Students

Smooth move: CIS graduate learned to manage career at W. P. Carey

Finding your footing immediately after graduation can be a daunting task, but Katie Golen moved gracefully from classroom to career. Golen (BS Computer Information Systems ’10) has lived and worked in New York City since she graduated. A staff auditor at American Express, she credits her undergraduate involvement in campus organizations, both in the W. P. Carey School and Barrett the Honors College, for teaching her how to stay motivated, organized and focused on success.

Lindsey Lucero

2013-10-30

Finding one’s footing immediately after graduation can be a daunting task, but Katie Golen moved gracefully from classroom to career. Golen (BS Computer Information Systems ’10) has lived and worked in New York City since she graduated. Currently, she’s a staff auditor at American Express in New York City.

As for the secret to her success, Golen credits her undergraduate involvement in campus organizations, both in the W. P. Carey School and Barrett the Honors College, for teaching her how to stay motivated, organized and focused on success.

“Being involved in something helps you learn who you are,” Golen said. Students who go through their college years simply going to class “have a hard time adjusting to being busy with real life.”

Establishing herself at ASU

During her collegiate years, Golen was a member of DISC (Department of Information Systems Club) and a Fighter Fellows, a group dedicated to making the first-year residential experience for students memorable. She was inspired by the career drive and focus she observed in other Fighter Fellows. “They were a great support, and even now we check in on each other out here,” Golen said.

Golen was also involved with in APPLE (Academy Peer Programmers for Leadership Engagement), through Barrett the Honors College. One of the staff counselors from this program became a mentor to Golen, and is still a close friend in New York City.

Her involvement with DISC is one of Golen’s most-valued memories and achievements from her undergraduate career. She eventually became the president of the club, which prides itself on being a social organization for collegians motivated to becoming professionals. In fact, her leadership role in the club helped her find her first IT-related internship, a summer position at KPMG in New York City.

Working for the weekend

Golen is living a college students’ dream: her summer internship in New York City became a full-time job offer. KPMG — the audit, tax and advisory firm — offered her a position in July 2011 in their external audit group.

She quickly adjusted to working life, but admits that parts of it did surprise her. Although she knew about the heavy workloads and long hours in the industry, experiencing it was a shock. “I had never really lived it yet,” she said.

In her position at KPMG, Golen travelled often, for up to six weeks at a time. The work days were long and hours inconsistent, but she knew she needed to persevere for the experience. “I know that’s the hustle, right out of college,” Golen said. Eventually she began to think about for a change.

Meantime, Golen had kept in touch with an advisor she had met when she was involved with APPLE at ASU. Fortunately he had moved to New York City and worked at American Express. He introduced Golen to a colleague, who was a group director at American Express. That conversation led to a lunch meeting for her and another director at the company, and eventually a new job opportunity for Golen. In April 2013, she became a staff auditor at American Express, working with the enterprise growth group to perform internal audits.

Finding her niche

Golen’s group works with all new product development for the company.

“American Express is known for their black card, but is working to get into other areas, my group is focused on the business functions of that.” Golen said.

According to Golen, the company is attempting to delve into new opportunities including prepaid cards and the Bluebird Account program with WalMart.

As an internal auditor she works to find the functions of the business and what risks are involved and how the company can work to mitigate the associated risks. She works to gather evidence and independently examine it.

After researching risks, Golen performs a write-up for the databases if everything is working correctly and there are no risks. When she encounters outliers she works to relieve them so that the next time there is an external audit those risks can be avoided.

Golen enjoys working as part of a team at American Express.

“I love my team and how quick everyone is; they’re very, very sharp,” she said.

She also enjoys the creativity that the position allows her. She enjoys figuring out how stuff works, and when it doesn’t work she likes being able to come up with a creative solution.

Writing a new story

The position has challenged Golen, and she has been able to develop skills that she was not quite as focused on in college.

“It’s a lot of writing,” she said with a laugh. “I come from a technology background so honing these skills has been a challenge because I have to write so that anyone could understand it.”

However, Golen understands that learning is part of her job description.

“You learn how to learn and you do it fast,” Golen said that her new position helped her realize just how much she absorbed at KPMG. “It all happened so fast that I didn’t realize how much I was growing.”

After a whirlwind first two years of work in the city, Golen is able to reflect on what she wants out of her future.

“I see myself growing at American Express whether in internal audit or inside the business. I love the industry and New York so I don’t see myself moving anytime soon,” she said.

Golen’s best advice for soon-to-be W. P. Carey grads: don’t forget to have a balanced life.

“I just joined a glow-in-the-dark bocce ball league and signed up for volunteer work, things I missed out on in college because I was hyper-focused on my future career,” Golen shared. “You’ll be so much happier when you find a balance and a balanced life will make you more successful in your career — don’t just work and sleep.”

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