Applying for internships, have no internships, no experience

Hi,

I'm currently doing my resume (CV) in order to apply to finance related internships after I get my degree, I've decided to take a year off to get internship experience before doing my master degree. I'm looking for anything really, from investment banking, Asset Management, wealth management to hedge funds, banks, venture capital firms.

A problem, or issue rather, that I have is that I have no experience and no internships at all that I can put on my resume. Unfortunately I have not had the time. These past 3 years, I've been going full-time to university (Bachelor degree in Economics) and I've been a semi-pro athlete. During the season, outside of uni, playing sports was basically the only thing I did with everything related to it (practices, gym, games, travel,...). I'll definitely put that on my resume but I have no finance related experience to put on it. Is this really bad or will I still be able to get an internship?

Because when you think about it, the point of getting an internship is to get experience so that's exactly what I want to do.

I know that this is not ideal, I'll probably have to settle for boutique firms instead of giants like GS, JP Morgan, Deutsche Bank,...

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks guys

 

Network, network, network.... Check out if your school has an alumni network on linkedin and make a topic asking for some help. Unfortunately, unless you have a great GPA (3.5+) I don't think the odds of getting one are in your favor. Just ask around, see if your parents or family knows anyone in the industry etc. I think that would be your best bet...

 

Clubs as in something other than hockey? No not really. Going to uni and being a semi-pro athlete is basically the only thing I had time for, it was often a big hassle to combine the 2.

I know that over in the US, you guys give a lot of importance to extra-curricular activities, clubs, student clubs, doing all sorts of volunteer work, being the writer for your local student newspaper,.... things like that.

I don't want to sound presumptuous at all but going to University and playing semi-pro sports (we'd basically train like pros) is all I had time for.

Don't you think that having gone to a Swiss University (excellent quality university, here in Switzerland only a fraction of the population go to university), having a huge interest in finance and economics, speaking english and french with some german, being so motivated that I'd be willing to settle for anything really, and being a semi-pro athlete for the past 3 years, will make it possible to get an internship anywhere?

I'm looking for anything really, in any city, in virtually any finance related field.

Again, I don't want to sound presumptuous but I find it really difficult that I won't be able to find something. Also, I'm looking for "off-cycle" internships, not a summer internship, which are vastly less sought after than summer ones.

Don't you think that at least 1 firm out of this long list can offer me an internship? I'm just looking for experience. Isn't that what internships are for?

//www.wallstreetoasis.com/forums/searching-for-a-summer-internship

thanks guys

 
swissstud:
Don't you think that having gone to a Swiss University (excellent quality university, here in Switzerland only a fraction of the population go to university), having a huge interest in finance and economics, speaking english and french with some german, being so motivated that I'd be willing to settle for anything really, and being a semi-pro athlete for the past 3 years, will make it possible to get an internship anywhere? thanks guys

But how will you translate that on a resume?

I understand, a few of my friends from Highschool play at Boston College and BU in the USA and a few also play in the NHL (Chris Higgins, John Quick, Nick Bonino, Jeff Hamilton, Briant Leetch... I can go on....) But the point here is that you need a way to show your interest in finance/economics on your resume. If you are just "interested" in economics but do not have anything on your resume to back it up, then I would expect most recruiters to just toss it to the side - unless you have a noticeable GPA. Best of luck.

 
Waymon3x6:
swissstud:
Don't you think that having gone to a Swiss University (excellent quality university, here in Switzerland only a fraction of the population go to university), having a huge interest in finance and economics, speaking english and french with some german, being so motivated that I'd be willing to settle for anything really, and being a semi-pro athlete for the past 3 years, will make it possible to get an internship anywhere? thanks guys

But how will you translate that on a resume?

I understand, a few of my friends from Highschool play at Boston College and BU in the USA and a few also play in the NHL (Chris Higgins, John Quick, Nick Bonino, Jeff Hamilton, Briant Leetch... I can go on....) But the point here is that you need a way to show your interest in finance/economics on your resume. If you are just "interested" in economics but do not have anything on your resume to back it up, then I would expect most recruiters to just toss it to the side - unless you have a noticeable GPA. Best of luck.

