Keith Weisberg Dot Com

I was selected as one of fifteen students to participate in a pilot version of the Wealth Creation Seminar founded by Dr. Haeberle. Over a period of three months we met with leading entrepreneurs, “dubbed sovereigns”, who shared with us their experiences, concepts, theories, successes, and failures through their lives and businesses.

The seminar was structured around the theory of maximizing your freedom through personal sovereignty and entrepreneurship in order to become wealthy in terms of happiness, social responsibility, and financial security. A sovereign was defined as someone who was far along the way or had already mastered their own unique flavor of wealth creation within their lives. Each day of the seminar consisted of deep discussion of principles and lifestyle theory with the participation of different visiting sovereigns. By the end of the seminar, over 26 different sovereigns had presented and shared their own views of sovereignty and wealth creation. Some of these concepts and theories were controversial and conflicting, creating a foundation for rich discussion.

I look forward to staying in touch with the other 14 “Wealth Creation Scholars” that I had the pleasure of learning with.

I’ve also set up a new blog, www.KeithGoesToEurope.com, which will document a 7 week adventure I plan to undertake in Europe during the end of May, June, and half of July. I’ll write more about this in another post.

After returning from Sevilla, Spain in early February I returned to Bloomington, IN for the Wealth Creation Scholar Seminar. This seminar was my primary reason to leave Spain and return the United States. The seminar was based on a broad definition of wealth: wealth in all facets of life; happiness, social responsibility, and financial security. It concludes on May 1st and was absolutely worth the journey. I’ll be sure to write in more detail about the seminar once it’s over, but the underlying message of personal sovereignty and wealth creation are principles that will be with me for my entire life.

The majority of my friends are poised for graduation in May and I wanted to be around for the last time in our lives we would all be in close proximity.  The Wealth Creation Scholar Seminar did not take up all my time I’ve managed to keep busy through five main activities: My Google Ambassadorship, the Kelley Living Learning Center, Mentorships/Writing a Book, Local Consulting, and Personal Wellness.

Since I’ve decided to return full-time to Google I’ve put a heightened effort into my Google Campus Ambassadorship with Indiana University Bloomington. I’ve run many programs and events throughout the year to help promote many aspects of Google.

The Kelley Living Learning Center was my freshman year dorm and played an enormous factor in leading me to where I am today. I’ve helped them in as many ways as I can in giving my time and making myself available. This culminated into holding office hours twice a week where anyone could come in for Google questions, mentorships, or career advice.

I’ve always mentored a handful of younger students on campus to help them through barriers that I have gone through myself. This year I realized that I don’t have enough time to help everyone and many tactics I’ve taught are very similar in nature. This had led me to begin to write a book on Professional Development and Personal Branding. Skills like resume writing, interviewing, and basic networking will be touched in my book. I will be self-publishing the book.

My education and exposure to many facets of business throughout my life have put me in a unique position to help a number of small businesses. In order to support myself before I start work full-time I’ve been doing consulting work for local businesses in Bloomington, IN. My specialities are within Sales, Marketing, and Data Analysis.

I underwent surgery on my left shoulder in August due to a labrum tear (also known as pitchers arm). After immense physical therapy and losing about 20 pounds of weight I was finally allowed to start working out and running in March. I have used this pocket of time to begin to rebuild my body to the level of fitness I like to keep myself at.

I’ve also had as much fun as you can imagine a second semester college senior at Indiana University Bloomington with no classes would have. I’m currently writing this blog post from Kilroy’s on Kirkwood (KOK) doing Open to Close with a few of my best friends.

I’ve recently made plans to return to Europe, backpacking style. I have a 7-week journey planned from the end of May until mid-July. The only plans set in stone are a plane ticket to Dublin and a return ticket from Madrid. I’m beyond excited.

I’m officially at the halfway point for in my five-week immersion in Sevilla, Spain. I thought I’d touch briefly on my experience to this point…

The first week was by far one of the most difficult experiences of my entire life. I had some real basic Spanish experience before this trip, but nothing substantial. I was truly immersed in Spanish – I had to rapidly learn how to talk and understand because I physically needed perform basic functions like eating, sleeping, and siesta.

The second week was when the fun began. I’m not sure when it happened, but I was suddenly able understand people when they spoke slowly and could communicate back basically in the present sense.

