Canada summer internships
Anyone have experience with summer internships for banks? I'm a first year at a non-target and plan on cold-calling and cold-emailing in the next 2 weeks after finals. I've heard PWM is a good start for freshman summers but i'd like to do investment banking if possible. Right now my plan of action was to just cold call and cold email a bunch of banks to see if i can get any leads, not sure what else to do
IB could be a bit of a stretch for freshman summer unless your father is the CEO of one of the banks. Really at this point I would focus as much as you can on your grades as if you're going to a non-target you already face an uphill battle. In terms of your summer, if you can get anything even remotely finance related for your first summer you're in good shape. I don't know much about PWM recruiting but that certainly wouldn't look bad for your first internship. Just consider how you can build momentum to be competitive in sophomore summer and get it done in junior summer rather than going out haphazardly now when you don't know anything. At this point worry about learning as no one is going to take you too seriously (and give you their time) if you're looking for a freshman internship in IB. Earliest I've ever seen before are sophomore summers.
Awesome thanks for the reply man. I plan on transfering out of my school for junior year to a canadian target (ivey, queens, waterloo etc) I have a bookkeeping job for a large apartment company lined up for the summer, hoping that will give me a slight edge when sophomore recruiting comes along.
That is the wrong way of looking at it. Realistically speaking, it will not give you an edge for recruiting at boutiques. I don't know how smart/dumb you think you are, but get a 4.0 (this should be VERY easy in your freshman year) and that will trump any boutique internship you would get during your freshman/sophomore year by many times fold. Theres often a lot of talk about job experience trumping grades. That is 100% false, especially in Canada. Just so you get an idea of how powerful a high GPA is, I guarantee you someone with 0 ECs and 0 prior internships but with a 4.0 will get 9/10 on-campus first rounds vs 3-6/10 for someone with a 3.7 who summered at Canaccord. I am speaking from experience. Good luck.
Edit: Look I don't know anything about you, but from the way you ended your most recent post I can see you're looking for someone to tell you that you still have a lot of time on your hands and any experience is good experience for your freshman year. That's crap. Listen to my advice. You will fucking despise me now but you'll SB me in 2 years for this. Bankers will give you advice from an older/wiser perspective but also one that is out of touch and irrelevant to your current situation. You go to a non-target. Just that alone means you will go through multiple mood-swings/pseudo depressions starting the end of sophomore year, and peaking in your junior year because no one wants to give you a shot. There are 3 things in order of importance you need to do TODAY :
1) Get as close to a 4.0 as possible. Minimum 3.9 2) Learn to cold-email and hold down informational interviews. Do one a week for your whole year and you'll be golden for junior recruiting (and hopefully amassed a network that you can reach out to). This point is key. It never gets easier, and the sooner you start the better you'll be when push comes to shove. 3) Buy the BWIS or WSO interview + modelling guides and start now (~500$ investment is a must). If you spend just 3 solid hours a week on this you'll be ahead of 99% of your competition at Queens. 4) Get involved. You don't have to look like the second coming of christ in you "leader ship/ EC" section, but you will need to be an interesting person come superday. That's all EC's are good for as far as IBD recruiting is concerned.
Most importantly, DO NOT sit on your ass and convince yourself that its ok because you're just a freshman. The checklist I gave you may APPEAR to be extensive, but you can easily balance this with a great social life outside of school. You just have to start today. Good luck.
Hey wintercoat, I find your comment here very useful. I just finished my second year in a non-target school with a CGPA of 9.6 (4.0 equivalent from what I researched). I have internships at a Big 4 accounting firm and the Finance division of a non-profit. Can I PM you for some advice?
I would disagree with your above point. People rely on grades as a primary filter as no one has good experience (people who get a solid internship early on will often go back to the same firm) and I think that a banking internship at Canaccord would be just as effective as a 4.0 GPA provided your marks are still good. A number of candidates try to game the system too by taking bullshit classes but people see right through that on your transcript.
Would strongly encourage you to focus on grades and transfer to Ivey, Queen's, or McGill (or UBC if you're west coast). Canadian recruiting for SA heavily focuses on their "targets" for whatever reason. I was at one of the best spots last summer (as sophomore) and no one came outside what they deemed to be a target. Transferring should be your #1 goal.
If you can get something somewhat interesting this summer (PWM, random fund) where you can get some modelling experience then try to leverage that into something at a Canadian bank for sophomore year then that should get you down to the US in some great roles without problem in your junior year if that's the goal.
Finding Summer Internship (Non-target, first year, Canada) (Originally Posted: 02/11/2012)
Hi,
Non-target in Canada, first year (Toronto). How should I go about looking for a summer internship? I'm hoping I could get something about a boutique IBD, but I barely have any technical skills to offer.
Cold-emailing -> Cold-calling MDs? Should I try to network with alumni?
I really need your guys help :(. I've read all the threads on WSO, and I don't know how I could sell my background (30/90 second pitch). Could anyone PM me if they could?
1) what school are you comming from
2) whats your major?
3) touch up on your technical skills without wasting your time and making your name mudd on baystreet - I'm serious about that
Realistically, it is difficult to get a IB position right after first year unless you are well connected or get lucky. I would suggest applying generally across the Big 5 to get some finance experience in general. Leverage that when it comes to summer analyst recruiting in third year.
