A Day in the Life of Brett Sobol ’12 – Comcast CORE Finance Associate
This blog post is written by Brett Sobol, CORE Finance Associate, Babson Alumni, Class of ‘12
Rotations:
1 Year – NBCU Financial Reporting
6 Mo. – Multicultural Consumer Services
6 Mo. – Digital Ad Sales Strategy
A Day in the Life:
Comcast’s CORE Finance program has established itself among the elite rotational programs for finance and accounting majors. Over the past 18 months, I have experienced two entirely different types of corporate roles – one focused on accounting/financial reporting; the other on business development/cable strategy. The opportunity to explore multiple facets of the company, geographically and functionally, allows for a unique and valuable perspective of what’s possible with an accounting or finance degree. Below is a brief example of a day in my last rotation in multicultural consumer services:
8:30AM. I buzz into my floor. One of the first people in today, it’s a 9 AM, suburban commuter kind of place. An updated report on our international cable subscribers needs to be in my boss’s hands by 9:45AM. I pull in the data from last night, and my Excel automation does the rest. At a glance, we gained 1,500 subscribers on our South Asian programming, which makes sense given our concerted efforts in Chicago. But, what is this spike? 1,100 subscribers dropped our Russian programming, particularly in California. I will bring these to my boss’s attention, and my guess is she will want to know why. Let’s look at what competition is doing. I quickly Google search and find AT&T is offering a triple play base package that’s $10 cheaper than ours, and they offer slightly better Russian programming. Although our internet speeds are faster, their marketing highlights a lower price point in a more culturally relevant way.
11AM. My boss appreciated my timely report and my analytical framework. We discussed the results of our efforts in Chicago, and now it’s time to share the good news with the teams in the field. I’ll work now to build a PowerPoint highlighting our results to date for South Asian programming the region. Then, once the California team gets into the office, I will follow up about the loss in Russian subscribers to further understand the trend. Then, I will work in tandem with my boss after lunch to develop a go-to-market strategy to correctly reposition our product. Good thing my financial models are ready to plug and chug. Also, before 4 PM, I have to reach out to one of the executives in call center operations. We need to discuss the current status of his efforts to cater sales ‘in-language’ to our international audiences. I’m leading a conference call for nine co-workers, and I need to have an update ready to share since we still have to finalize our recommendation that we’re presenting to the Executive Vice President in three weeks.
If you are interested in career opportunities with Comcast, make sure to join them for the Information Session on 2/5, come by CCD for Employer in Residence before the Internship Fair on 2/6 and visit the Comcast booth at the Internship Fair on the afternoon of 2/6. All details regarding these programs (locations, times, etc) are located in Career Connections.
If you are interested in the career opportunities with Comcast, make sure you make the time to meet the Comcast team while they are here on-campus!