Will a Cannabis Internship Hurt My IB Chances?
I've been offered an opportunity to intern at one of the largest cannabis growers in my state (legal state obviously) for this fall. However, I'm worried that since banking is a conservative industry, it'll give interviewers a reason to ding me based on the negative stigma.
I'll get a lot of different experience in the finance department, helping out marketing/sales with analytics, and helping recreate the business plan. I want to do it to get a unique experience, and I also have always been interested in entering the cannabis market since it's a new industry, maybe doing/starting a PE fund in the industry someday. It's also a newer company with a startup vibe and has been growing very fast. Most of the owner's are more ops/sales focused with little knowledge of finances, which is where I will obviously be a big help. I would also help them hire a full time CFO.
With all that said, IB is where I want to go after graduation. I can also just do it and not put it on my resume for banking. Or make it broad and say "agriculture industry." Will putting this on my resume do more harm than good?
I think Cowen did some IPOs over the last 5-7 years for like Tilray and others. Just depends on the bank and whether they lean into cannabis. I believe one of the MDs helped do some early series rounds to build the relationship. Hope this helps a bit
Yeah, I wouldn't thinks banks are dumb enough to pass up on a fast-growing industry with lots of potential deals just because they have the boomer "war on drugs" mentality. But then again, IB is conservative, hence my worries.
It actually isn't. A large chunk of IBers I know are Democratic. Trump changed the mind of many educated conservatives I know.
TD just fired all of the cannabis related employees a few weeks ago. Risk tolerance for many institutions has changed.
an intern is going to be helping hire the CFO? right....
just please dont put this on your CV.
Key word, helping.
Honestly the only thing I could think of an intern doing is:
1) posting copy paste job ad on job boards / LinkedIn once received from HR director or hiring manager. This is assuming the start up isn't running process through recruiters.
2) organise interview scheduling - assuming there are no secretaries / EAs
3) bring refreshments to the interview room
4) asking anything other than "what would be your vision in terms of nurturing long term growth of employees at the firm" - seems more like an executive management type Q's but assuming it's a small firm I can see them letting you have a win and ask that question.
Point being I don't doubt this would be a really cool internship. No idea how it would be reflected on recruitment but guess depends what the name of the firm is and how obvious it is. You can always can it a medicinal product healthcare business? Don't be too specific with what the SKU really is ;-)
I'm sure you'd be involved in many interesting projects which you can spin several bullet points on each depending how empty your CV is. Don't waste it on "helped hire CFO" - just my opinion.
Then for IB recruitment you could spin it as lord the experience but always kept thinking about how it was a shame that working at such a firm would mean waiting so long to get involved in m&a / Ipo because that's where it gets really super charged and interesting and hence IBD appeals to you.
Again also depends how empty your CV is and what options you have. It's Def better than bartending imo. But I'm not in USA either btw. European country where it's illegal. Would have thought it's really cool internship if I was interviewing you at my industry or consulting job if you were applying here for some random reason.
The easiest way to shut this down in an interview is tell them a family member of yours had cancer and recovered extremely well after smoking marihuana during their chemotherapy. This life experience made you interested in learning more about the drug and why you took on the opportunity.
After you say the first two lines, no one will ever give you a hard time about this internship again. Done. Checkmate.
Lool not cancer but I have a family member using it for medical purposes.
Deleted
I'm the HR. This intern is talking shit.
Naw I think he's right, I'm bound to just flip burgers with this experience.
No, it wouldn't. Had a close buddy intern at Weedmaps as a business development intern for his freshman summer and he was still able to land a SA at a top BB/EB.
Unless you’re a taste tester, I couldn’t see it being a problem
I think your question has been answered.....if you have to explain away anything about your internship, it's a bad starting point even if you have a good explanation.
An internship should be a strong talking point not something you have to dance around.
Working in cannabis can be a very, very helpful story to interviews on your path to IB if you position it correctly. Operational efficiencies, margins, capital raising, and M&A are all incredibly important in the industry and will continue to be going forward as the industry matures. You don't have to say you did a bunch of impressive things at the internship BUT you can say that the internship exposed you to areas of finance you didn't realize were so relevant in cannabis. Here are a few key points you can emphasize that may help show your interest in IB:
I work in the industry right now so I can speak more to it if you DM me
Sent you a DM!
Can't speak to IB but did not hurt me for my MBB offer
FAANG Corp fin might be a better fit
Taking the cannabis internship could offer unique and valuable experience, especially in a budding industry. While banking is traditional, the skills you gain can be relevant across sectors. If concerned, presenting it as experience in a "regulated industry" on your resume might navigate potential stigmas while highlighting your finance and analytical skills.
After doing an internship in the cannabis field, I was inspired to open my own business. That experience showed me how important it is to have things run smoothly and quickly, which led me to look into machines that could help speed things up. I found out about machines like Stardust to automate the rolling process, and it's been amazing. This machine can make up to 960 joints in an hour and only needs one person to run it. It's great because it can handle all kinds of joints and different toppings, making it super flexible. Having this machine has made it easier to keep up with orders, save money on hiring, and make sure every joint is just right. Getting this kind of tech was a smart move for my business, and it's really paid off by making things more efficient.
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