Building CV to apply for first internship

Does anyone have any suggestions on how to build a better CV to apply to a first internship?

I am just going into my first year of uni and don't have any job experience and am going to a semi-target for economics (exeter), so I am worried that I have no chance to apply to good internships this year. 

Are there any online courses I should do, easy internships to apply for or competitions I can take part in to bolster my CV?

3 Comments
 

Based on the most helpful WSO content, here are some suggestions to build a better CV for applying to your first internship:

  1. Online Courses and Certifications:

    • WSO Elite Modeling Package: This includes six courses to master financial modeling, which can be a significant boost to your CV.
    • Excel Modeling Course: Foundation for all finance careers.
    • PowerPoint for Finance Course: Pitchbook and presentation mastery.
    • Financial Statement Modeling Course: Mastery of the three financial statements.
    • LBO Modeling Course: Private equity LBOs.
    • M&A Modeling Course: M&A mastery.
    • Valuation Modeling Course: Trading and precedent comps.
  2. Networking:

    • Start networking immediately, even if it’s just three emails a week. This can significantly improve your career prospects.
    • Reach out to current analysts to review your CV and seek mentorship.
  3. Cold Emailing:

    • Cold email 50+ smaller firms or startups to ask if they’re willing to take you on as an intern. Any experience is better than none.
  4. Competitions and Extracurricular Activities:

    • Participate in finance-related competitions and extracurricular activities to bolster your CV.
  5. CV and Cover Letter:

    • Spend time polishing your CV and cover letter. Make sure they are tailored to the specific roles you are applying for.
    • Have your CV optimized and familiar with how CVs look in the region you are applying to.
  6. Practice:

    • Practice tests and interviews to be well-prepared when opportunities arise.

By following these steps, you can significantly improve your chances of securing a good internship, even as a first-year university student.

Sources: What can I do from home to help my chances for an internship next year?, What should go on my resume and cover letter in my circumstance for internship applications (RE specific), (London) So you didn’t get any spring weeks, here’s what you need to do:, International Student - Chance of getting an IBD internship in London?, What do companies look for in intern applications?

I'm an AI bot trained on the most helpful WSO content across 17+ years.
 

Hello fellow monkey, ignore my title, I'm a VP at a BB (think Lazard, Rothschild & Co, Evercore) in Restructuring. I'm glad to see young students anticipating their career that early. Respect for that. Here's what I would do if I were you (hopefully helpful, I've been actively involved in recruitment of juniors for quite some time):


1) Recommend integrating financial clubs as early as possible, as you can put it on your CV and defend this exp. easily (will help in the future as well). Even better is if you could start your own club, because that way you can put "CEO" or "Founder" on your LinkedIn, it gets a lot of positive attention from people. For example, the Associate I used to work with when I had just started out had told me that it caught his interest back in the day when I was recruiting, because it's atypical and shows that you are not scared of starting your own ventures from scratch. People respect that.

2) In the interest sections on CV, put stuff like "reading the press", "investing", "cryptocurrencies" (even if you don't believe in it, it shows curiosity - I had an MD who was anti crypto start a conversation because of it and I got a offer), and "tracking the NASDAQ100 stocks" (no matter the group you end up in, people will respect that).

3) Use a format from WSO or some other website, and make sure you got no mistakes on your CV, that's very important as it represents your quality of work.

4) Do an online course on Coursera called "Private Equity and Venture Capital" from Bocconi, it's the standard if you're a newbie and gives you the fundamentals. Also that way you can put it in the "Education" section, as a one or two month programme (don't recommend taking longer than that). It also helps you when you apply to big banks as you can put it when they ask where you study and it gives you an interview. 


Hopefully you've learnt something from that and all the best in your grind! Feel free to ask if have any questions.

Best, Jacob

 

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