Yeah I get what you mean. Thanks!

But I need an internship, I need experience. I'm just going to do my CV the best I can and apply to as many firms as possible, even to the small investment bank deep down in kansas city. There's no point not trying, I might as well try my best and see what happens.

 
maximumlikelihood:
You're Swiss and you're applying to the US?

I didn't know only a small fraction went to university in Switzerland. And if I didn't I'm quite sure many recruiters won't too...

yeah because I love the US and I eventually want to live and work there; it's a dream. I've been there several times, love everything about it there.

I could maybe try to apply for internships in the private banking industry here in switzerland, there are quite a few. But my goal is the US or the UK.

So can that be an advantage? I mean, it's not like in the US where basically everyone goes to university. Here they start weeding students out very young. For example, at age 12, they already separate you in 3 different highschool level and only the students who are in the highest level can go on to what we call highschool (ages 14-18) and out of that, only a few go to Uni. So basically at age 12 you know if you will be able to go to uni.

It's just that I'm really discouraged now with what Waymon3x6 said.

 

Hey guys,

I made a few changes:

-replaced mothertongue with native languages -put working paper

http://www.razume.com/documents/24888

Is there anything else I should change? I really want to get this done. At our career days fair last week, a banker from UBS said there was a 4-6 month internship in wealth management in Fribourg (the same city I study in) available starting october/november, which is perfect for me and he kinda told us (we were about 15-20 in the class room that) that we should apply. A lot of people in the room are doing their master degree next year and were not looking for internships so this could be great for me. Being from the region (I literally live 20 minutes away by train) and looking for a first experience in banking, maybe I've got a shot. I'm guessing there will be much less competition than if the internship was in geneva or zurich. Fribourg is not exactly a banking hub, it's got bank branches but nothing like investment banking or anything like that.

Cheers

 

Bump

Ok guys, how should I put that investing in my personal portfolio (a couple thousand bucks) and perhaps taking part in portfolio simulation games is experience on my resume? Or is that a bad idea?

I really need to get this done with, I have to start applying for off cycle internships, I'm looking to have one starting september/october 2012 so I've still got some time but still.

 
av8ter:
UBS?

Are you asking if this is the institution where I want to apply to multiple internships, then yes.

I want to apply to asset management, investment banking, wealth management. Are they gonna ask me to do an interview for each position or are they going to make me come to the closest branch from where I live and then decide if they keep me and if they keep me, where they send me?

 

xxcobra02, I'm guessing you're pretty cute. In one of your other posts:

And also, this internship is kind of wierd, b/c I always spend like two hours talking to my boss every day I go in--about whatever I'd like to talk about.

This reminds me of a past internship that I had, where I had a cute little blonde co-intern. Her supervisor had these weird little "lunch meetings" with her, where he would talk to her about random stuff in obscure locations, such as the local library or nearby park. Totally sketchy.

Anyway, to calm your worries, you shouldn't worry because cute girls can just flirt with interviewers and easily land a position. At least at Lehman.

 

It is very difficult to get decent internships as a freshman, and even quite difficult as a sophomore. Network and perhaps continue your current internship through the summer. If you are cute, that should help.

 

b2--no, my boss does that with all of his interns, male or female. And we don't talk about just anything--he allows me to ask questions I have from class or from current events, and also we talk about the deals I'm working on. CDN: thanks for the advice, although I have no idea how to reach an alumni. My school doesn't give out list of alumni names to freshmen.

 

I can only continue my current internship part time. I learn a lot from it because I get the opportunity to ask questions, but I really don't think it's that intense, and if that's all I have for the summer, I'm worried I'm not going to stand up to the competition when it comes to next year.

 

I can only continue my current internship part time. I learn a lot from it because I get the opportunity to ask questions, but I really don't think it's that intense, and if that's all I have for the summer, I'm worried I'm not going to stand up to the competition when it comes to next year.

