Telling a Better Story
Our Jobseeker, Jessica Smith, uses her "Who I Am" iPAGE to share her professional and personal story with her contacts and anyone who might be interested in hiring her.
Jessica doesn't know the first thing about web development or how to build a web site, but that isn't necessary for her to build the iPAGE below. She knows how to type and upload a photo. She also had a friend shoot a short video of herself, which she uploaded to YouTube and then embedded into her iPAGE.
All of that was very easy to do, but if Jessica had been intimidated in trying to create her iPAGE, she probably could have paid some 16-year old $10 to spend 15 minutes and do it for her. It's that easy.
Here's her iPAGE:
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Jessica M. Smith
Founder/President, JMS Consulting, Inc.
Summary
I have 11 years of high-level financial services experience on Wall Street, and am currently looking to balance my busy independent consulting practice in Atlanta, Georgia with a more stable part-time corporate contract.
Like many others, I have experienced quite a bit of transition over the past year. I was second in charge of the real-estate investment division of NYC investment firm Warburg Lipton, which was hit hard by the downturn in the financial markets and my entire department of 1,000 people was shuttered in July 2008. (See below for more detail.) Though I wouldn’t necessarily have chosen the course of the last 12 months, I believe that things happen for a reason. In this case, my situation has allowed me the time and space to rethink my professional strategy.
My consulting practice builds on the years of experience I gained in my 11 intense years on Wall Street, but also gives me the flexibility to enjoy a better pace of life, which is important to me at this stage. I have a high-level understanding of the real-estate and insurance markets, and am an excellent analyst of the essentials; but I also have years of experience at managing and motivating a team. I will accept a slightly lower-than-market part-time salary in order to continue my independent consulting and carve out time for projects beyond the office.
My Professional Story
After graduating from the University of Colorado (that’s right; I’m a Buffalo) with a degree in finance in 1989, I headed to Des Moines, Iowa. It isn’t the financial capital of the world, but it is home to a number of large insurance companies. I was hired by the Triangle Insurance Group as “special assistant” to the CFO. Of course my actual title was assistant controller, and my exposure to some of the most complex financial transactions, including the $23 billion acquisition of the Circle Insurance Group, gave me invaluable experience in financial analysis and evaluation within a large corporate environment.
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In 1995, I enrolled at Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Management, ranked the 3rd best business school in the nation by US News and World Report during my two years there. After graduation in 1997, I joined the Wall Street investment bank of Warburg Lipton.
Unlike Des Moines, New York could indeed be considered the center of the financial universe. I worked for Warburg Lipton for 11 years, three of them in Germany opening up Warburg’s Berlin office, and the last four running the analytical group in the real-estate investments division. I loved my job, and as a division we had been warning of a real estate downturn for several years. It is ironic and painful that a small group of securitization-market statisticians in another division essentially undermined the entire company.
When Warburg was cut in half, I took it as an opportunity to build a very different personal and professional life. I headed home to Atlanta, Georgia, where friends and family welcomed me back—just as if I hadn’t been gone for the past 22 years. And I began a private consulting practice that has kept me busy, but is also cyclical; hence the desire to partner with a stable corporation part time.
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My Personal Story
Growing up in the 1970’s and 80’s as the youngest of 4 siblings in Duluth, Georgia was a pretty idyllic childhood. My father was a pastor of a small non-denominational congregation and my mom was the glue who held the church and the family together. She also taught 6th grade in the local public school.
I gravitated toward sports (probably the result of having three older brothers who also needed another “body” to round out the teams in the pick-up games of baseball, basketball and football.) One summer my family hiked the Appalachian Trail together (actually we got 2/3 of the way through the trail, since I had to be back for the start of 7th grade by the time we hit Pennsylvania).
I loved growing up in the South. How you treated one another mattered. How you acted mattered. Your community mattered. Your beliefs mattered. Having lived and traveled all over the nation and world, I have to say there is nothing like living in the South—not to mention Krispy Kreme donuts and NASCAR.
I’ve never been married. There just never seemed to be time for that. My family and friends are feverishly working to remedy that situation. I’m active in my church, Crown Point Community Church. My faith is clearly the North Star in my life. Though I certainly went through a time when I didn’t account for it much in my life (there just didn’t seem to be the time for it), I know that my mom and dad never stopped talking to God about their career-driven little girl. It finally took.
I enjoy hiking (and one day will finish the Appalachian Trail). I play in a pretty competitive squash league at my health club, I’m in a singing group called the Sweet Adelines (that’s right, barbershop harmony is what we do), and I tend to go through a pint of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream every two days.
Lastly, one thing you may not know about me is that I spent a summer living in a yurt on the Mongolian steppe, when I was 18 as part of a “short-term” mission trip with YWAM.
While there have been ups and downs over the years (the last 12 months in particular have seen some significant downs), I can truly say that Life is Good. And that I am more sure than ever that the Invisible Hand is truly at work ordering our lives.
If you keep watching this iPAGE, I’ll fill you in from time to time on my professional and personal journeys under the heading below: Current Events.
Current Events
Stay tuned...
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