Jul 18, 2016Jul 18, 2016
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Comments (16)
Sophomore BB SAs are tough to come by but if you network, get good grades, etc. along with your ER spot you should have a decent shot of an interview at a bank. Doesn't have to be GS TMT.
This is an internship after my sophomore year and I will be looking for a SA position afterwards. I am also planning to look into Big 4 IB. Do you know if they take undergrads or have summer analyst positions?
Big 4 does have interns, more plentiful in audit and tax but I'm sure they may have some transaction services/ M&A advisory for you. It is still considered early for summer 2017 recruiting for non-BB firms, so reach out to as many firms and see how it goes. I work in ops so I can shed a little bit of light that imo BB ops sophomore SA is better than some shit PWM internship at your local ML. That is, if you want IBD or ER.
Is this a recognizable firm? It would be ideal if it is, but regardless this is a great internship. Just keep your grades high and you should be good. Speak to the reasons why you want IB and how your experience supports them. You should have plenty of relevant experience to talk about after you're done with this internship.
It is not a very well recognized firm. But I think it will be a great door opener since I go to a non-target school. On the side note, I am also thinking about doing an audit internship over the winter at a Big 4 to learn more about financial statements and experience the 70-80 hour weeks that IB has. Any thoughts?
I did a 9 month placement in Audit. Perhaps it was just the coverage team I was in (financial services) but you learn very little about the financial statements on the job. Most of my work was tying client figures to 3rd party figures (bank statements, custodian statements etc). Mind numbing work. It may be different outside of financial services.
Don't do audit. You should learn plenty about financial statements if you put in significant effort at this insurance firm. If you want more relevant experience, do an actual IB or PE internship over the winter. Other types of buyside roles outside of PE would work as well. You want to show logical progression on your resume. Going from research to audit makes no sense since it's further away from where you want to be.
An AM gig at an investment firm is pretty solid--amazing if you are a non-target rising sophomore. Doing audit would be a step backwards. While insurance investments aren't as sexy as traditional AM/PE firms, it's a great way to get your foot in the door and to get a taste of the buyside. I'd definitely just try to learn as much as possible and work your contacts (don't seem too desperate to get out of there, though--learning comes first).
As far as leveraging contacts, it depends on the people you work under. If you work under people who have had those jobs before, good chance you can use them to get pretty far. Even if they haven't, if they have friendly relationships with the people who work there it can still help a lot. It might not get you an interview, but at the least it will get you a coffee chat (which can then get you an interview). It all depends on how much effort you put in to the actual work (so your contacts actually think you're competent enough for them to recommend you) and how social/active you are to seek out those opportunities in a good manner.
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Holy sh*t, I can't believe this needs to be reiterated. Do not do an audit internship unless you are interested in audit or an FP&A role at another firm afterwards.
If you have not understood yet, perception is extremely important when breaking in. Your resume is the marketing document that helps form that perception. You will only confuse potential employers by taking this audit internship. Going from ER to audit is a random move and doesn't bode well for backing your desire for a banking job. It will look like you lack focus in your career. Read this: that audit internship will cast doubt on your fit from a career perspective, not necessarily a skills viewpoint.
Ignore the audit internship. How would your answer change if it was a winter transaction services internship doing financial due diligence?
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