 

Who has to know it was part time? Your CV doesn't have to specify how many hours you worked.

The most important factor applying for BB sophomore programs is that you are an under-represented minority and/or female (better if URM). Few freshmen have relevant work experience.

 

The thing is, I thought I would have a pretty good chance of getting a summer internship, given that I have a pretty relevant internship experience right now, and a high gpa. But still I don't get anything, so maybe I'm doing something wrong. Interestingly, in the one interview I had, the interviewer said "tell me about yourself," and when I talked about how I have an internship at a venture capital firm right now, he's like, "oh, I didn't see that, where is that?" Honestly, what do they do with the resumes? It's right there, the first thing under experience.

 
xxcobra02:
and when I talked about how I have an internship at a venture capital firm right now, he's like, "oh, I didn't see that, where is that?" Honestly, what do they do with the resumes? It's right there, the first thing under experience.

Good lesson. Always assume they haven't read your resume, or that they don't remember it. And don't take it personally.

To answer your question - What do they do with them? Skim them. Yours and hundreds of others. Simultaneously while doing a million more important and urgent things. You'll understand when you do it some day.

Count on your resume not to be memorable - even if it's good. It's your job in the interview to be memorable.

 

I'm new to the forums, but from what I've been reading, everyone seems to be on top of their shit.

Cobra, you're a freshmen, stop tripping out. You're already ahead of the curve by just thinking about your future. I am a sophomore, and I probably will have to take summer school again because of my business school requirements. It might be different at your school, but I know plenty of juniors who had zero RELEVANT work experience going into their spring interviews and landed jobs at BB banks. As long as your G.P.A is high as you say it is, can demonstrate leadership/teamwork through your extracurriculars, and do well on the interviews, its all good. Networking also helps tremendously, get on it.

 

Don't worry - some of my younger friends have gotten that high finance experience their Freshman years, but actually struck out sophomore year - did very well their junior year. I wouldn't sweat it.

Another thing : keep your head up, stay confident in your abilities, and always stay optimistic. There is nothing worse than somebody who walks into an interview thinking that he's doing something wrong.

 

I lifeguarded freshman year, worked as a finance intern at city hall my sophomore, and still got multiple BB FT offers from a nontarget. Stop freaking out. If you get 3-4 quality internships by senior year you will be fine. Even though I started late, by my interviews this fall, I had experience in finance/accounting, marketing, corporate development, and boutique investment banking. If you get internships during the school, they are nearly as good or sometimes even better than summer ones, because it shows you can multitask (school+work).

 
SternMonkey:
What do you plan on doing during full-time recruiting? Currently I got stuck in a shitty operations (not even BB) internship, so I don't know wtf I'm going to do, I'm thinking law school.

I'm shocked you didn't get something, and no I'm not being sarcastic or a smart ass.

 

Ill be doing credit risk for a very large private company (meh...but im still working on a PE internship but thats like 15% probability).

So Im going to probably get a couple of amateur MMA fights under my belt this summer...hopefully it will be my "uniqueness" factor come FT recruiting during fall.

 

gahahaha i saw this thread and i KNEW you posted it Stern! Sorry buddy we all feel for you.

"Oh - the ladies ever tell you that you look like a fucking optical illusion?"

"Oh the ladies ever tell you that you look like a fucking optical illusion" - Frank Slaughtery 25th Hour.
 
SternMonkey:
Just started my shitty operations internship today, I'm crying in the inside right now, I'm working with people who only have associate degrees/ I'm not trying to be elitist, but c'mon, this is ridiculous.
Atleast you get out at 5. Do something else after...I started picking up another language last year when I worked BO during the summer. I'm sure you can find something.

btw, I feel your pain. last summer was boring as hell...

 
SternMonkey:
What do you plan on doing during full-time recruiting? Currently I got stuck in a shitty operations (not even BB) internship, so I don't know wtf I'm going to do, I'm thinking law school.

