The Finance Club is a student organization that aims to provide students with opportunities to connect classroom learning to real-world applications and build meaningful industry connections.
Ethan Swan, president of the Finance Club and a senior in finance, said the club is primarily composed of finance students but is open to all of those at Iowa State.
“[We] help connect classroom activities and knowledge to real-world scenarios, bridging the gap between the two of those, bringing together real-world companies that have interest in Iowa State students and Iowa State students with those companies to learn more about them and ultimately help them secure internships and post-grad help them secure jobs,” Swan said.
Marshall Schuiteman, senior advisor of the Finance Club and a senior in finance, said that a few events the Finance Club has include career fairs and the Fin-Tech night, where they get different companies to network with students.
“The main event we have is a weekly meeting on Tuesday nights to have a representative from a company related to finance that wants to come and talk about what they do and some job openings or internship opportunities,” Schuiteman said. “Some other events we also do is we go on club trips, usually once a year, to different places such as Chicago, and that’s a good opportunity for us to get in front of different employers and see [the] hands-on experience of getting in some different buildings and talking to people in the finance industry.”
“The Finance Club has a very strong relationship with the finance department here at Iowa State, and they have been gracious enough to sponsor a lot of our club trips that we went on,” Aaron Randak, previous president of the Finance Club and senior in finance, said.
“Another connection we have is with the Fin-Tech night,” Randak said. “We partner with the Information Systems and Business Analytics (ISBA) Club to put on that event for sometimes upwards of 300 to 400 students. We like to see about 50 employers at that event as well, so we like to use our resources as much as we can. We also, with the Ivy Student Council, receive funding from them to help promote our club, get food for members, go on club trips and things like that.”
Multiple students have joined the club and, throughout the meetings, have found internship opportunities.
“They have secured internships through that and as well as a few that they may be met with them their sophomore year, intern with them for a year or two, and then ultimately have a job through that company come post-grad, taking the stress away,” Swan said. “They have a company they’ve been with all through just attending a meeting, sitting with your friends and listening to what they say about the company.”
Swan said they are trying to do things this semester to help draw people into the club, keep them there and bolster the excitement for it.
“Last semester, we had multiple meetings of 70-plus students,” Swan said. “So it’s really hard to see everybody, and meet everybody and make those connections when you’re sitting down, being quiet, listening to those that are presenting. We’re trying to get some more active events where members in the club, especially newer members, are able to get out in a comfortable space.”
Swan said they are also working on pushing a lot of club attendance towards some of the Ivy-sponsored nights.
“We’ve got the Fin-Tech night, Morgan Stanley coming in, and a principal date coming up here in February,” Swan said. “So we’re just trying to add our membership to as many things that Ivy is putting on the show, ‘Hey, we support it. They’re all great opportunities,’ while also making it a little bit more lively, ‘Hey, like, you know, we’re here to be a club. We’re here to hang out and talk. Wow, we’re still coming through with these opportunities for you guys down the road.’”
Schuiteman would like to share the message specifically with younger people at Iowa State.
“The power that you can get from joining these clubs, and the opportunities that open up, the doors that open from joining these clubs, is really unmatched, and you can’t really see that in any other forms throughout Iowa State,” Schuiteman said. “I’ve had the ability to rise up these ranks within the Finance Club pretty early, and then that was able to secure me different internship opportunities as well as a full-time opportunity.”
Schuiteman said there is no pressure to show up to a meeting and talk to the employer.
“[Swan] and [Schuiteman] are wonderful, caring guys, so going up and speaking to them really is and also finding kind of a mentor that you can go to, reaching out with questions about, ‘Hey, what do you think of this job opportunity?'” Schuiteman said.
More about the Finance Club, including events, updates and club meetings, can be found on their Instagram page.