Pros and Cons of internships abroad

Just to give you guys a short introduction, I am an international student in a semi-target school. As an international student, I am only allowed - throughout my 4 years of school - a maximum one year of working experience. Therefore, I have to choose my internships well so as to not strike out by my junior year.

One of my solutions is to do internships domestically in the spring and fall and internships abroad in the summer. This means that most domestic internships will not be full-time internships. Will that work against me come my senior year when I apply for FT positions? My concern is that, while most students gain the exposure and develop connections with the U.S offices, I will be interning abroad. Adding to the fact that I am an international student, will this put me at an disadvantage?

For users who have interned abroad, how was your experience and what are the benefits and cons would you say about your internships abroad? I am targeting Singapore and HK.

 

I am currently trying to make a lot of decisions in terms of what I can do in the next two years. As an international student, I know part-time CPT is unlimited so that maybe my chance to do more internships in the U.S. But I would still personally like to know the pros and cons of internships abroad. WSO users, please enlighten me.

 

Cons: BB and boutique foreign regional offices are quite small with only relatively few bankers in locations such as Geneva, Paris, Moscow, JBerg, HK/Sing, etc...Consequently, it is harder to break in for recruiting as SA classes are smaller. Also, these tend to be very tight nit cultures and if you don't match the personality of the senior/junior bankers, you won't last long.

 

You will be in London as a sophomore in college. Enjoy the shit out of it. I spent a summer there and now know my biggest mistake in college was not doing a full semester abroad. Go to class during the week, travel to different countries on the weekend, go out to the pubs as much as humanly possible, and have the best semester of your life. You're doing yourself an injustice if you do otherwise.

Just my 2 cents.

 

Unless you work unpaid under the table or are a European citizen, you will not get an internship in London. No firm will sponsor a junior year fall part-time internship. Don't 'consider' what CodeBlue says: do it. Anything else is insane.

What I would do to go abroad again...

"Yes. Money has been a little bit tight lately, but at the end of my life, when I'm sitting on my yacht, am I gonna be thinking about how much money I have? No. I'm gonna be thinking about how many friends I have and my children and my comedy albums."
 
SilvioBerlusconi:

Unless you work unpaid under the table or are a European citizen, you will not get an internship in London. No firm will sponsor a junior year fall part-time internship. Don't 'consider' what CodeBlue says: do it. Anything else is insane.

What I would do to go abroad again...

Seriously. It's an unbelievable experience. Easily the best time of my life to date.

I stayed in Camden when I was there. I'm a huge gambler so journeyed to Leicester Square almost every night. You'll have a blast and be sure to travel as much as possible. I'm not sure how many times that you've been to Europe, but you'll find getting around to be quite easy. Personally, I loved Interlaken, Switzerland if you're into extreme sports.

Don't get a job... you'll regret the memories you're missing out on.

 

I think CLSA has something similar for their HK office. Not sure if still going on

All the world's indeed a stage, And we are merely players, Performers and portrayers, Each another's audience, Outside the gilded cage - Limelight (1981)
 

Did an internship in Frankfurt, Germany couple of years ago. Essentially started cold emailing/calling while i was still in school in Stuttgart. I wouldnt suggest moving until you have a job as its kind of unnecessary. No one will be scared off that you dont live in the city yet, they know youll move if they offer. As far as cover letters go i wrote a bunch of templates depending on the team i would be supporting and just tweaked them as needed. Id recommend doing something like that just because having read cover letters you can definitely tell when its just a stock template and people are cranking them out. Nice to read one that people might put even 2 extra minutes into.

 

I see...In regards to my cover letter. I'll look for templates online. As of right now I only have one.

I've been calling people like crazy all day today with little to no luck.

Ahhh man this is tough and I haven't even started invesment banking yet!! haha..

I might have to start looking at other cities too.

Thanks for the help guys. I'll be sure to annoy the forum with more questions should any arise lol.

