Thoughts when seeing "Associate or Director" in students applying for internships?
So I am a student and I have been very lucky to get some finance related experiences and I label them as "xx Intern at yy" or similar. However, I keep getting LinkedIn connection requests of people in my University/College that say they are associate, analyst or MD at (mostly) student led organizations (like the consulting club/society).
I completely understand exaggerating your duties in your CV, like processing microtransactions in a fast-paced environment = worked at MacDonald's, but these titles just don't seem right.
More specifically saw someone who said he was "head of equity research" at a student led iniciative.
When recruiting, how are these titles seen?
I'm fresh out of undergrad and my take might be a bit more cynically understanding than most; when I see students who do this I instantly think they're going to make it because it shows they have a thorough understanding of the recruitment bureaucracy. Better said, these people know what's going to get them elected and they know how to hype and plug themselves up on their CVs. Of course it's bullshit, we all know it's bullshit, but the best measure of abilities is to see who can bullshit the best. No point in trying to be the truth spitter who proclaims that this is all corporate lies and blah blah, yeah we know it's all a game, but whoever can play the game best is usually the one who makes it. The struggle is holding out to the very end and never giving in on admitting the reality. Ironically enough, this is sort of what I'm doing by writing this, but I hope you understand the point.
I’m many years out of undergrad, and it is seen mostly as you expect, with a giant grain of salt. The title factors in very little/not at all, but maybe different in IB (I’m at a HF). The school, major, GPA, previous experience (internship) and overall involvement/interests matter a lot more. And if you have something like that on your resume, you can bet many people will ask about it, because if it is that important to you (or you are that involved) you will be expected to actually know what you are doing.
Looks awful
Global Head of Long & Short Strategy at a Student Fund with $300k in AUM = interested in finance.
I believe the fund must have $1k max
Late stage VC fund deploying dry powder every 6 months in high risk high reward institutional clients = paying for college
I've heard people share your sentiment, although I have never understood why. In any organization, there is going to be a hierarchy. Other student organizations (clubs, greek life) use traditional monikers to designate leadership positions (i.e. President, VP, Treasurer, Secretary, etc). However, business organizations are modeled after... businesses. Of course they are going to use Managing Partner, Managing Director, Associate/Team Lead, Analyst, etc to designate their positions within the organization. It shows that 1) they understand how these businesses are run (as alluded to by a post above) and 2) that they can operate in that hierarchy and have an understanding of the responsibilities of each role. You don't look at someone who is in student government and think "that guys not a General Secretary, what a phony!" Because your critical thinking faculties are greater than that of a ten year old. What is so hard to comprehend about people modeling a club after an actual business model? No one is applying for jobs commensurate with their title in the club, they are all applying for analyst positions. Y'all are dense sometimes.
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