How to draft a cover letter offering to work for free?
Ok, I'm still in school and am desperate to break into either commodities trading or Asset Management. Thing is I am due to graduate next year so I cannot get a summer internship in these 2 areas.
My strategy is to instead focus on doing some ad hoc or part time work for such firms during my term time in school. I am dying to get some exposure to these industries that I am willing to work for free. My target are boutiques as bigger companies have more structured ways of hiring. Boutiques may be more open to such cold approaches.
My problem is how do I draft the cover letter to not sound so desperate? Should I just state that I am willing to work for free right away? If yes, is there a more elegant way of telling it without sounding too desperate?
Ask for both, i.e. "any paid or unpaid work experience or internships". That way you can ask for an unpaid one without looking like such a desperado!
my first internship came from asking to work unpaid. im not sure about US law, but the good thing here from my understanding is that it is against the law for someone to work for a firm unpaid, so they have to pay you in some way, whether its expenses or wages.
I think they can get around it if its not exactly work, such as shadowing.
I am only relaying what I have been told by someone at HR, so dont shoot me down if im not 100% correct, im in finance, not law ;)
You can do real "work" but the gist of it is that it has to be educational (i.e. for your benefit), it can't displace regular employees, and the employer doesn't gain any immediate advantage from what you do.
As an aside, there are places still hiring depending on what sort of commodities trading/asset management you're looking for. I'm not sure how much an internship during the semester would help at this point?
Forget the cover letter. You NEED to call them. It is way easier to speak your interest, rather than trying to write it down without sounding desperate
Forget the cover letter. You NEED to call them. It is way easier to speak your interest, rather than trying to write it down without sounding desperate
say i call them and i get channelled to the reception desk. what do I say to reach the top guy of that boutique? If i say i want to speak to the top guy, the receptionist will then ask what is it about?
Easy. Use Google/Linkedin to find out who the "top guy" is at the firm and then when you talk to the receptionist say he called you and you are returning his call but the number isn't going through and you must have written it down wrong.
the latter prob wont work for the huge banks, but for firms, should be fine. I've never been questioned, they have always directed me to someone relevant. I did this for all smallish firms though
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