how about an internship at cultural organizations?

question is self-explanatory.

like a museum, a foundation, societies, center or the united nations.

do you think it would look any good on a resume? or it is just a nice-to-have?
well, I wouldn't do an internship there just for putting it on my resume but some organizations are pretty interesting.

thank you for any answer.

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I can't give really any hard evidence, but its my opinion that it really depends on at least 2 factors relating to the institution:

  1. Networking opportunities (previously mentioned) - Especially relevant though if you can work somewhere that gets a lot of interaction with financial professionals. Maybe working at a museum would allow you to meet a bunch of bankers attending a reception there for a new exhibit sponsored by the bank. This seems pretty unlikely, but you never know. You could probably even research new exhibits and if they are sponsored by any firms you'd like to get an in with.

  2. Financial ties - This relates to networking. If you can work for the UN or a powerful political figure that could recommend you to a friend in financial services, that would be great. Although the "revolving door" between government and high finance typically only occurs with powerful people, it doesn't mean it would be impossible to intern for one and then get them to recommend you to their former colleagues. For instance, imagine working for Mitt Romney's campaign...if he wrote you a rec for Bain, or for that matter, many firms, you'd probably get interviews at the least.

This may be a little tangential to your question, but it could be inspiration for considering other kinds of non-finance jobs.

 

Thank you both the your answers. My intention with an internship like this was clearly to show the recruiters that I'm not only interested in finance. I've heard lots of companys don't really just want finance/economic-orientated guys and since the non-finance related internship are similiar to an extracurricular activity it might be a nice to have on a resume. But thank you anyway.

 
Best Response

Business school wants well rounded people, real people want well rounded people.

Banks, PE shops, HFs, finance firms in general, don't want well rounded people at the expense of finance experience. So, while doing stuff during the year in addition to your finance activities is a good thing. Taking a summer that could have been spent with an internship at a bank and using it on something like charity, is not. People will look at your resume and assume you couldn't get a banking job, or you just aren't that interested.

Extracurriculars set you apart from someone EQUALLY qualified. So, if I have to guys with BB PWM internships and one also helps the poor in his free time with an unpaid internship (or something like that), I go with the more well rounded guy. On the otherhand, if I have one guy who worked at some foundation and another guy with a decent finance internship, guess who gets the job.

This sounds callous, I know, but as someone who has screened resumes and interviewed people and works in this industry, this is the best advice I can give you.

--There are stupid questions, so think first.
 

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