Complete Noob Trying to Get Started
Hi guys, I'm here in search of a starting point. Up until a recent career-ending injury, I was playing a team sport at UC Berkeley (one of the big ones like basketball baseball football) and was completely dedicated to it in hopes of turning pro. Now I am looking to get started on a career. I have a 3.2 majoring in Political Economics at UC Berkeley, three years of team sports, and some experience doing informal jobs with local real estate investors. Took all my economics courses through the Haas business program and averaged A- in those. I'm about to start my 4th year at UC Berkeley and could graduate after this year, but I could also string it out to try to boost my GPA/ get internships.
I have a few main concerns:
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The reason I have no internships is that my sport was taking 5-6 hours of most of my days during school, and my summers were spent traveling to play/ get scouted.
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My GPA sucks because I had a very rough (academic probation and the whole 9 yards) freshman year where I was having trouble studying because of physical exhaustion. Since then I've nutted up and averaged a 3.7 over Soph/Junior year.
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I have nothing finance-related to put on a resume, and from some preliminary research, all the more popular options require prior experience. This isn't a problem, I'm willing to start at the bottom despite starting late, I just don't know where to start.
What I want out of a career in finance:
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I'm a very competitive person who gets bored in non-competitive activities. From what I have read most jobs in finance check this box.
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I want to maximize earning potential over a 10-year time span because in the long term I want to invest my own money.
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I do very well making a detail-oriented plan and following through on it.
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I've been told I talk the paint off a wall/ sell logging equipment to a forest, so I am looking for a role that gets to work in a team and where I can use my social skills to my advantage.
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I find the Real Estate market to be the most interesting out of the markets I've looked into, but I like finance/econ broadly so I have an open mind.
I am posting here to seek advice on a couple of things:
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How can I build my resume up/ gain relevant skills for finance?
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Would it be a good idea to string my degree out to five years? I'm very lucky to have parents who are ok with me taking the 5th year and also completely bankroll my college existence. I could probably raise my gpa to at least a 3.4 and it would give me more time to get internships/ experience?
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What types of first internships might best set me up to get a job that fills items 1-4 in the above section?
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How to build off of a first internship and where to go from there?
Edit: If there is any other relevant information that I did not include I am happy to edit this post later or respond in comments.
Thanks in advance for any advice!
I know that there are a lot of ex-athletes (many Ivy-league, but d1 nonetheless), that work in Sales & Trading, specifically the sales side. I’ve heard that these athletes love the energy on the job, and that the role requires the same go-get-em attitude of collegial athletics. You might try and string out for a year to get an S&T gig at a bank, though I don’t know what the requirements are like.
I’d try and network with some folks that work in S&T at BB and other full-service banks. Look on LinkedIn to try and find some people that were athletes in college. To be frank, I think that those that share your background are going to be much more understanding of your situation (the GPA with exhaustion is likely relatable to anyone that had to do two-a-days with class). It might be a stretch with the GPA (I’ve never recruiter in the space), but finding someone that can relate to you will make all the difference.
In the meantime, start learning everything you can about the industry. See if you can get your hands on a subscription of the WSJ, and stay abreast of the markets. Learn about the difference between Sales, and Trading. When you get people on the phone, you don’t want to waste their time with bullshit you could’ve learned in a 20 minute YouTube video.
Best of luck!
I don’t know what the recruiting timeline for S&T looks like. I assume a chunk of it is done for next summer, but not all. Can others clarify?
Thanks for the advice, do you recommend any sources online? A quick search of google shows a lot of people doing videos like “the difference between sales, trading, sales-trading and investment banking.” However I find it hard to believe anyone is an expert in all of these areas. Seems like a lot of people who used to have one of those jobs and now wants to make money on YouTube lol.
I’d take a look at this article: https://www.mergersandinquisitions.com/sales-and-trading-internships/
In the meantime—I would hustle and see if you can find a mid year private wealth management internship. You’ll probably have to cold email a bunch.
Some of the s&t stuff is tricky I’m sure. Haven’t recruited for it, but you will have to grind a bit before it starts to makes sense.
Thank you the article was helpful!
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