Gies senior featured by WSJ for job search success

Gies College of Business senior Nicola Setterdahl was recently featured by the Wall Street Journal for her efforts in landing her first full-time job in an increasingly competitive job market. Setterdahl, a finance major, told WSJ that she earned an analyst job at Goldman Sachs after four interviews and three months of submitting applications.

Last fall she devoted up to 10 hours a week to find a job that would combine her interests in business and sustainability. The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign seniorcontacted people on LinkedIn with interesting work paths, setting up Zoom calls to ask about their careers. During classes, she scrolled job postings. At home, she and two roommates sat together on their laptops, submitting applications and hyping each other up before interviews.

Setterdahl submitted her résumé cold to Goldman Sachs in the fall, after an internship with JP Morgan Chase. A month later she got an email asking for an introductory call, and strove to prove her passion for sustainability in her interviews.

When the offer came, “I screamed out loud,” Setterdahl said.

Setterdahl gives a lot of credit to her Gies Business education for preparing her to enter the job search process with confidence. Through her business core classes, she learned how professional résumés should look, and she even went on to lead résumé and cover letter workshops with her peers.

“Through my courses at Gies, I also gained a lot of experience analyzing companies and learning how to identify their mission and values,” said Setterdahl, who also participated in Gies’ Women in Finance Academy, Phi Gamma Nu, and Students Consulting for Nonprofit Organizations. “All of my experiences at Gies really helped me in my approach to the job search process.”