Cambridge Masters Student, No Internships in IB/Finance/S&T, 1 Year Unrelated Working Experience

Hi WSO, new member here and been lurking for the past few weeks.

I am an international student (non-EU, non-American, from SE. Asia) who graduated from a semi-target university in London, UK one year ago with 1st Class Honours, and will be pursuing a business related 12-month Masters at Cambridge University (not an MBA) beginning this September.

While I believe I'm fine on the academic side of things, I have not pursued any IB/trading/finance related internships or summer work experiences during my undergrad days. I have done two internships but one is for a political party and one for a major national think tank specializing in public policy, both in my home country. I have been working as a Project Coordinator at a family business firm (construction/real estate) for 11 months since graduation, where I receive an above average salary rate for fresh graduates in my home country. Again, this stint is not related to IB/trading/ finance in any way, although I have learned tons of soft skills in a high pressure environment so far.

I've also traded currencies/commodities on and off over the past eight months, where I'm aiming to gradually improve my portfolio performance over the next half year if I am indeed going to bring this up in my future job apps, by implementing a more concrete strategy and stricter trade discipline.

I hope to get some advice as to how a prospective candidate with my profile can break into S&T or IB, since the impression I've derived so far from WSO is that a lot seems to hinge on having relevant internships or work experience in your resume, which I do not have.

Thanks a lot and apologies for the long post!

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Hey darkstallionism, sorry about the delay, but are any of these useful:

1st year FLDP- thinking about quitting the program. Help please. my job so much. I hate living in the middle of no where and not have any friends. I think the job ... because i wanted other to believe that I am a high achiever in whatever i do. Beginning of my senior year ... quitting: Race: I am currently one year into the program. I am currently located in a very small town in the ...
AMA > Non-Target > Search Fund & AM internships > BB AM 1st year- FI > (Think Wellington, Fidelity, Blackrock) internship feeder program and the fixed income related interns left with no offers. Graduated with no job ... sure you make your added values known. Work hard monkeys- because in a few years our bullshit ... the internship path with the brutal insurance sales job, after-which I cold called and presented my ...
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Finished 1st Year at HBS- Ask Me Anything (AMA) "Part 2," if you will). I am happy to answer anything about the 1st year MBA experience at HBS ... reflect on the experience (and some spare time before I start my internship this summer) and I thought it ... might be interesting to some in the community if I shared my experiences (I suppose you can call this ...
AMA: Reflections on 1st Semester at Columbia Business School So just for Morgan Stanley, there were ~80 1st round interview spots for Columbia Students across ... For example, for 1st round interview slots, Eaton Vance has 13 slots. Also, whereas Goldman Sachs will ... personal experience. I was able to secure a school-year internship at a $1.0BN+ AUM long / short fund in ...
From <2 GPA, to Bulge Bracket and Hedge Fund 1st 2 years in college: from GPA IB porter My first year almost killed my career: I become obsessed ... with student society work in college. I dedicated so much that my GPA in one semester dropped below ... a semester internship in a hedge fund is not enough for me to get an investment banking or hedge fund
1st Big Boy Paycheck- Keep your heads up! around, I had no job. Had started networking somewhat my second semester senior year but nobody was really ... in, last out Work harder than your peers- I was the first one in/last one to leave everyday Be Humble ... program last year with a 3.6 GPA (worked hard, but also smart). I was involved with the finance club and ...
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Calling relevant pros to the rescue! Timothypuer Avantika-Mittal Hutomo-Setiawan

I hope those threads give you a bit more insight.

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Cambridge Masters Student, No Internships in IB/Finance/S&T, 1 Year Unrelated Working Experience

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