Internships after graduation?

I am a college senior looking into breaking in Investment Banking, I have a solid understanding and network on wall street. However I lack an investment banking internship to really bankify my credentials.

Do any BB or Top - tier Boutiques hire graduates as interns? If not, what are my next steps?

Would appreciate any help!

 

BBs and Top-tier boutiques typically don't hire graduates as interns. Summer Analyst recruiting for the prospective undegrad seniors is just about wrapped up.

However, there are still tons of middle-market boutiques and smaller shops out there that participate in ad-hoc recruiting. It's definitely not too late, as it's only Oct. Step your game up, do your research and start putting yourself out there. It's not going to be easy; I graduated with no IB experience and wound up finally landing a FT offer a year later -- persistence is key.

 

It's not unheard of for BBs and I'm guessing MMs too to have a few SAs who have recently graduated but are pursuing an MSF or some other similar degree for a year. I knew a couple at a major BB who did this and went through the process just like a rising senior would have done.

 

It does happen, although it is not the norm and it would not be on the website...you would need to contact your contacts and/or HR first (contacts then HR if you don't have any at the bank).

"Greed, in all of its forms; greed for life, for money, for love, for knowledge has marked the upward surge of mankind. And greed, you mark my words, will not only save Teldar Paper, but that other malfunctioning corporation called the USA."
 
treynorblack9999:
It's definitely good to hear that since I think I can prove myself as an SA. What banks do you think would go out of the norm and hire graduate SAs?

They all would, like we said, you would need a contact/email HR.

"Greed, in all of its forms; greed for life, for money, for love, for knowledge has marked the upward surge of mankind. And greed, you mark my words, will not only save Teldar Paper, but that other malfunctioning corporation called the USA."
 

This happens a LOT in London. Just tell them that you're going to start a Masters degree in the fall. I did that last summer and got a bunch of SA interviews and a couple of offers. Once you get the offer after completing the SA you can always ask them to start immediately or in a couple of months. I know many people who have successfully done this.

 

What Acs_London said is a good idea. Your best bet is going to be network with people at boutiques and even BBs. Landing an internship at a boutique will be much easier then at a BB because the hiring structure is not formalized. There is a list of 200 investment bank contacts on the forum and you should start contacting the MDs. Getting an internship at BB after graduation is going to be hard but not impossible. Your going to have network with someone high up at the firm who can put in a good a word for you. I am in the same position with you and I was able to get an SA interview with a BB. I knew a global head and he talked to hr about me.

 

Once your inn for the SA nobody will care whether you actually do a masters or not. As acs points out in London this happens all the time, back in my SA class a lot of people had already finished and started immediately or a few months later. Some other banks like JPM do allow people that already graduated to apply (this is for London though, dont know about the US).

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aerolim:
but.. isnt that lying if you say you are starting masters in the fall although you are not?

+1...that's how I interpreted it; wouldn't banks not hire you FT, or you'd get fired, or a bad reference, if and when they find out?

 

I don't know about in the US but overseas recent graduates do a SA pretty regularly - often get return offers for the following year, which is great because you can travel for a year etc knowing you have a job to come back to. However, your post makes it sound like you're confident about the SA - know they aren't guaranteed by any means.

 

in the US, only people returning to undergraduate studies the subsequent year can apply for SA there's not really any exceptions to this rule at BBs or MMs- it differs for EBs or boutiques however i know for a fact that Cowen has taken an SA who had already graduated

.
 

Networking with senior bankers and convincing them that it makes sense to give you an internship over a person still in school is probably your best bet. There will probably be a lot of resistance but just keep at it.

Oh and a lot of places are either in the midst of interviews or have decided on who will be their SA's so you're kinda behind the 8-ball already. Start building relationships though, you never know where the next opportunity will come from.

