (KPMG), an accounting firm in midtown Manhattan, and he didn’t get there by accident. 

 

Kale’s proactive strategy, discipline for preparation, and commitment to networking facilitated his smooth transition from college to professional life, and will likely continue to aid him in future endeavors.

 

Here are KALE'S 7 SECRETS for undergraduates in greater detail...

 

 

PROACTIVE RESUME BUILDING

 

Kale started applying for jobs at the end of summer 2007. He was hired for his current job by November of his senior year. And if he could only give one piece of advice to college students looking for jobs, Kale recommends starting as soon as possible with a proactive approach.

  

SECRET #1: “START RIGHT AWAY.”

 

“Start right away,” he said, “by building a great resume and getting anybody you can to look it over.” A student’s resume starts building in freshman year, he said, and students should keep track of their accomplishments and involvements along the way.

  

Kale’s resume included organizations, projects, internships, and even hobbies at the bottom to add a personal touch. He also suggests that students include relevant classes and skill-sets if they have a place.

  

SECRET #2: HONE YOUR RESUME.

 

In reviewing your resume, Kale endorses the expertise of Geneseo’s Career Services, which played a significant role in his attainment of employment with KPMG, but also recommends taking ideas and advice from everyone.

  

In fact, he cautions that the resume templates of Career Services are relatively generic and boring in their use of different fonts, italics and boldface, as well as placement.

 

 

THE PREPARATION OF INVOLVEMENT

  

Kale found most opportunities to prepare for the professional world within the college experience itself.

  

SECRET #3: GET INVOLVED AND LEAD.

 

Kale’s active involvement on campus was one of his most important strategies of preparation. He recommends that all students become actively involved in an organization and take on some level of leadership therein, either by becoming an officer or heading up a project. 

 

“Whenever you can say that you were a leader and managed a group of people,” he said, “that will look very favorable upon you.” 

 

Along with his active role in Men of Action & Change and Model UN, Kale spent two years working on Fed Challenge, and presented in last year’s national competition, where they earned second place. 

 

Kale described Fed Challenge to be as demanding as a full time job itself, which begins working a year in advance to prepare a 25-minute presentation about the state of the economy (mimicking the Federal Reserve Open Market Committee’s meeting every six weeks to set a target for the Federal Funds Rate).

  

Kale’s involvement in Fed Challenge alone helped him:

  

• Hone his skills as a researcher, data analyst and presenter.
• Build a story and thesis around his research.
• Understand how general economic situations impact the world we live in.
• Manage and organize the daily hours of time commitment.
• Work with and lead others on a team.

  

“This is one of the main reasons I got the job in the first place,” Kale said.

 

 

NETWORKING TO SUCCESS

  

He also couldn’t be where he is today without a commitment to networking with alumni, starting with an internship he pursued in the summer between his junior and senior year.

  

SECRET #4: NETWORK ASSERTIVELY AND CREATIVELY.

 

Kale contacted a cousin who he had never met, and with his help, started as an intern at JP Morgan Chase, a leading global finances firm, working with check depositing in the field of product development.

 

This internship opened doors and prepared him with such lessons as… 

 

• The general nature of a business environment.
• The structure of large companies.
• How companies interact with their competitors.
• How to work on strict deadlines.

  

Networking also played a central role in his current job, which he discovered after Geneseo’s Career Services put out a job posting. From there, he sent emails every couple of weeks and obtained a phone interview, followed by a second interview in person.

  

According to Kale, the majority of KPMG’s personnel are Geneseo alumni, without whom his current employment would have been unattainable.

 

 

PRESENT AND FUTURE - AND LESSONS ALONG THE WAY

  

KPMG holds major companies as clients, JP Morgan Chase among them, and Kale works on tax returns for individuals within those companies – gathering appropriate forms and income information, checking for exemptions and exclusions, and ensuring that the process goes smoothly and efficiently.

  

His busy season will start with tax season, particularly in February, but there’s never any shortage of work to be done.

  

SECRET #5: LEARN FROM YOUR CLASSES.

 

As an economic major, most of his classes weren’t geared toward accounting. But according to Kale, “College helped me learn how to learn, so now that I’m in the workforce it’s allowed me to either teach myself or learn more quickly and adapt to situations as they come up.”

  

KPMG has caught him up on anything he might have missed from academics, teaching him everything he needs to know and flying him out to Chicago this January for a week to train him further.

  

While he enjoys his current line of work and learning so much about his current field, he said, “It’s definitely not somewhere I’ll be three years from now.” He’s currently saving and planning for business school, and researching the prospect of starting his own business in peer-to-peer lending.

  

According to Kale, such businesses act as an intermediary between individuals in a community loaning each other money outside of a bank’s interference. More concrete plans will ensue after he attains his MBA, when he’ll have to find capital and people to work with.

 

 

KALE'S PERSONAL WORDS OF WISDOM

  

SECRET #6: FOLLOW YOUR PASSION.

 

Despite his ever-growing passion for finance, Kale’s primary advice is never to do anything for the money. “Do the thing you love and the money will come with that in time,” he said. 

 

Kale loves what he does, and does what he loves regardless of income, including service in the community and volunteer teaching in Harlem.

  

While his own income is on the rise, he concedes that the income most will see in their 30s hardly compares to that of their 20s. In the meantime, Kale said with a patient smile, “Find the best deals around and a company that will pay for your happy hours.”

 

SECRET #7: APPRECIATE YOUR TIME AT SCHOOL.

 

As much as he encourages students to keep their eye on the future and start searching for jobs early on, he also stresses to, “Enjoy school while you have it. As much as you might not think so now with everything you have to do, you have the option to go to class or not. If I don’t go to work, I’ve got nine more months of unpaid rent to think about.”

 

“Geneseo is what got me started on this path,” Kale said, “and it was an experience I couldn't have gone without.”