BSc Finance for S&T
Hello, I am going into 2nd at a Semi-Target uni in the UK, and all this time I have aspirations of going into the Sales side of S&T. I have now realised that most Investment Banks hire STEM graduates specifically maths and comp sci for S&T. Would you guys reckon I continue to try my luck in S&T or prepare for another role like Wealth Management/Private Banking/Asset Management etc?
I'm not sure where you got this exclusive STEM student idea from. Yes, the majority of people in S&T (from my experience) are STEM, but there are others, including myself, who did courses in business schools. I cannot stress how tough it is at the moment to get a job in the finance/banking sector right now and I would suggest not being too picky. If you are dead set on S&T, then I would apply to literally ever company and bank, including boutiques and even then nothing is guaranteed. My advice would be apply to all of the above and just see what you can get and go from there, play the numbers game and even then it can just come down to luck with getting those good offers. Do you have any previous experience that adds to this?
This probably isn't the response you hoped for and I do genuinely hope you get the ones you want! I'm just giving you fair warning, its a shit market at the moment with layoffs, profits being squeezed, and market uncertainty in the UK being tougher than a MD on their second divorce.
Cheers for the reply!
I was just scrolling through linkedin for people from my uni in S&T and saw most did something within STEM - I did also see people who graduated 10+ years ago in S&T (MD's and stuff) that did Econ/Finance was just wondering if there was a shift in focus for the recruiters. Unfortunately I don't have any concrete previous experience apart from a Spring Week from an Insurance/Asset Management firm (Non-convertible).
No worries :) I know how tough it is at the moment trust me, I was a little disappointed with my internship offers but now I've been in a FT role I realise that firms love second-jobbers and actually don't care too much about your grade/course after that (broadly speaking, unless you're going for a very technical, specific role).
That Spring Week is a great base to build off. Yeh, I think STEM subjects are given a preference in S&T because of the coding angle becoming more proficient in Trading, but it's not a requirement and it's never purely STEM who get hired as companies do like to choose other courses as it provides perspective.
Honestly, my advice would be cast a wide net out. Just apply to everything in all of these sectors that sound interesting, for most banks you can only apply to one role so probably focus on the S&T one there, but I would also go apply to AMs and firms' WM divisions that don't have S&T roles. It is a numbers game at the end of the day, pretty much everyone I know in these sectors applied to minimum 40/50 places. You're clearly thinking ahead which is great, and I would spend the hours making notes of when each application opens for all the places you are interested in. Most do it on a rolling basis so the earlier the better the chance you have.
That would be my advice, happy to answer any more questions if you have them :)
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Most people in S&T I know are not stem at all. great friend of mine S&T bb SA in new york analyst class is mainly finance majors. Stem people tyipcilly move more towrds the structuring and quant and risk managment. But they still do end up in Trading at a decent clip. I'm trying to get into the sales side and everyone who i have spoke to on the sales side(which is a lot) is very charestimatic and intelligent but probably 10% of them know a shred of calculus let alone linear algerbra, dif eq or stochastic calculus. Don't know why you would spend all the time studying mathmatics to be a sales guy. Also you don't meet to many math guys who are the most social people so thats something to. \
Be smart, network and don't give up and youll do just fine.
Appreciate the reply mate!
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