Next, we shift the Bison Spotlight focus to Alex Stroshine. He will graduate in May 2020 and is from Keene, New Hampshire. Alex is majoring in Finance. On The Hill he is running for the Student Government Association, conducting batting practice for Nichols College Baseball, a member of the Emerging Leaders Program, involved in the investments club, meditation club and enjoying our free yoga classes. Outside of Alex’s busy schedule, he enjoys being outdoors and skiing. A fun fact about Alex: he is incredibly skilled at helping people get up on water skis. Currently, he works as an intern with Northwestern Mutual.
Pictured : Alex Stroshine
Over the summer, Alex completed an academic internship with Northwestern Mutual located in Manchester, NH. Alex’s role was a Financial Representative. A normal day included a 1 hour and 15-minute drive to and from work, getting to the office between 7:30 a.m. and 8:00 a.m. and then organizing what the rest of his day would look like. Another intern and he would attend a training session in the morning and then contact clients to make appointments to relay financial advising information. The rest of the day consisted of meeting with clients to provide them their personalized information. The process of reaching out to clients and then setting up in-person meetings had three steps which Alex listed as, “the first one being introductions and getting to know the client, the second was ‘fact finder’ which is where we find information on the clients and understand their needs and how we can help accommodate them, and then the close, which is where we meet face-to-face and present their financial plan to them and then convince them of choosing that option”.
During his 10 week internship, Alex mentioned that his favorite part was meeting with the different people and getting to know his coworkers better as it was a small and tight-knit company.
Alex stated from his internship, he learned that he wants to become a financial advisor. He also said he gained skills in professional communication, effective sales techniques, and overall professionalism when working with clients. His advice to other students is “you get out of something the amount that you put into it”. In addition, he suggests learning to get comfortable with the uncomfortable and actively search for different situations you would not normally put yourself into.
Pictured: Northwestern Mutual’s home office in Milwaukee
The best experience Alex had while working with Northwestern Mutual was to travel to Milwaukee, Wisconsin for 4 days and 3 nights, for free. This excursion was to participate in Northwestern’s nationwide annual meeting. During this trip, Alex was able to partake in activities such as listening to speakers give informational insight as well as hear the best strategies from the company’s top sellers. He also was able to attend breakout sessions which discussed important topics on how to grow business as well as general training.
For people seeking internships, Alex stated, “don’t be afraid to ask for help”. Internships are always available. Alex was able to discover this internship through the services of the Career and Professional Development Center. Last fall, Alex attended the Nichols College Accounting and Finance Fair. He was able to utilize the help offered through CPDC to not only gain experiential learning in his desired field but to also receive academic credit for his internship.
We want to thank Alex Stroshine for his time to share his internship experience with us. The CPDC Team wishes you the best of luck in your future endeavors!