I am halfway through my third week, and I can now talk in the present perfect (e.g. have you [verb], I have already [verb], etc.) and the present continuous/progressive (e.g. [verb] + ing). After I get in a flow, I am able to communicate quite consistently and hold substantial conversations about topics like the economic crisis in Spain, politics, work, etc. in Spanish.

Housing:
I’m living with a single senora that is a talented cook and takes excellent care of me.  It was really tough at first since she speaks primary Spanish, but at this point we can communicate pretty seamlessly. She makes breakfast and lunch for me at specific times.  I have a shower at 20:30 every night (because we need to turn the hot water on, which is heated by natural gas).  At night I go hunt for tapas with friends.

School:
At my school CLIC (Centro de Lenguas y Intercambio Cultural) I’ve been one of the one a few Americas. To break it down by nationality I’d say the school is 40% Australian, 20% Japanese, Korean, and Chinese, 15% Dutch, and the rest of the students are scattered nationalities (Swiss, Portuguese, Greek, French, Italian English, American, and others). Spanish and English are the only common languages, so often we speak Spanish since it’s one of the only common grounds to communicate. Everything is in Spanish at the school. Everything. I personally have class 9:00 – 13:00. In the afternoons the school holds cultural events and there is usually a weekend trip to a nearby city.

Free time:
After lunch (which is ridiculously massive) I take a nap for an hour or two before either doing a school hosted cultural activity or one of the various activities in Sevilla (museums, events, exercise, etc.). I always come home for my 20:30 shower. Afterwards I take it pretty easy during the week because I have class in the morning, so I usually just have a long dinner before heading home to bed. On the weekends, however, there is quite a vibrant nightlife in Spain. I usually travel to a new city for the day on Saturday before returning to Sevilla to enjoy the night. My extracurricular experiences as a Greek (Fraternity) student at Indiana University Bloomington prepared me physically and mentally for the nightlife here in Spain. A typical weekend night can start at 10pm and end as late as 5am… heavy emphasis on typical. The bar scene here is extremely friendly and the nightclub scene is pretty similar to American nightclub experiences except people can actually dance (sorry, Amerikuh, you know it’s true).

Overall I’m having a fantastic experience. I was that guy back in middle school who was 2 grades ahead in math and 2 grades behind in Spanish. I never thought I’d be able to learn a foreign language and I still can’t believe I’ve arrived at where I am in just 2 and a half weeks.

After my graduation from Indiana University Bloomington I’ve signed a job offer with Google. This offer gave me some time off before I start my full time position, so I’ve made some plans…

I’ve always wanted to improve my Spanish so I’m spending the month of January and part of February doing an intensive Spanish immersion course in Sevilla, Spain. The course is run through Spanish Abroad and I will have Spanish classes 5 days a week at Centro de Lenguas e Intercambio Cultural (CLIC). I will be living with a host family and am beyond excited to start this opportunity.

When I get back from Spain I have plans to take a seminar at Indiana University taught by Dr. William Haeberle that I was accepted into. 15 “Wealth Creation Scholars” were selected to take this 6 day seminar that highlights Dr. Haeberle’s principles and ideologies that he has developed throughout his life to attain success. His concepts of wealth creation extend beyond money to intangibles such as happiness. This seminar is broken into 6 one-day sessions between the months of February and April, so I will have pockets of free time.

During my free time I will continue to work small projects through Kanu Designs and The Mercenary Group to support myself. I also plan to work on my Python programming, Finance, and Accounting skills. I’ve decided to work on these after meeting with Mr. Mark Cuban and hearing him speak about the importance of these skills in the post-graduate world.

My father always says “Life is a Journey” and I don’t think this quote could possibly apply more to my current plans.

Senior year has flown by and I’ve officially decided to graduate this December. I’ve a pretty interesting mix of classes this year:

D-191: Design Studies: Function + Form – This was a project based classed focused on giving non-major students exposure to design. It developed a recognition for common architectural styles, the history and development of architecture, and basic tenets that are found within design. Design thinking has been an emerging trend in business and technology and this class has taught me enough of a foundation to participate in that trend.

M-330: Consultative Selling – This class explored how to conduct consultative sales, successfully manage sales people, and overall how to succeed in life. The material was taught through S.P.I.N. Selling by Neil Rackham, Don’t Fire Them, Fire Them Up by Frank Pacetta,  and the experiences of Professor Canada and many guest speakers invited to class. The class focused on tangible skills and behaviors that students could take with them after graduation. This was one of the best classes I’ve taken here at Indiana University Bloomington.