Omg dry your f*cking eyes and "Stop whining!" [Arnold Schwarzenegger]

Work hard during the summer and make the best of the opportunity and "stop wastin my muthafuckin' time!" [Al Pacino]

 

$4,000 now that gives you access to an entire extra year of recruiting, internships, relevant experience, and networking can pay off infinitely more in the end. It seems like you recognize how miserably long a shot you have at anything in banking if you graduate on schedule, so it's as if you're trying to get other people to vocalize what you already know: you need to stay the extra semester.

With experience like yours (running your own business, traveling the world, good GPA), you don't need to add much to make yourself competitive. Try to join some extracurriculars, get any relevant leadership you can, do what it takes.

I am permanently behind on PMs, it's not personal.
 

Shadow alumni, family friends, and anyone who will give you the time of day. While you won't get the same experience as actually being an intern, you can see if the job is something you like.

Take the opportunity to see if the grass is greener. Marketing, sales, insurance, whatever you have access to. I found alumni to be pretty receptive to the idea, especially if you have had some prior contact.

It is also a great way to get exposure to industries you might not have access to for years...there aren't many PE internships, but an alum might let you follow him around for a day.

 

Do a service trip to a 3rd world country and build wells or something like that for a month or two. Good for others, something to talk about in interviews, and good for your future b-school app.

 
TechBanking:
Do a service trip to a 3rd world country and build wells or something like that for a month or two. Good for others, something to talk about in interviews, and good for your future b-school app.

What if you are from a 3rd world country originally?

"Every man should lose a battle in his youth, so he does not lose a war when he is old"
 

Consider starting a small business, read up on the area in corporate that you want to pursue, network heavily, etc. Plenty of things to do over an empty summer. Also definitely consider taking classes as was recommended above. Regardless of what you pick, set up a summer schedule as if you had a job. Don't wake up late, have task lists, etc.

 

Why don't you cold email/call ppl in your hometown? If you go to a target then chances are ppl in finance in your hometown will know your university. Use google/linkedin to find ppl's names and go from there.

Also, US does accept students even in their freshman year. If you are hoping to get into GS TMT IBD in your sophmore year then it will be quite a challenge.....but the alternatives can be BB PWM (pretty guaranteed) / boutique ibd (why not, if you have good gpa, not socially awkward and come from target I don't see why not) / Corporate F500 finance

 

The thing is that I don't want to do IBD at all - I'm pretty set on trading and BB PWM seem to have a formalized interview structure that has already passed. A few people do PWM at regional offices but those don't sponsor internationals. In my hometown, all the alumni are at BBs or hedge funds, which only take juniors.

I've been cold-emailing and calling a bunch but most people say they can only help me out next year.

I'm thinking about doing a summer term at my university if I don't get anything or potentially doing some bull crap as a "summer business analyst" (a role that doesn't actually exist) at the company where my father works (a mid-sized engineering firm).

 

If the Financial industry is where your aim is set, you should start writing about it. Setup a blog (I'm sure you have the knowledge to do this) then write about Finance. Begin with large announcements and commentate how you see the markets moving. After you've written a good number of quality articles, try to get syndicated to bigger sites. This will give you the industry knowledge from the research you undertake and will prove you as an expert in your field. It will show positively for you when interviewing at any company that you have taken this initiative.

 

In the case that you dont get an internship, use the time to really get educated about trading. If you have an idea of what of trading you are interested then just start reading more about it. Ie if you think that you want to go into equity options trading then pick up Sinclair and Taleb. If you are more into the macro side of things then pick up anything by Fabozzi. The key is to build up a wealth of knwoeldge so when it comes to junior internship interviews you can knock them out. The one thing that made really helped me stand out in internship interviews is that coming in I knew options theory cold. If you are interviewing 30 candidates and one of them can talk about second order and third order greeks, or can have a discussion on why there is a CDS basis and why it did what it did during the 2008 credit crunch it really stands out for an interviewer. Even when i interview kids now the one thing i look for is that htey have dfone something on their own time to further their knowledge. If they say they are interested in options trading than I expect to be able to have a conversation with them about some more advanced stuff.

