How should I go about pursuing internships?
I'm an incoming freshman at a school whose business school is a target. I myself am not currently in business school, but I will try to internally transfer. Business/finance is a recently realized interest of mine.
That being said, I have been quite fortunate as I some unique opportunities to pursue. I currently work in retail at the employee/company store at the number one sports apparel brand in the world. The store is right by the world headquarters. After doing some LinkedIn stalking, I found that a strategic finance manager, a business development manager, and a director of finance went to the same undergrad that I am going to attend. I'm trying to figure out how in the world I could get in contact with these guys and was hoping WSO could help.
I also have immediate contact with a family friend who has been a consulting actuary at a large consulting firm for over 10 years. This is another opportunity I could potentially pursue. The only problem with this opportunity is that I would be away from home and the cost of living would be much greater.
All in all, I am wondering what do I need to do to land an internship at one of these companies after my freshman year of college. Ultimately, I want to eventually land an internship at BB. I also have immediate contact with a BB VP already. I just want to hear WSO's advice on which opportunity to pursue and how I should go about it.
Send them an email. I'm sure one of your managers has access to the employee directory. Politely discuss your intentions with your manager, and he or she may be wiling to find their email for you. My one piece of advice would be wait until you begin school to actually send the email. Since they're alumni, they'll be more inclined to respond if it comes from a university email. While boutique IB & PE internships are good pipelines into the BB junior year internships, if I came across a candidate who had a "strategic finance" internship at say Nike, I'd find his or her resume not only interesting but worth an interview. Not a bash on consulting, but I have friends with consulting internships who have found it difficult to work consulting into their story when seeking BB IB internships.
I would love to email them, and I actually already have any university email address. Should I still wait until I start school, which is 2000 miles away from where I live, to send the email? I would like to make the interaction personal and maybe even try to get a phone call/meet up at a coffee shop with them to make the interaction more personal.
I would wait until you get to school. Meeting up in person rather than talking over the phone goes a long way when trying to make an impression on someone. Also, there is no rush as you will have an entire school year to figure out what you are doing for the summer. You are already ahead of the game, most people I know that work in finance didn't even have summer internships freshman year.
My input would be wait until school starts to send the email. Ask for a phone call. Keep in contact with them throughout your first semester. Maybe an email once every month? Keep them updated on your progress/how you’re liking school. When you come home for winter break is when I would ask them to meet up for coffee. That’s when you ask them about internships/professional advice. For a company like you’re talking about, they’re not on the same summer recruiting timeline that IB is. They probably don’t even think about internships until spring, so asking them before winter break won’t serve any benefit.
My* not any
Learn how to write more effectively while you're at it... being well written is very important in finance
well-written. Hyphens, dude.
Are you seriously correcting someone on their hyphen use when you've asked at least 5 different people how to get girls/how easy is it for them to get girls
Although I am writing these comments on a mobile device as I don't have a computer with me, I agree 100%, writing is my Achilles heel. I have always been able to solve any useless math or science problem that my school asked me to but have always struggled to write a great essay unless I spent an abnormal amount of time on it. But either way, thank you for the criticism/reminder @Clemsonrichyrich" . I am hoping to personally meet with my writing professor once school begins and talk to her about my goals and go from there! If you guys also have advice on how to become a better writer, please let me know.
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