R-241: Wildflowers and Edible Wilds – After reading the Hunger Games… just kidding. I’ve always been geared towards the outdoors and this class focused on recognizing and identifying common wildflowers and edible wild plants. We learned how to identify plants mostly through fieldwork and overnight wilderness trips. I am sure the knowledge from this class will serve me well in my future travels.

W-212: Explore Entrepreneurship – This class took a broad view on the foundations of entrepreneurship and the traits that successful entrepreneurs develop. The class was build around developing a business plan for an original concept or idea that could theoretically become a business. My team and I ended up building a design and prototype for an innovative piece of technology and may decide to pursue it further.

W-300: New Venture Management – This class was a fast-track knowledge blast of information that anyone going into the business world should know. It focused on basic personal law, accounting, finance, marketing, patent protection, and a number of other topics. Professor Long’s rich consulting experience and candid teaching style supplemented the material.

In regards to my extracurriculars this year was focused on ensuring that other younger students would be able to continue to progress in everything I’ve done here on campus. I also continue to actively serve as the Google Student Ambassador here at IU.

I’ve also started doing technology consulting and freelance sales for small businesses in the Bloomington, IN area to support my lifestyle. This has been a ton of fun and a great way to earn some money from the skills I’ve developed throughout my education and experiences.

So you nailed the career fair, successfully cold-called, or networked your way into an interview. Congratulations! This post is all about how to prepare for an interview.

1. Do Your Research On The Company

For all companies you are going to meet, I highly recommend doing some digging before you enter the interview room. This not only helps prepare you for the interview, but also gives you some insight on how and where you can really see yourself being a fit within the company. Go to Google and type in the name of the company. I always try and get familiar with the following:

a) The CEO and the other C-level executives of the company
b) The company mission, vision, and about page
c) How the company was founded and where they hope to go
d) Names of major competitors

I also try and see if anything interesting has come up with the company in the WSJ or another recent news article. If the company is public I’ll glance at a few of their statements on the SEC website (Thanks, Schneck).

If you really want to be fanatic you can dive as deep as you want in your research, it really depends how much time you want to devote to preparation.

2. Do Your Research On The Recruiter (and the interviewer, if s/he is different)

We live in the information age. This means that all those red solo cups you’re holding in your Facebook photos isn’t aren’t fooling anyone. This also means that all those red solo cups your interviewer is holding isn’t fooling you. I ways go to LinkedIn and type in the recruiter’s name just to get a feel for who they are… because I know they did it for me.

3. Prepare For The “Classic” Interview

Unless you’re about to enter a technical interview or case interview (you’d know this), you’re most likely going to get a behavioral interview. The purpose behind these types of interviews are to get some insight in how you think. Expect questions like:
What is your biggest weakness? How do you account/overcome it?
Describe a time when you overcame adversity.
Talk about a time when you didn’t along with a member of your team.
Think of the basic outlines for these questions and similar types which ask you to describe situations. Don’t come up with the exact answers or you’ll sound like a robot… Think of it like preparing for a speech.

4. Come up with 3 insightful questions to ask the recruiter.

99.9% of interviews end with “Do you have any questions you would like to ask me?” Your answer should always be yes, and you should ask at least one probing question about the company that you are curious about. You may come up with better questions than you prepared as the interview continues, but you should always at least some backup material.

5.  Be confident.

At the end of the interview, smile, look in their eyes and shake their hand, knowing that you did your best.  Walk out proud of your prep work and delivery.

This is going to be my first post of a series on professional development and job seeking for college seniors and new college grads. I’m going to kick it off with career fairs.

As a senior in college I’ve been attending a lot of career fairs in the past few weeks. I have been doing these events for years now, but I wasn’t always as polished as I am today. I decided to write this after watching a few kids struggle during career fairs like fish out of a pond. There are a few skills that go into turning a career fair from a job-muddled bloodbath into a successful networking event:

1. Do Your Research & Bring Resumes

Before you go to a career fair you should do research on all the companies that you are attending. Don’t discriminate and don’t bash any, just do a quick Google search on each to figure out what’s going on under the hood. You never know if a company that “seems boring” could end up being your big score. Also don’t forget to print out at least 15 resumes, because you’ll be handing them out.

