Jesse Bendit ’13 is the General Manager of Websites and “For Sale By Owner” for Boats Group. Prior to joining Boats Group in July 2017, Jesse spent two years as an Associate in the Digital and Services Groups at Apax Partners, a global private equity firm based in New York, following two years at J.P. Morgan in the Financial Institutions and Governments Investment Banking Division. Jesse visited the CEC on Oct. 24th to share some of his experiences, and we had the pleasure to follow up with him for more insight about his college and career experiences for students who were unable to attend his visit!
What habits or skills have you gained from Cornell that have assisted your success?
First, I think I learned to relate and work with all sorts of different people, with different personalities, motivations, strengths, and weaknesses – any career will involve dealing with people who are both extremely similar and extremely different from yourself (both junior and senior team members). By learning how to better appreciate all types of opinions, motivate others who think differently, and maximize the strengths of those around me, I’ve been able to produce much greater results regardless of the job or role I’ve been in. Second, I’d say always looking for the non-obvious answer and asking the extra question have proven to be super valuable in my career so far – I think at Cornell, unlike in earlier education, I found that the answers weren’t always as straightforward as they might at first seem and that, in some cases, there might not even be a right or wrong answer. But by making sure you look at it from all angles and ask any questions, you can be sure that you’re coming out with the best informed conclusion and making decisions that you’d be comfortable with in hindsight, even if it doesn’t work out exactly as planned.
What advice would you give a student who isn’t sure what career path to take with a PAM major?
Try different things and talk to as many people as possible, but definitely don’t feel like you need to rush into anything. You have summers to get a feel for various opportunities so make use of them and give jobs a shot that are of interest to you – you’ll find some things about them you like and others you don’t, and from there you’ll get a better idea of what you want to spend your time doing. And from speaking to different people and asking questions, you can get a good idea of the role and what might get you excited. As a PAM Major, you will have learned a lot of core skills and knowledge that can be applied across industries, so don’t feel like anything is ever outside of your expertise – you can and will learn on the job, so as long as you are doing something that you enjoy and keeps you motivated, you’ll be in a great position!
How did you navigate the transition between college/Cornell and the corporate world, and what helped you to adjust?
I think it’s important to dive in and really try and learn as much as possible / get whatever value you can out of your first job. It will make it that much more fulfilling if you feel you’re taking as much out of it as you’re putting in. At the same time, it was also really important to me to maintain a balance – it’s definitely exciting to be starting your first real job and it can really occupy almost all of your attention, but make sure not to lose sight of other things that are important to you. I found that I was much more effective and focused at work when I was able to create clear boundaries outside of work and make sure I kept up with other parts of my life I enjoyed – it’s difficult to do sometimes, especially when you’re spending a lot of time invested in the job, but even if it’s just a small amount of time each week, I found that balance to be very important. Last, definitely look to leverage the people at work who have been there longer and you connect with – those will be the people you learn the most from and that can help you develop early on in your career. You’ll find yourself coming back to those people over and over and taking in a lot from each conversation when you first start – then, soon enough you’ll find yourself being that person when the next round of recent-grads start up not that long afterwards.