Should I Worry?....Experience Q.
I am in a situation that is worrying me right now. I am about to finish undergrad at a non-target with a decent GPA and a major in Economics. I am a transfer student here and managed to do four semesters in three because I traveled for a year and felt left behind.
My problem is that I am without any finance experience on my resume and will miss FT recruiting because I will be studying abroad in the Fall, although I am in the works for a possible summer internship. After hearing about freshmen with pwm gigs, I feel I am at a huge disadvantage in the job market.
It is not that I am unmotivated, lazy or whatever else you want to insert. I felt compelled to work in my family business doing a not finance role because my brother who was filling the job earlier left and I took over. Right or wrong, I did that since out of HS until I transferred to Uni. Like I mention above my course load was always 18-21crds plus I stayed a full summer to catch up ...so no internships.
So, basically to wrap it up, how bad is my situation? If I get a decent internship this summer before study abroad will that be good enough to be competitive for recruiting when I get back to the states? I know it's a long post and could be more detailed but I would really appreciate your views.
What kind of job are you even looking for?
I am hoping to get into S&T or Asset Management but am willing to whatever to get my foot in the door.
Focus on getting the internship and doing well at the internship. When you're doing the internship make sure to network and try to get someone higher up who will like you and remember you for a year, and be able to get you a foot or two in the door when you graduate.
The place I have the best chance at is a small Asset Management firm but I spoke to the owner and seems like a great guy willing to help out someone that wants to learn. Also, I know study abroad will be a blast I'm just not sure if I am wasting 5 months with not too much to show for it.
don't worry you will find a good job
Appreciate the optimism, hope it's not sarcasm.
Any other insight out there?
What's your family business? You may be able to spin it somehow.
bump
Honestly, you should be worried if you truly want to break into trading. If you don't get a solid internship this summer, and if you don't have one by now the chances are slim, you are going to have an extremely difficult time breaking into trading unless you have some connections.
If you already spent a year traveling before undergrad why are you choosing to spend a semester abroad and miss the majority of full time recruiting? At this point you are a junior with no finance experience, with a decent GPA from a non-target, who will be skipping 75% of all recruiting. Even if you get a summer internship, unless you can convert it into a FT offer that you want, you are going to be at a disadvantage to the majority of trading candidates.
Judowned,
I definitely agree, I have been thinking about not doing study abroad, in which case I will have only 2 course to complete in the fall semester. After that I will graduate in December. Do you think it would be a good idea to study/take the gmat during the slow semester just in case I decide to do a masters the following fall? Or, do you think I should study for the CFA level 1 to take in December? These are just some ideas so I am not idle while taking such a small course-load; any other suggestions are welcome.
If you are only taking 6 hours I would definitely recommend taking the GMAT, especially if you are considering grad school (don't get an MBA unless you have a few years of experience). If you can get a high score, and with a decent amount of study that shouldn't be hard for a native English speaker, it will be a nice addition to your resume. I took had my gmat score on my resume coming out of a non-target and it was commented on by most of those I interviewed with. You should also look very hard in the area around your school for any kind of finance internship you can do during the school year, even unpaid.
As for the CFA, that could certainly help but it is a big time investment and you won't know if you passed until after most of recruiting is over. Having "Level 1 candidate" on your resume is nice to have but the CFA is not nearly as valued in trading as in equity research or Asset Management.
What you need to do right now is start networking. I have been in your shoes and blind resume drops and online submissions will not get you anywhere coming from a non-target. You need to find an alumni, family friend, or anyone else you can make a connection with to help you out and get your resume to the right people. Linkedin helped me a great deal in my search to find alumni who work at the firms I targeted. Don't limit your contacts to people in the department you are looking for, contact anyone you think might help. I had everyone from secretaries to partners talk to me and get me interviews. With the limited pool you will have coming from a non-target you can't afford to leave any stone unturned.
Thanks for the detailed response. For grad school I was thinking of the 1 year masters of finance or the programs at Duke or UVA to get another shot at networking and OCR. My number one priority now is securing a summer internship, I only have one on the hook but think I have a decent chance at it. Not sure how much experience I will get but I guess it can't hurt either way.
Good call on linkedin, I use it frequently but am not sure about how to connect with people outside of my small network. Although my school is a non-target it is still a state school in NY so we have a fair amount of alum in NYC and I definitely wanna tap into this.
A trick for being able to email people outside of your existing network on Linkedin is to join a bunch of groups that people you are wanting to contact might be a part of. If you are in the same group you can often send them a message so try to join the big ones you think would be relevant as well as any of the groups for company empoloyees you can get into.
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