2. Elevator Pitch

Come up with a quick spiel on who you are, what you do, and where you want to go. My recommendation is to write a few bullets on the subject and just let it flow. Practice it a few times in the mirror before the career fair to make sure you’re comfortable and have it down.

3. Dress for success.

This is a key one – dress business professional. You’re going to get judged as you walk around and before you even speak, so you may as well get judged as professional. For ladies you know what this means. For guys I’m talking full suit and tie, with bonus points for a tie bar. You should also be sure to polish your shoes beforehand, because it shows that you pay attention to details and care.

4. Don’t forget Recruiters are Humans too

Recruiters were exactly where you are now not long ago. They all have families, hobbies, and personalities. As a senior I have even found some of my older friends have not only gone to become recruiters, but also are recruiting at events I attend. Be polite, be courteous, and keep in mind you’re talking to another human being, not a robot.

5. Ask for a Business Card

If you decide you like the company you just visited then at the end of a conversation with a recruiter you should ask for their business card. This is a way to stay in touch with them and follow up with them later. If you have business cards this is when you should hand them one of yours. If you don’t have business cards then to vistaprint right now and make some.

6. Follow-up

That business card you just got? Email them 1-2 days after the career fair. Mention something you spoke about, something you like about the company, and thank them for their time talking to you. End with something along the lines of “I look forward to interviewing with your company,” because at this point you probably will.

7. Differentiate Yourself

These are all the steps that I personally take for a career fair. The biggest thing you want to do is find a way to differentiate yourself for everyone else, including me. The recruiters at a career fair will be talking to hundreds of students that day and thousands of students that season. Think of creative ways to stand out, whether it’s what you talk about or what you do. Let your personality come through when you’re talking to a recruiter, don’t just launch into an elevator pitch and then leave right after.

It’s been nothing but a pleasure interning at Google for the second time through the Google BOLD internship program in Mountain View, California. Both summers I have worked under the Product Quality Operations umbrella, which seeks to defend the integrity of Google products and protect users & partners worldwide. Last summer I sat with the Search Quality Evaluation team (see blog post Interning at Google). This time around I’m working for Local Search Quality, which focuses itself on ensuring users have a positive experience when searching on local maps.

Since my experience last summer Google has shifted its core focus, trying to unify all its products through not only the legal backend, but also trying to bring a social feel to the majority of products. My project this summer landed me right in the heart of this intersection. I’ve been data mining, searching through enormous quantities of local maps data for signals and analytics in order to create metrics which can be used as benchmarks within the system. This has been fascinating work for me as I’ve learned to navigate through the labyrinthine masses to data mine exactly what I’m looking for.

Google’s culture is still as effervescent as it was last year. Everyone you meet is intelligent, enthusiastic, invigorating, and has a unique life outside of the office. I became involved in Salsa lessons on my Thursdays in addition to continuing to breakdance at the company dance studio, known as the Danceplex. Other people are involved in all kinds of various activities inside and outside of the workplace – from charities to startups and everything in between (shout out to Jeremy Pittman, who manages his non-profit Never Settle).

While living in Palo Alto was a great experience last summer, this summer I wanted a taste of San Francisco. I can best describe the city as a “West Coast Boston” that is occupied by hipsters (in a positive way). The city is vibrant with culture and festivals as well as an eerie fog that creeps in around 7pm (think The Mist without the killing). I’ve settled in the Lower Haight area, which has made a great central location for exploring the city. Google supplies a shuttle for employees that live in San Francisco to get to work, which has made the commute (~45 minutes no traffic, 1.5 hours traffic) a non-issue. The shuttle even has Wifi, which turns my commute into a productive time of the day… if I’m not sleeping during it.

As I head back to Indiana University Bloomington to finish my senior year of college I will once again be a Google Campus Ambassador for my campus. I look forward to the opportunity to connect the college I love and the company I love through technology, innovation, and collaboration.

School and finals have come to a close I’ve had a few days to relax at home in Old Town Alexandria, VA (close to Washington D.C.) and enjoy the perks that come with turning 21. Seeing all the monuments and museums here have been a nice break and a pretty cool experience. At the National Spy Museum I had the opportunity to talk with Ex-KGB Major General Oleg Kalugin about his career as a spy. At the American Art Museum I had the pleasure of seeing the Art of Video Games, an exhibit which highlighted videogaming over the past couple decades. I also explored the food and nightlife scenes in Adams Morgan, Georgetown, and Dupont Circle.