 

Another note on this. Just my experience, but i found cold calling to be pretty much useless as no one would actually pickup, return calls, or actually talk to me when i got through. Might just be Germany but i found cold emailing to be a lot more useful. Im guessing that its less obvious that they arent doing actual work if they just write an email vs. having an MD or other associate/VP walk by and over hear them doing something not work related.

Pretty much just trying to get across that you might need to to alter your cold email/call strategy based on country or perceived work culture to make it more effective. I found apply for jobs in foreign countries to be more of a culture shock than actually living and going to school there.

 

What happens with me is, I call the secretary of firms who almost always puts me through the branch manager or provides their email. The manager hardly ever picks up, I leave a message and follow up or e-mail.

But I agree, I find e-mailing to be a tad bit more responsive. I've got little to show on my resume at the moment so I have to try to convince them best I can based on basically no provable credentials (haha.. :|)

Do you guys actually call the MDs? I'd feel like a bother. I've only ever spoken to one, he was kind, but very intimidating. He gave me a chance but after that I decided to start on the strategy I outlined about above. I'm going to try to start informational interviews soon too. Whatever works...

Hey by the way, if anyone's got any more strategies on how to go about getting an internship I'm all ears.

 

Problem is that in my area, finance is pretty small in comparison to the above 3. For instance, a bank might take at most 10 interns for the summer making it very difficult. Where as if I look elsewhere, I will have more spots but the competition will be undeniably stiffer.

 

-Investment banking (I'd advise internationally, you don't want to do an international internship in the country you live) -Consulting (I'd advise internationally, you don't want to do an international internship in the country you live) -Private equity (I'd advise internationally, you don't want to do an international internship in the country you live) -Hedge fund (I'd advise internationally, you don't want to do an international internship in the country you live)

...

In all seriousness, though, what type of industry are you interested in? Or is there a specific goal you're working towards?

"You stop being an asshole when it sucks to be you." -IlliniProgrammer "Your grammar made me wish I'd been aborted." -happypantsmcgee
 

Google local firms. Many of the company websites have a management page with contact info. Contact any analysts, associates, or directors and present yourself along with what skills you have. Ask for any available opportunities. This has worked for me multiple times.

 

you can go abroad to major finacial centres - Hong Kong, London, may be even Singapore where you won't need any languages apart from English

cubiclecrowd.com blog.cubiclecrowd.com
 

Most major banks require fluency in the language of the country you are considering and will generally conduct the interviews in that language. I had to cancel an interview with the Tokyo office of a firm because I speak no Japanese and the language requirement was not on the application (not sure why I even got an interview as I didn't say I spoke the language on my resume...)

That said I did receive an offer from a U.S. firm (consulting) to work in Asia, so it is possible. Ended up taking a BB here instead. One of my coworkers did Beijing last summer and hated it though so you may want to reconsider.

 

... nobody cares about whether you go through an official application process. They'll look at your resume, see JPM + overseas experience, and be all like... "Cool beans. Might be worth taking a look at this one."

TL;DR? Go for it.

EDIT: On a side note - you might want to reconsider your decision not to work there. Assuming that you only speak English (at business-level proficiency), Southeast Asia probably has the best prospects for potential bankers. The BRIC countries need you to speak (P)R(preferably H, I'm guessing)C, and the US & EU are kinda in the middle of a huge shithole right now, with activity not likely to pick up significantly for quite a while.

 

What level is your Chinese? If it's at least decent I'm guessing you'll be able to find something, there's a lot of internships in finance over here (they pay little or nothing, but i'm guessing that's not a priority)... many of the firms need people to help polish their investment memos and presentation materials (they are full of fluent english speakers, but very low on native speakers who can really write professionally). There are a lot of Beijing expat websites - they are covered in apartment and internship listings... you might want to look at those.

