Sounding Board is a career advisory service designed to assist students and professionals in exploring and evaluating new career opportunities through personalized mentorship. Founded by Amilcar Chavarria, the service connects users with tailored advisors, mentors, and resources to develop their skills, personal brand, and networking strategies. The platform aims to bridge the gap between aspiring professionals and corporations seeking talent by creating personalized advisory boards and offering industry insights.

1. Sounding Board
Your Virtual Career Advisory Board

2. Mission Statement
Sounding Board's mission is to help students and
professionals in the process of exploring and evaluating
new career opportunities by connecting them with a
personalized set of advisors, mentors and great
companies.

3. About Us
“​For over a decade now, I’ve mentored career switchers leveraging the same tactics I
employed to make transitions from Biomedical Engineering into Financial Services. From
Banking to Asset Management and from Corporate jobs to Startup gigs. I am proud to have
had a 100% success rate to date with all my mentees and clients.
We start by getting to know your background, personality, desired roles & industries which
helps us create your profile. We then create your personalized sounding board to coach you
through new industries or roles.
We then accelerate your industry & role knowledge via webinars and career panels. Lastly,
we turn our attention to developing your personal brand and a networking strategy to reach
your career goals."
Amilcar Chavarria, Founder & President

4. My Background
Now

5. Understanding the problems
01 Dreams are universal but opportunities are not. Sometimes people are limited
by the examples of professionals they saw in their communities. Oftentimes,
resources available are limited and candidates give up on their dreams.
02 Corporations have a hard finding and retaining talent forcing to waste money
on recruiting fees that focus on a matching skill sets but not on personality
types, overall size, risk tolerance and other factors.
03 Mentors that are willing to help remain on the sidelines due to time
commitments to travel and meet with mentees. Also, some mentors would
rather provide specific help and not a one stop for their mentees for all
resources.

6. Our Solution Benefits
Candidates Landing your dream job. A better understanding of your ideal role and company
size. We create a personalized advisory board for you, help you accelerate your
knowledge of your target roles and industries and develop a transition strategy.
Access to a pre-vetted source of talent with strong alignment between our
candidate's motivators and your company's core values. Reduction in long-term
attrition rates. Cost-effective access to diverse talent versus using a recruiter.
Volunteering can be done from the location of your choice. Sounding Board will match
you directly with a mentee or incorporate you as part of an industry information panel
depending on your preferences. It's likely that your mentee may need some pointers
on a specific industry, role or general career advice. Minimal time commitment.
Companies
Mentors

7. Our Unique Approach
Self Discovery
We encourage introspection, feedback
through a series of career battery tests
to gauge aptitude, attitude and skills.
Sounding Board
We offer a personalized advisory board
of directors comprised of mentors,
advisors and sponsors for you to consult
Branding & Networking
We help you brand yourself by assessing your
personality and marketable skills.We connect
you with folks in your target industry and role.
Industry Acceleration
We help you accelerate new industry
knowledge by assembling panels of experts
who can share their experience with you.
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02
03
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We create a personalized advisory board for you, help you accelerate your knowledge of your target
roles and industries and develop a strategy to reach your goals.

8. We opened doors at these companies

9. Target audience
Students and Professionals in
the process of exploring and
evaluating new career
opportunities in FinTech,
Blockchain, Financial Services
and Healthcare.

10. Big Four Bound Accounting Graduate
“Amilcar is committed to the success of
his mentees. He helped me assess my
strengths and challenges to set a
strategic and actionable plan in motion
with clear end goals.
Having a long tenure both as working
professional and entrepreneur, he helps
prepare his mentees to take the big leap
and overcome obstacles on the way to
success.”
Jie Ming Loo Ortiz
Tax Associate
Deloitte

11. Banking Bound MBA Graduate
Military to Corporate Transition
"I had the privilege of meeting Amilcar while we
were both attending Wharton. My background to
that point was in the military, so I sought Amilcar
out initially based on his vast experience within the
finance industry.
Given my desire to make a career change, I felt like
he would be a great point of contact to help me
network. To my pleasant surprise, Amilcar not only
gave me several extremely valuable leads, but he
also gave me encouragement and advice on
breaking into the industry.
In fact, I remember distinctly that I met with
Amilcar immediately prior to having a coffee chat
with an investment banker. Suffice to say, I was ill
prepared to meet with that investment banker until
I spoke with Amilcar. He helped set the stage for
that initial coffee chat, which eventually led me to
land a job with that firm. Amilcar is not only a
great advisor, he's extremely personable and a
great guy to know. I would enthusiastically
encourage anyone looking for career advice to
reach out to Amilcar, and then hope that you're
fortunate enough to get the meeting."
Ryan Nelson
Investment Banker
Credit Suisse

12. Banking to Asset Management Switch
Aileen Gonzalez
Business Development
BlackRock
“I had an incredible experience working with
Amilcar to prepare for the interviews to beat
out the competition. 500 people applied-
only 7 people were hired - only 2 were
placed on the coveted Institutional i-Shares
team and I was one of them.
Amilcar provided me exceptional coaching
through the entire interview process,
guidance on how to approach the
compensation conversation which resulted
in getting paid at a higher pay scale than
other candidates.
He also helped with and reviewed CV,
resume and cover letter preparation.
Couldn’t thank him enough. The role was
my dream career.”

