Looking for advice in applying for Summer Internships with no financial experience
Hi, I'm currently looking to apply for Summer Internships in Investment Banking (in London). I am a second year Economics student at a good university. However I have no financial experience. I was looking to gain experience in my first year but I was unsuccessful in even getting interviews for Spring Weeks at Bulge Bracket banks. I have a feeling that this year will be the same story since I still don't have relevant financial experience. And then when I am looking for a full time job, it will be the same story again. This summer I am working full time in HR and while I have learnt some skills from this, I feel like this is not as impressive compared to my peers.
I networked a little bit in the first year but mainly focused on academics. I took a mindset of only attending networking events when I didn't have classes/lectures. I got a high first in the end but didn't manage to even secure interviews for Spring Weeks. While I have good academics, I still don't have any finance experience to talk about in my cover letters and CV and am filling it with experience I learnt doing HR (teamwork, communication etc...).
I am unsure how I should approach the second year. Is it worth skipping lots of lectures and classes to network? I am afraid that I will fall behind a lot in studies if I do this, but I understand that securing a summer internship is important. I am currently trying to learn as much about Investment Banking as I can. Personally I am also scared to break to rules; I don't want to cheat on numericals and verbal reasoning tests but almost all my peers will be doing this and this gives them an unfair advantage while I might not get an interview if I did badly.
Looking for advice here. Not really sure what to do, do I need a change of mindset? How can I convince recruiters that I am capable without experience? Would appreciate your thoughts.
So you're going to be a sophomore? You don't need to be skipping class to network that's dumb you have an entire year to make connections just manage your time well, and a ton of people don't have finance experience at that point. You're being proactive so something will show up, be open to positions not in IB for next summer as there aren't many spots anyways
Thanks for your reply. Yes I am going to be a sophomore. The problem I had last year was that I had classes from 6pm-7pm on a Monday when most of the Networking sessions were, and I was reluctant to skip classes for these. I will be looking open to positions not in IB and not make the same mistake as last year in only applying to BB Investment Banks. I know there are a people who don't have financial experience but unfortunately I won't be competing against them. :( Just seems so hard to break into IB without previous financial experience and connections/networking (even with 4.0GPA equivalent). I only knew about investment banking at the start of my first year at university and tried to get a spring week but failed because I had no experience, would be a shame for it to be the same again this year.
I have a friend who is in the same standing as you and he got a spring internship at a top EB/MM IB. He got his return offer for next summer as well. Just keep hacking away and network, he didn't have a finance internship before so really it's not a huge deal.
Bump, what's the best thing I can do in preparation for applications starting in September?
How do people cheat on numerical and verbal reasoning?
Friends do the tests together, save the questions and send the answers to each other in a network in exchange for other answers...
Getting ANY Finance Internship Without Any Relevant Experience? (Originally Posted: 01/12/2017)
I am a freshman Economics concentrator at an Ivy, just finished up my 1st semester. My problem is not only that I'm a freshman, but also that most of my "experience" has been primarily in the arts and volunteer/local non-profit involvement. Any advice on how to SELL MYSELF to financial firms, preferably in venture capital/private equity, mergers/acquisitions, etc., without any relevant skills? Also, I realize that a big name brand internship is highly unlikely -- I am abiding by the commonly repeated advice "get anything you can get" by applying to niche, boutique, local, and some bigger firms in Philadelphia...
Don't post multiple threads asking the same questions. New users have a tendency to do that on WSO and it's annoying.
With regards to selling yourself, the best thing you can do is convince whoever you're talking to that you're passionate about finance, hungry to learn more, and willing to dedicate a lot of time and effort into doing well in finance.
Help!- Intern with no finance background (Originally Posted: 03/28/2010)
My friends,
I would like some advice about what I should do. I am set to intern at a Asia-based hedge fund.
A little background info about myself: I am a humanities (International Relations) major specializing in China. While I have taken some economics courses (Intro+ Intermediate Micro among others), I do not have any finance background. My supervisor this summer is aware of and fine with this ( he doesn't know what he'll do with me yet, though he has hinted at marketing the fund) and will figure out my responsibilities as I arrive.
I was wondering what I should do to best prepare for this and any advice for the actual internship. In all honesty, my end goal is to break into management consulting. Based on the advice I've received, I've concluded that having this internship (at a hedge fund), would have been more likely to land me an interview than the alternatives (public relations firm [ a repeat of last sumer] and a sourcing firm [non-brand name] ). Although I may not have any involvement with finance after this internship, I would like to learn as much as possible and leave a good impression.
With that said, how would you best prepare for this internship? I've been reading the Idiot's Guide/Dummies books for Hedge Funds/Investments and people are telling me that there are finance-related podcasts at the itunes store. Aside from those, would anyone have any other recommendations?
Any help would be very much appreciated. Thanks in advance!
Read the WSJ daily. The economist is good as well.
PIMCO is a good website for Fixed Income.
What does your hedge fund cover? Is it Equity (Stocks) or FICC (FIxed Income, Currency, Commodity)
If it is more of a trading HF like Global Macro---you should read trading books. I recommend "Come into My trading room" by Alex Elder for trading. Also, read up on the product.
If it does mostly long term investing then get Security Analysis by Benjamin Graham----The father of value investing and Warren Buffet's mentor.
If you have more direct questions PM me. Thanks.
new memer incoming intern at bulge with no finance experience (Originally Posted: 01/20/2014)
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I'd recommend buying Rosenbaum's "Investment Banking". You'll have time to read it before the summer and it's pretty solid.
Cool, thanks. I'll check it out
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