Is that school in the university district or is it downtown? If it's all the way in haidian it might be tough for you, because that far from the CBD and also from the financial street... there are a lot of cool tech companies over there handing out internships though... I know Lenovo takes like ten trillion per semester, I worked there during the semester while i was abroad here

For the summer, it's hard to secure top jobs from over here, but possible... I interviewed w/ MBB while i was studying here for a job back in the US. If I were you I'd consider an internship at a big bank in either HK, Shanghai or Beijing for the summer afterwords. I know that UBS offers specialized summer internship programs in Beijing - another kid in my study abroad program a few years back did that - and pretty much all the banks have internships in HK... plus HK is fucking PYMP (though it's hot as balls in the summer).

 

This is my first semester taking the language, so I'm a bit limited in terms of trying to find an English only internship. I'll have to look into the UBS program, I didn't realize they offered one. Thanks for the heads up.

I've been talking to a Senior VP at JP Morgan I know and she has told me a skype interview is possible, but we shall see what come out of that.

There are a few postings on the job site of WSO that I'm in the process of applying for. I've also been looking at BCG and just met a guy at a bar over the weekend from The Economist. I'll have to check out Lenovo as well. I think any difficulties that arise trying to find a job will be well worth it for spending a year here. Was such the case for you?

 

Yeah... I was lucky and my abroad program helped me find the internship at lenovo, but plenty of the other kids in my year were more resourceful and found stuff at other cool firms through their own efforts (I was kind of interested in Lenovo at the time since they had just bought the PC line from IBM - so i figured I'd be complacent and take what was handed to me)

The Economist would be sweet dude - clearly a very prestigious publication. I feel like that would stick out nicely on an resume. I have a friend who is an assistant for for another pimp ass magazine here in his spare time and it's pretty legit...

 

Yeah, I want to take this semester to really focus in on the language and explore the city; and try to make contacts. Then intern next semester and possibly the summer here. Thanks for the advice man. What firm do you work at? Are you enjoying working in the PRC?

 

you're not being greedy looking for experience while abroad - but money/pay is probably going to be hard. I'm not positive on this, but my gut tells me you cannot work for pay on your student visa.

A few years back I did an internship in Beijing while I was studying abroad there --- technically I was not allowed to receive pay and it had to be arranged through my university (since I was on a student visa). Some firms may be willing to slip you some cash under the table - but not likely.

 

I'm studying in Italy and I might know which listing you're looking at, since I used one some weeks ago to look for a PE internship, similar situation to yours.

I'm pretty knowleadgeble on PE in italy and the type of funds that are active here, if you need anything drop me a pm.

 

Like IntPymp said, you have to look at your specific visa (prob student visa) and see what it allows. Also, some EU countries require work permits as well, which is a horribly long and drawn-out bureaucratic process. If you want to do this, your best bet is to set up an informal arrangement with the firm and probably receive no pay/pay under the table. Another option is to ask your study abroad program if they grant credit for internships, which could be much easier depending on your program. They may also have relationships with local firms.

I would also add that, although you seem to have plenty of free time, you should think for a second about the commitment you're making. Maybe it's a fantastic experience, or maybe a month down the road, you show up with a Chianti-induced hangover and regret the day you made the decision.

 

Yeah bro, apparently 5,000 American kids here with 43 university programs? Unreal. I don't party that much but this week has already been unreal, if it weren't for the day-long orientation stuff all week I'd probably be napping like a boss.

I am permanently behind on PMs, it's not personal.
 

Alright, I'll talk to the administrators tomorrow and see what the deal is. I'm not sure if any of the firms would be willing to do something under the table but I'll ask when I email next.

I am permanently behind on PMs, it's not personal.
 

Ya Florence is just an American college campus inserted into Italy. Italians hate you there cause everyone just gets completely wasted all day and all night. I am a huge BSer and convinced my italian teacher that we needed to go to "Shot Cafe" and order in Italian because it would really reflect our understanding of italian....until i just said "Un Patron senor".

 

Yep. Just got back in from another night, saw WAY too many stupid kids doing stupid things and perpetuating a stupid image. I want to travel every weekend if this is how sloppy it is here.

I am permanently behind on PMs, it's not personal.
 