However, in terms of the best way to get your foot in the door, I would refrain from cold-calling/emailing MDs. Try networking through what alumni network your school has. Even talking with them will at the very least provide you with some industry perspective.
Internship/full-time opportunities in Canada? (Originally Posted: 11/18/2011)
Hello all!
What are the opportunities for an internship (and a subsequent full-time opportunity) in Canada look like for an undergraduate from a US target school with a degree in finance? I really want to move away from NYC and settle somewhere else and I've a personal reason to go to Canada anyway. So what's it like? How do you network? What's the competition like, etc?
Thanks!
I can confirm that the recruiting process in Canada is extremely uptight and rigid. It's like all they do is a GPA screen of the kids at Ivey/McGill/Queens in January and as a result they end up with the exact same 4.0 douches every year.
I attended a target in the province of Quebec, with recruitment opportunities all over Canada and few in the states. I can tell you that the competition is still fierce contrary to popular belief that Canada is a crappier version of the states, which I don't agree with. Unlike the US where there are many feeder schools, there are only a few very large feeder schools in Canada and only a small percentage of students at each of those schools obtain prime positions upon graduation. But from personal experience, opportunities to network are plentiful and some coop programs are very robust helping driven students get internship experience. The big financial centers are Toronto(which you already know), Montreal, Calgary, Vancouver and few other here and there. Hope that helps, pm me if you have anymore questions.
Getting a good gig in your first year is tough, but not impossible. PM me if you'd like a list of some Canadian firms who've hired first/second years. Even if you don't get what you want this summer, you'll be way ahead of the curve for next year.
Summer Analyst in Canada (Originally Posted: 08/21/2012)
Hello everyone,
I wondered how Canadian banks went about summer internships. What is the general schedule? What kind of positions are offered? Is it too late to try to network your way into one? Anyone has already done it successfully?
Thanks
The big 5 and BBs with presences in Toronto (as well Macquarie, Cannacord Genuity, NBC etc.) recruit on-campus in September and October for SA 2013 positions although mostly at Ivey, Queens, Desautels, and a little bit at U of T. Smaller banks are fair game for networking if you can find alumni from your school and make a solid connection in the coming weeks. Some even have relationships with particular schools (e.g. Osprey and Waterloo). Everything for the most part is rolled out by december and it's unlikely you'll find any sort of paid, formal internship after that although if this is your first SA attempt you might want to try and land some sort of unpaid setup at a small or local boutique. Obviously your position (title) would range from Summer Analyst to Intern depending on the formality and structure of the bank you work with. Good luck,
IG
Hey Kalzrw,
Fellow Cannuck here....just cold call/email smaller firms on Bay Street, worked wonders for me a few years ago. I ended up getting summer work experience because an analyst was away on holiday in August and they wanted someone to fill in. There are thousands of small companies in the GTA that are doing something investment related, hit google search and start applying!
Has anyone had success applying to Canadian summer analyst internships as a US student? I'm a Canadian citizen studying in the US (target school). For Visa-related purposes, it would be more convenient to have an internship in Canada the summer after my sophomore year. Has anyone gotten into a Big 5 or other internship with a similar situation to mine? If so, did you just apply online or focus more on networking?
Depending on which school you attend, recruitment would consist anywhere between receptions (meet and greet, presentation about companies, Q&A) at either the school campus or a hotel (if more than one school is invited) conducted by company reps, and are usually held either at the Fall or Winter term. Recruiters would usually give out their contact info to establish rapport, provide advice for resume and interview prep, and generally help screen candidates based on their first impressions. If you are not able to meet a recruiter for any reason, you are still encouraged to apply online and maybe cold-call a recruiter through LinkedIn to seek for advice or even an informational interview.
Schools that are recruited by each of the banks are listed in their website, but the general consensus is: Ivey, Laurier & UW, Queen's, UBC, Toronto, McGill and Calgary (in no particular order). Keep in mind that all of the five major banks also have regional offices in Calgary, Montreal and Vancouver and generally hire students from schools within those areas. Summer internships are usually posted in school websites starting early Winter and interviews are conducted around February, however this varies depending on what and where you apply. FT positions on the other hand are usually secured during late summer to early Fall.
Good luck to you!
I'll chime in too:
Summer Internships in Canada (Originally Posted: 03/16/2013)
Hey everyone,
I'm currently 16 years old and halfway done high school. I've been doing tons of reading trying to learn as much as I can about investment banking and the best path towards becoming an analyst at a bank. Once I graduate from school I'm planning on going to a local non-target university and majoring in Finance and Accounting. I understand that in Canada if you don't attend a target university it is extremely difficult getting a summer internship or a full-time position as an analyst at one of the 5 major banks. Do any of you have any advice on what I should do when the time comes? Also, even though I live in Canada would it be possible to get an internship at an american bank?
Thanks
Get good grades, go to Ivey.
There are a few satellite offices in Toronto (not sure where you are situated in Canada), but from what I hear in the last few years they have been eliminating openings for the associates.
Do you have strong technical skills? Technical skills (math, comp sci, physics majors) are in high demand along with business and finance.
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