Finance students across the three Pennsylvania Western University campuses marked the first in-person collaboration for the program at a regional investment profession workshop.

 

This month, 20 students from PennWest’s School of Business attended the 2022 Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) Society of Pittsburgh Career fair, which consisted of three speaker panels and industry networking.

 

Dr. Christian Ola, from the California campus, and Dr. Shaun Pfeiffer, from the Edinboro campus, directed the trip with PennWest students KJ Williams, Julia McDaniel, Destinie Olesko, Austin Radomski, Tyler Nicholson, Cole Mundkowsky, Jeremy Dohanic, Jacob Campbell, Matthew Daniels, Ruby Skow, Nauman Aftab, Nabin Pokhrel, Patrick Kovach, Alex Garcia, Olivia Lewandowski, Sarah Keating, Marlayna White, Bruce Netterer, Melena Ratchford and Demont Davis.

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"This was a great event for our students that allowed them to develop their professional skills and network with some of the top employers in the Erie and Pittsburgh regions," Pfeiffer said. "The group of students that attended this year did a great job in representing PennWest."

 

During the session, students learned about the CFA Charter and programming, which outlined the three levels of the CFA exams and how to take advantage of the CFA Society of Pittsburgh. In the “Building Your Network—Networking and Making Connections for Career Success” session, students learned how to successfully network at professional events.

 

Finally, “Job Search Strategy Uncensored” featured three seasoned hiring managers who discussed their interview insights and experience.

 

Between panels, students also had the opportunity to learn about internship and employment opportunities from representatives of BNY Mellon, C.S. McKee, Culturora, Erie Insurance, Federal Home Loan Bank, Fort Pitt Capital, Goldman Sachs AYCO, PNC Bank, Shore Bridge Wealth Management, Troutwood, Federated Hermes and Wilshire.

 

Following the event, students visited Wealth Enhancement Group in Pittsburgh to meet Paul Brahim, a certified financial planner, who discussed the importance of the CFP designation, the career path of a CFP designee and how to establish and grow client relationships.

 

All students are enrolled in PennWest’s personal financial planning and/or finance programs.

 

For more information about personal financial planning, contact Dr. Michael Engdahl at (716) 485-1409 or mengdahl@pennwest.edu or Dr. Shaun Pfeiffer at (814) 823-3389 or spfeiffer@pennwest.edu.

 

For information about PennWest’s finance programs, contact Dr. Christian Ola at (412) 327-8386 or ola@pennwest.eduor Dr. Nan Li at (724) 938-4940 or Li_n@pennwest.edu.