Financial analyst, Schiltkamp International Consultants, New York
“I always think my ‘career’ started in my freshman year,” says Long Lin.
At the time he was unsure of his professional path, but he discovered very quickly how best to move in the right direction. With the help of Career Services and the and the online alumni database, Long reached out to alumni working in the fields that interested him, and they brought him in.
“I remember my first meeting was on a chilly Sunday in Boston with Mollie (Grotpeter) Murphy [’03], who was also an economics major. Mollie introduced me to her work as a consultant at Bill Mosakowski’s [’76] Public Consulting Group, and I was lucky to get an internship at PCG after my first year at Clark, and returned for a second summer after my sophomore year,” he recalls.
“After meetings with Mollie, my friends at Clark could often spot me on a bus or train to Boston or New York on weekends, for coffee with Clark alumni, informational interviews, and then job interviews. Gary Rosen [’85] helped me land an internship at Wells Fargo Advisors’ Investment Management Group after my junior year. I first met my current boss, Arrien Schiltkamp [’78], at a board of trustees meeting on campus when I was a sophomore.”
The buses and trains that transported Long have since been replaced by airplanes, which every two months carry him to China. As a financial analyst for Schiltkamp International Consultants in New York, Long conducts economic and financial research for the company and assists managing its Asian clients.
The native of Chengdu, Long knew he wanted to work in a profession involved with establishing and maintaining a connection between China and the United States. His facility with the Mandarin language and his business skills are a perfect pairing for this sensitive job.
“I feel excited to be part a team when we help a Chinese client understand the market in the U.S. and invest internationally,” Long says. “With more business and cultural communications between the two countries, I’m passionate about improving my own skills while learning to bring people together across cultures.”
He says the meaningful undergraduate research opportunities he enjoyed at Clark were key to his development. As early as his sophomore year he was “learning the ABCs” of economics research from Professor Wayne Gray. With the guidance of his professors, he was then able to secure a junior-year-abroad slot at the prestigious London School of Economics.
Those collective Clark experiences — from his research responsibilities to the valuable alumni mentoring he received — are serving Long Lin well as he realizes his dream of bridging the two countries that have nurtured and educated him.