Internship through Craigslist?

As a freshman looking for an internship, just wanted some of your guys' thoughts on whether you think this is a good or a bad idea. There's a lot of posts looking and willing to train for finance roles and internships but not sure if these are easy to get or legit. Thoughts?

6 Comments
 

80% of them are cold-calling shops, headhunter scams, cold-calling shops, and places that want you to cold-call. Some of the places will want you to cold-call, as well. But for the most part, they all just want young kids to cold-call people, and they'll market it to you as a "great opportunity to enhance your career," "a real investment banking experience," "a real finance experience," "a real wall street experience," or some other nonsense.

Use extreme prejudice when meeting with companies that put their ads on Craigslist. Don't get sold during the interview (and if they try to sell you on the job during the interview, get the fuck out).

That said, try to extrapolate what they're telling you about the job through emails, any interviews you might go through, and the craigslist ad itself. There ARE a small minority (the other 20% or less) of internships on there that are actually legit. These positions are often recruiters trying to cast a net as wide as possible for a FT position, tiny boutiques looking for interns (these internships often suck too, though), and sometimes tiny boutiques looking to hire.

Like with everything on craigslist, you're going to find that most people on there are trying to rip you off. There are a few honest folk though who can really help you find what you're looking for.

Sources: I found one of my internships on there. Was great. However, I did probably a dozen interviews with other places, and must have walked right out of at least half of them before they were finished.

Also note that I don't know how this applies to the accounting jobs on there, as there are a shit load, if I recall correctly. And lastly, this is for the NYC area. I'm not sure about other places but would imagine it's probably worse in smaller cities.

TL;DR: use simplyhired, indeed, and networking.

in it 2 win it
 
Best Response

I know smaller firms, like Harvey & Co. (out of Orange Country, CA, have put up ads on CL. That's how I found out about the company in the first place. I've also seen another local Orange Country firm called TGS Management post ads for what I think (could be another position) was a Quant Analysis position ($150k+ compensation) on CL. They're pretty serious for their size, heard they don't hire anything less than a PhD there and they've got some Nobel Laureates under their wing. That nonsense aside, I applied to various CL leads and each time they email you back their information is going to be on the signature of the email unless it's already posted on the ad. Some places don't post their name they will just use a very ambiguous description (i.e Hedge Fund Analyst at Los Angeles Firm needed). Bottom line try to find out the company and research about them.

 

Try Monster, Indeed, Simpy Hired also

"Look, you're my best friend, so don't take this the wrong way. In twenty years, if you're still livin' here, comin' over to my house to watch the Patriots games, still workin' construction, I'll fuckin' kill you. That's not a threat, that's a fact.
 

Lol my freshman year I searched craigslist for some internships myself. I got 1 interview, long, long hassle waiting in the office for the guy who was suppose to interview me to show up! Long story short they are bucket shops that want you to cold call and become a broker pushing the shitty stock they are trying to sell. Use a legitimate source like the ones listed above.

Mps721
 

Okay so judging from what I've heard and looking at the ads, it seems like it really is just cold calling. But is that still considered good finance experience/something to put on the resume?

 

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Mps721

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