Wharton/Lauder Blog

Innovating résumé

In the past few weeks, most students at Wharton have been filling employers’ email boxes with their cover letters and résumés. I have been creative:  there must be several dozen different versions of my curriculum vitae and an equal number of cover letters on my hard drive now. Internships will be hard to come by this year so precision and attention to details are key.

Meanwhile, one morning I opened my mailbox and out popped a letter from China that ultimately made me update my résumé.  This was from my patent attorney from Boss & Young’s Beijing office notifying me of the successful registration of my patent in China. Here’s how Chinese patents look like:

[Show as slideshow]

 

So I am officially an inventor now. My “Dynamic presentation document display board” will be manufactured next year in China.

People often ask what exactly made me invent the display system and patent it (Patents are expensive!) my answer is “Necessity and chance.”  I could not find a solution to my need among existing technological options so I invented my own.  My solution turned out to be so good that when one person, who happened to own a factory that produced similar category of products, accidentally walked by my office in China on one cold December afternoon and saw my prototype he immediately offered to buy the invention if I were to patent it.  I filed a patent application with the China Intellectual Property Agency 18 months ago, and while I was busy applying to business schools, moving from one continent to another, etc. the beureaucratic machine in Beijing was slowly chewing over my claim. Now that all the paperwork is over, my lawyers are working on a patent transfer or licensing agreement which will allow the manufacturer to lawfully use the patent to manufacture a series of different products.

Meanwhile my résumé has changed to include “Patents: China patent “Dynamic presentation document display board” at the bottom of the page.

Cool design

If you are interested in design, do have a look at Art Lebedev Studio- they are my favorite. I enjoy their ultra minimalist, super practical and thoughtfully meticulous approach to design which allows them to create no-nonsense objects, websites, illustrations, etc.  If you love cool gadgets, they have an online shop that sells a lot of designer items. Check out their “Mandership” blog, especially the article about the whereabouts of the original copy of the American Declaration of Independence and some of its font design features is something very few people in the USA know about.

Next post

I will finally set to write about volunteering opportunities at Wharton/Lauder: there is a million ways to get involved as a volunteer.