My Informatics Capstone project Juxbox has decided to continue forward and incorporate. I will write more on it once when there’s more to tell. I have also been involved in an entrepreneurial think tank called Ideate Ventures. Ideate’s goal is to foster innovative ideas and connect them to skilled individuals in order to bring the application of entrepreneurship outside of the classroom.

Tomorrow I’m flying out to Menlo Park, CA where I have the privilege to work at The Innovators Awards (TIA). The conference is held once a year to “honor significant contributions of venture capitalists, venture backed companies, and entrepreneurs who achieved success in advancing change. TIA is the prestigious award where the venture capital community votes to honor their own.” As a tech and entrepreneur aficionado I look forward to working and attending the event.

Soon after the TIA I’m off to the Sierra Nevada Mountains for a 15 day Geology Field Study through Indiana University Bloomington. I’ve taken an interest in Geology and have taken several classes at my school. This field study offers me an opportunity to apply my knowledge in one of the most geologically unique areas in the country. I’ll be bringing my camera on the trip and am planning on posting my pictures on the course site throughout the trip. Our progress as well as my pictures will be found here.

After I return from my field study in the Sierra Nevadas I will be returning to Mountain View, California to intern in the Google BOLD program for the remainder of the summer.

Last month I had the honor of being sponsored by the Indiana University School of Informatics and Computing to represent the school at the Undergraduate Business School Leadership Conference at the Goizueta Business School (Emory) in Atlanta, Georgia. This three day conference brought together representatives from 30 top US business schools and 11 international schools for a series of leadership events. Usher Raymond IV was the keynote speaker, addressing leadership lessons from The New Look Foundation. Too much happened throughout the conference to write about it all, but I will discuss my three favorite activities:

1. Usher’s Keynote Speech – Usher Raymond IV is undeniably a king of R&B/Hip-Hop, but this conference gave us the opportunity to view him Iin a different light – as a business leader. Usher owns fragrance lines, the New Look Foundation, and is a co-owner of the Raymond Braun Media Group (they signed Bieber). My favorite comment out of everything he said by far was the answer to the following question – “How do you keep yourself grounded from the ‘rock star lifestyle?’”
His answer was “I don’t,” but went on further to explain that everyone should try to “live to their potential.”

2. The Executive Panel – This panel consisted of:
Jeff Denneen – Bain & Company, Partner
Gardiner Garrard – Co-Founder & Managing Partner, TTV Capital
Eran Gil – Founder & SVP Business Development, Cloud Sherpas
Benjamin Rudolph – President & CEO, Relevance Advisors

All the panelists had dabbled within Entrepreneurship at some point within their lives at talked about it heavily through the panel. after culling through the 4 pages of notes I took, I have selected a few pearls to share here. Direct quotes are in quotes, everything else is paraphrased as my interpretation:

Question - Where you learned to lead/be a leader throughout your career?
Answer – Garrard - “Leadership is like a muscle in the body. The more you use it, the stronger you’re going to get.”
Answer – Rudolph - When I look at resumes, I don’t care what leadership positions you’ve held, just that you’ve held them. It’s very easy to say “I have a problem” and rely on others to fix it. Getting involved in nonprofits offer a great opportunity to demonstrate leadership and get involved.

Question – What leadership skills for this industry/market?
Answer – Gil – Looks for 3 things:
1.  Smart – If you’re smart you can do anything and adapt fast
2.  Attitude – You need to have the right attitude (hardest thing to find in today’s market)
3.  Knowledge in our industry – least important, because if you’re smart than you can learn it fast
Answer – Denneen – “Stupid is forever,” You need the ability approach a problem like an onion & peel back the layers.

3. The Case Competition – It goes without saying that all the students at the competition had a strong competitive drive. We were split into 10 groups of 8 students each and were given 2 hours to complete a case from the InterContinental Hotels Group on their Holiday Inn chain.

As with all conferences of this caliber, the best part of all was the students who attended it. Every student I spoke to had already accomplished incredible things in their undergraduate career and were on their grind towards bigger and better things. Overall the conference was an incredible learning and personal growth experience. I look forward to attending more events like it in the future. If you want to view my full notes on the conference feel free to reach out to me in my contact info.