 

Resume could use some tweaking. One of your interests is reading textbooks... thats okay, but I don't think its something I would want people to think is in my top 3 interests. Try to quantify your experience a bit more. Network, network, network. Oh and coming from an engineering background you need to have your story perfect, practice it in the mirror, to your friends, to your family, anyone who will listen. There cannot be any doubt to the interviewer why you are interested in finance and how this move to ib makes sense given your background and skill set.

Relevant experience definitely did you in. You seem like you are very intelligent, have you thought of a masters in finance or masters in financial engineering (depending on which direction you want to go in your career)?

 

Cold calls and emails. Use any way you can to get into contact with them whether it's trying your alumni database or through friends who work at a bank. Also you're going to have to cold call and cold email a lot (hundreds of people). Go onto bank websites and look for any names or directory you could find. This is easier with smaller shops because they post most of their sr bankers contact info. If all else fails and you're really desperate, then find the bank's front desk # and ask to speak with a sr banker in a random group and pretend to be a business owner who might need their services to get past the admin asst. Smaller banks would be a lot easier so I'd focus on those and even ask if they could sit down with you to ask a few questions about the business. A lot of people would be happy to help you and once you meet a few people, your network will grow quicker than you think.

I'm sure that the people you have met during the first round interviews last year gave you their business card so call them up

 

Yes, it's possible. Some firms do that nowadays to identify potential full-time hires without giving them a job outright. I have a friend who was jobless after graduation, did an internship at Visa and got an offer after the summer - she's working there now full-time. Make sure, though, that the firm is receptive to giving you a full-time offer if you do well.

 

Good question... I have just done a research internship with a boutique but I think I want to look at some other divisions, plus I've decided I want to get my M.Sc (Statistics). Therefore I feel like going for another internship next summer. Besides the internship I just finished, I have a fairly high-level part-time quant job lined up for my upcoming senior year. My school is not a target but the programme I am in is solid and I am busting out good grades.

I am wondering how much skepticism I will have to face in applying for a second internship, and what my chances would be of getting to trade, play with derivatives, or do something else that I like the sound of. My resumé is quite good overall, with diverse achievements, but I wonder if there will be problems with my trying to get another go on the internship merry-go-round. Anyone have an opinion on this? I need to work out how I am going to market myself. Thanks.

 

Unpaid internships are not automatically illegal in NY. It's only illegal if, as an intern, you do the same work as a paid employee. As long as your internship doesn't entail real work, then it's completely legal. And if it does entail real work, just don't sue the company. No one cares.

Also, you don't disclose how much you were paid on your resume, so no one looking at your resume will automatically assume the internship was unpaid and/or illegal.

 

Internship experience will never hurt, especially as you went to a liberal arts college. Get your parents to help you out (make sure you pay them back as soon as you get a job though!) and take the internship. You can live somewhere cheap and not in Manhatten if it's a no-name boutique as it's likely you wont be burning the candle at both ends every night.

 

Take it and make the best of your time in NY, as in Network and make sure that you work your ass off. You never know they may extend an offer after your internship, if you impressed them enough.

I'm talking about liquid. Rich enough to have your own jet. Rich enough not to waste time. Fifty, a hundred million dollars, buddy. A player. Or nothing. See my Blog & AMA
 

I am applying to 1 yr masters programs, but just in case I dont get accepted, do you thinks its feasible to get FT interviews directly after an internship?

Super Nintendo, Sega Genesis - when I was dead broke man I couldn't picture this
 

The SA was through OCR, I applied (even though I'm graduating) because it's a good gig doing precisely what I want to be doing...I assume I was selected to interview due to strong internship experience/deep interest in CRE/and apparent willingness to take a risk.

Let's assume my offers could not be delayed. Then what?

 

If you can spin it that your graduating in 2011 then you would qualify. Otherwise most larger banks are pretty strict about that

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yeah one of my buds couldn't find a job at graduation and applied for SA spots. said he was doing a master's. HR was pretty open about that. spun it off as wanting to get an education abroad. don't make it sound like you're only applying cause you couldn't get FT

 

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