Non-target with no relevant experience

Hey guys, long time reader here. I'm in my senior year of undergrad looking for an internship in finance. I have tried to look for internships, but have not experienced success. I will probably stay back a year to complete an econ major. What do you guys think? I'm looking for an internship in ER or IBD. Thanks in advance.

 
Best Response

Your experience (as you've outlined) certainly smells more of ER than IBD. Your number one weakness in this resume is a lack of focus on results. I don't care that you managed $250k of fake funds... what I care about is whether the fund rose or fell as a result of your suggestions. Did your participation make a positive contribution? What did you learn?

As a former auditor... I can personally understand what you mean by "compilation" and "review" engagements - but the majority of your screeners will have no idea what that means, or why its relevant. Same issue here though. You tell me what you did, but so what? Focus on your understanding of accounting as a good foundation for modelling and fundamental research.

Your experience is also a little bit all over the place (which I understand is not something you can control) - but you can definitely tailor it to gravitate to IBD/ER more directly. For example, "Enterpreneurship Group" can be spun into an ER-focused description that focuses on your understanding of cost drivers, success factors, etc. for the hotel/entertainment/travel industry.

Business News Group - be more specific with regards to the industries... what you analyzed about CDOs and what were the ultimate results? Did your readers give you feedback? Did readership increase?

 

Thanks futurectdoc and Sovjet. I'm trying to gain more IB or ER related experience, but it has been difficult. The entrepreneurship group holds the largest conference in the country and the mock investment fund/business newsgroup were both firsts for my university apart from annual stock sims. My program has been structured more towards accounting, as opposed to finance. I will be enrolling the CFA program this January. Would you recommend removing anything from my resume? I will focus on results more, thanks for the suggestions.

Related: I've been pondering switching out of my CA program to attend a finance target school (i.e. Ivey), but I'd be repeating a year. Would that be recommended?

 

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