Now in terms of actually getting something on your resume, because the above is more for the interview stage, I would suggest try starting a business. I think its a no brainer, the risk reward is so skewed to the upside i dont understand why more college kids dont do this. It has so many benefits:

a) potentially a cash flow in the future b) makes you a lot more interesting in an interview c) shows you understand the concept of risk and reward and dont just follow a beaten path d) teaches you a lot of very important skills

If you dont want to start a biz, the thing i did during uni that drew some interest was I tried to come up with betting strategies, basically automatic market making on betfair. Nothing too complex or crazy but showed i could work with technology, was creative etc.

 

I couldn't give too much advice to you, because I am pretty much on the same boat (except I graduated in Dec and had a little more experience than you). Keep applying for job postings that you come across on career sites (or even the ones on newspaper). But be careful with those fake ones or anyone that you find suspicious. Probably what you should do now, is to find a FT job that requires some sort of experience that is related to your past internship and your current IT part time job. And keep trying! I know a few friends that sent out literally 300 job applications since they graduated last summer, only got called for around 2x something for interviews, and only gotten one or 2 offers.

 
kwch5072:
I couldn't give too much advice to you, because I am pretty much on the same boat (except I graduated in Dec and had a little more experience than you). Keep applying for job postings that you come across on career sites (or even the ones on newspaper). But be careful with those fake ones or anyone that you find suspicious. Probably what you should do now, is to find a FT job that requires some sort of experience that is related to your past internship and your current IT part time job. And keep trying! I know a few friends that sent out literally 300 job applications since they graduated last summer, only got called for around 2x something for interviews, and only gotten one or 2 offers.

Since you are on the same boat, what are some steps you have taken for the job search process?

 

I'm going to echo the above comment by asiamoney. Also I think it is important to note that as a nontarget w/ pretty good gpa you should be primarily relying on networking and therefore, although you may not have an offer now, you could very well get something down the line as late as May. This happened to me. The larger more well-known firms have a better idea of the staff they will need and certain schools they recruit from but smaller shops usually hire interns much later and sometimes spur of the moment if a deal comes through and they need an extra pair of hands.

A good idea might be to reach out to these smaller firms now to get your name out there and if you land something now, great; if not follow up every month or so (unless they give a definite no) until the end of the semester. You will have a pretty good shot if you follow this advice. Good luck.

 

Getting into a BB firm is like climbing a crumbling staircase. You need to keep moving up closer to the top (a FT offer) otherwise you will need to take a big leap (or a longer alternate path) to land where you want to go. Being at a non-target you are already starting off lower down than if you are at a target school, you really need to get a good summer internship or it will be a longer road even with a great GPA.

Doog37
 

Definitely a solid name. I got promoted at my internship by working extra hours and going the extra mile, you can do the same. If you aren't willing to, you don't belong in IBD

"Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the face."
 

First, stop panicking. Your career hasn't even started yet. Second, a few days isn't enough time to learn every technical question but you can learn basics well enough to get you to a second round. (the basics being what happens when depreciation changes, formula for EV, and the other basic interview questions.) Third, take a second to stop and think about what you want to do. What are your interests? And why? You should be aiming to get the highest grades possible regardless of your major. If you like finance, stick with it. Put in the work. If you don't, then switch out and don't look back. But if you do decide to stick with Finance, this is what I would do: 1) make a list of regional banks in the cities you're interested in 2) Craft the cold-email 3) Repeat. Remember: All it takes is one person to say yes. You can only have one internship. That should be your number one focus (along with keeping your grades as high as possible). 3.2 isn't a bad GPA. It's not going to move alot, but try to get it to around a 3.4 before you leave. (will make it easier if you want to get into B- School)

"Even if you're on the right track, you'll get run over if you just sit there" - Will Rogers
 

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