13. FinTech Career Switch
Gagan Gill
Product Manager
PayPal
“I am extremely fortunate to have worked
alongside Amilcar! From making the
jump in joining his fintech startup as his
Chief of Staff (my unofficial title), to
moving on to an amazing opportunity at
one of the biggest FinTech companies, I
appreciate everything that I have learned
from him during the 2+ years we closely
worked together.
With his guidance, I was able to figure out
exactly what I wanted in a career and find
ways to challenge myself to work toward
those goals.
He helped me work through my big
picture vision, all the way down to the
nitty gritty of resume writing… bullet by
bullet, which resulted in a bull’s eye
career opportunity. Thank you, A!”

14. BSN, Registered Nurse Graduate
Camillae Rocco
Registered Nurse
Red Cross
“Amilcar helped me put together my
linkedin profile and my visual resume.
He diligently worked with me on my job
search and the results speak for
themselves. While a lot of nursing
graduates are not able to get placed right
away, I was able to find a job within a
month of working with him.
I highly recommend working with him if
you want to jumpstart your career”

15. FinTech Lateral & Functional Switch
DuWyane Thomas
Account Manager
Advisor Software
“I have a lot of respect for Amilcar as a
mentor as he’s compassionate, genuine
but very laser focused, which are important
to for a mentor to hold you accountable
with the right touch.
His patience, active listening and
constructive feedback are essential to his
approach. He also brings things back to
basics, in plain english and with common
sense.
Amilcar obviously helped me with resume
creation, ideation around career choices
and who to prospect for new opportunities,
but the best part was leading by example.
Organically, seeing his commitment at
work and overall energy, helped me raise
my own bar. He leads by example by
delivering results in his own career.
I appreciate his friendship, sharing nature,
integrity and unique coaching skill set.
Work with Amilcar to get the job you want.”

16. Business Management, Dental Industry
Vanessa Rivas
Business Manager
Private Dental Practice
“I had the privilege of working with Amilcar
Chavarria after I graduated from CSUEB.
Upon graduating Amilcar helped me to put
together my resume and Linkedin profile. I
am grateful for the time that he took into
coaching me through interview questions
that I had a hard time preparing for.
His guidance helped me to become
confident in what I do, which led me into
finding a management position in the
Dental field.
Amilcar also helped my daughter to put
together an amazing resume with all the
great talents that she has. She is now
confident in applying for her first job. We
are forever thankful for the coaching that
Amilcar provided us with, and definitely
recommend him to anyone that is looking
to nail that next interview!”

17. College Graduate. Financial Services
Jair Hernandez
FX Analyst
Wells Fargo
“Amilcar was instrumental in helping me
understand the financial services industry and
business as a mentor.
As a first generation college graduate, he
helped me assess my strengths and
weaknesses through mock interviews,
professional advice and continuous support.
The advice he provided early on my career
forged the building blocks of how I continue to
make business decisions daily. To this day, he
is committed to professionalism and
continues to check in on his mentees.”

18. Financial Services Lateral Move
Sujata Rachakonda
Financial Analyst
Goldman Sachs
“Amilcar worked with me at Merrill Lynch
and after he transitioned to Goldman
Sachs, he worked closely with me to put
the best application forward.
That meant going through my resume,
preparing for interviews and follow ups.
Amilcar also pushed from within as he's
passionate about helping his mentees
achieve the results they want.
Without Amilcar’s mentorship and
guidance I don’t think I would’ve
completed the interview rounds
successfully.
I can't ever thank him enough for going
the extra mile in helping me prep and
landing a job at Goldman Sachs.”

19. FinTech Functional Change
Steve Serra
QA Engineer
Advent Software
“I was fortunate enough to have crossed
paths with Amilcar when he was
spearheading a project at the parent
company of my previous firm.
I was looking to make a change in my
career trajectory and Amilcar helped me
craft a multi pronged strategy to bridge
my niche experience with my new career
goals.
Amilcar worked with me and guided me
towards identifying portable skills,
competencies, and experiences from my
prior roles and helped me to build a
resume and LinkedIn presence that
positioned me to stand out above the
crowd for the career I wanted.”

20. “Future Experts
Sounding Boards”
AI driven Crowdsourced P2P Networks of Subject
Matter Experts (SMEs)

21. “Future Opportunities
Sounding Boards”
AI driven Crowdsourced Opportunities for
Practical Training via Startups, Corporations and
Universities

22. Our Services & Future Pricing
Service Basic Premium
Self Assessments x x
Personal Brand Definition x x
Resume Critique x x
Resume Writing x x
Linkedin Profile Creation x x
Cover Letter Prep x x
Job Board Access x x
Networking Strategy x
Personal Introductions x
Webinars & Career Panels x
Mentor Access Online x
Interview Prep x
Thank You Note Writing x
Compensation Negotiation x
Price $499 $999

23. “Future Skill Swap
Sounding Boards”
AI driven Crowdsourced P2P Network to fulfill
community needs

24. Thank you!
Sounding Board, Inc
Contact: soundingboardinc@gmail.com
Phone: 415-574-7834