Florence is awesome. Don't worry about an internship - just network in your spare time so you can pick something up at a boutique/small firm when you get back. And make sure you hit up Rome, it's one hell of a city

 

Rome isn't that great. It's absurdly touristy, instead of Florence's long-term American presence it's a bunch of day-visitors and that gets old real quick. Not even a weekend trip, a long day trip's enough.

I am permanently behind on PMs, it's not personal.
 

Do you have any family overseas? Last summer, I convinced my uncle to let me work in his company's finance department (His company is a large manufacturer in South Asia). At the time, they were trying to acquire some smaller companies...I'm hoping that will give me some sort of an edge in interviews. Anyway, try reaching out to family and friends and see if they can hook you up with something. Personally, I'd say to not limit yourself to just IB, WM, and HF positions....see if you can get any kind of exposure in a finance role and go from there.

 

yeah, my father does business with someone involved with a HF in london...i forwarded him my resume and told me i'd be a great candidate because "summers are slow". which is what concerned me. I don't want to spend a summer getting coffee for people. yes, i understand these are the duties that come with the "intern" position, but if there were some sort of online source or some type of program that i may not have heard of, it might give me a better scope of whats out there. Ideally i'd like to be in China...

on another note...I took a look at this "AnEx Advantage" summer program that WSO is advertising...has anyone heard anything about/experienced/recommend it?

 

its all about networking. cold e-mail alums and ask them how they broke in, get them on the phone and ask them to pass your resume around. you're not gonna find a website with loads of china internships.

there are placement programs that you can pay for, but they're a bit pricey and personally i would never pay for any internship

 

I know someone who places kids in internships in China at a charge (he also arranges housing for the summer, a local cell phone etc...). It's a consulting firm called "marco polo internships"... not sure if their website is up yet.

PM me if you're interested and I'll give u his contact.

 

What are the language requirements for interns in countries like Spain, Switzerland, Sweden, etc. Can you work any of those places with just English and medium-advanced Spanish (not fluent)?

 

I was able to land two internships in two different countries with no personal connections. Words of advice: 1.) reach out to family/friend connections first [obviously], 2.) stay away from large companies (BB), 3.) start networking NOW, and 4.)if you don't come from money, start saving ( if your lucky enough to get an internship, 9 times out of 10 they won't be paying you [I was compensated with a living stipend]).

Personally, I would take your Dad's friend's offer in a heart beat. I would think your an idiot otherwise, sorry no offense here, but think how many well qualified candidates in London would jump at that offer.

Also, I have come across organizations that do act as an "internship headhunters" in foreign countries, I personally don't know anyone that has used them, but think they are a waste of money. You will have more success and better results if you did your own internship search.

 
Sunbeam:

In 2010 I could not find any decent job in the U.K. that was related to my MBA. It was so fricking frustrating that I sometimes did not even want to get out of bed. My mum sent me a BBC News link about thousands of students finding "back door jobs" in China. I never heard of such a thing - but now I have one! Its too complicated to explain on my own so you can check out this link:

http://www.zimbio.com/Expatriate+Resources/article...

But if you cannot adjust to a different culture or are too lazy to learn a little Chinese, save your air fare money. I am having a blast here and can say it was probably the best move I made so far. Just be sure you find an internship with a company owned by foreigners that have been in China for at least 3-5 years and not Chinese. The Chinese only see you as a naive and gullible scam target. Once you get here you can network with other foreigners at sports bars and biz clubs until you find the best job. Its truly an adventure worth taking so long as the European economies keep sucking wind.

I don't think you can survive with "a little Chinese" in a professional environment when you are working with a boutique kind of company.

You sound very similar to the GI2C people here on the board. It's funny how you "invaded" it.

Could you maybe give a ballpark figure of your income?

 

this could either be a scam or a worthwhile opportunity but we have no way of knowing given the information provided. is this through a study abroad program at school? if it were me, i'd be very skeptical of an internship that i'd have to pay for, unless it's unpaid and credit has to be paid for, which never costs ~10k

 

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