“Starting off any new journey can be difficult, especially one as life-changing as your university and professional career. Thankfully for me, Telfer made this experience as welcoming and helpful as possible. I’ve been given the opportunity to dip my toes in various subjects and industries, which helped me figure out the path I wanted to take in life. I’m also surrounded by so many intelligent and motivated students which have helped me sustain my motivation throughout university.”
This week, Humans of Telfer features Michael Dellaire, a 4th-year student leader studying in Finance who has been incredibly involved, leading as VP Sponsorship of the Telfer Finance Society (TFS), creating TFS’s first-ever Bridge to Success Conference aimed at connecting students with employers and building real-life interview skills, and as an editor for the newfound University of Ottawa Business Review. Here’s what he has to say about his experience as he comes to a close on his Telfer journey:
“One of the most difficult decisions you have to make as a high school student is the direction you want to take in life. I had an incredibly difficult time figuring out which path to take. All I knew was that I was great with numbers, and that I loved storytelling (films, novels, etc.). Finally, I decided to study finance since it felt fitting as a “numbers guy”, but I felt like I was letting go of the creative side of my brain. However, in November 2019 I took part in the TFS Toronto Trip and this experience gave me a whole new perspective on finance. While visiting Canaccord Genuity and Burgundy Asset Management, I listened to these investment bankers and equity analysts describe their jobs. This made me realize that high finance was the perfect fit for me. By learning how to read companies’ financials, I could “read” the story behind the numbers which made equity research/valuations far more interesting to me. Once this dawned on me, I became far more motivated in my studies, and I joined the Telfer Finance Society as an executive to learn more about the finance world whilst promoting financial knowledge to our student base.
Due to this experience, I will be starting as an associate working in mergers and acquisitions at Grant Thornton once I graduate and I will be forever indebted to my club for giving me direction in life.”
– Michael Dellaire, 4th-year Finance student, TFS VP Sponsorship, Editor (Finance & Economics), University of Ottawa Business Review (UOBR)
Inspired by Brandon Stanton’s Humans of New York, this weekly feature of the Telfer Career Blog will contain photography of individuals from the Telfer School of Management community and a corresponding narrative that gives us a glimpse into their lives.
