Paying for an internship in Asia??

Hi everyone,

Has anyone gone through the CareerUp internship programs? They cost around 4.5k + airfare for 1 month of internship experience in finance/accounting roles in SE Asia. I talked to the customer service rep on the phone but couldn't figure out what I would actually be doing in SEA.

What do you all think? Worth it for the career boost?

 

Most likely no. One of my friends did the whole paying for an internship abroad thing (not sure if through the program you're referring to) and spent his entire time doing meaningless excel work

 
speeddemon:
Interesting...would doing meaningless excel work be better than having no sophomore summer internship? That's my dilemma.

You'll feel pretty stupid when you interview for a FT spot and your resume says you interned at a shop that 1. doesn't give their interns actual meaningful work and 2. makes kids pay to intern there. Try applying for PWM internships around your area or buy some of the modeling courses online and run through them a few times each week. Plenty of other, more useful things to do with your summer than pay to sit in someones office and play on excel all day.

 

Interesting - the companies they are advertising seem like legit places to do internships (Microsoft, EY, GE etc).

It may be better to do PWM if I can find it, but the places I have called are all done with recruiting for this summer. I am not sure how doing financial modeling courses enhances the resume enough even though it may be the most transferable experience to banking.

 
Best Response

You're asking for advice and not listening to/countering what other people are recommending.

PWM works by groups, so under the BAML/UBS/etc umbrella, the groups control their own internship/"recruitment," if you will. It is much easier to obtain a real PWM internship where you will do real work than pay however much money for a bullshit position in SEA. Unsure where you live but chances are there are plenty of other shops, not even just in PWM. Look for other boutiques.. fintech, vc, hfs, etc. Buy some WSO guides/company database if you want to look further.

Financial modeling is a necessary skill that you must have if you want to do IB. Imagine an interview, or a resume, that lists your completion/proficiency in the most basic fin models. Chances are, other interviewees won't have that, and will help you stand out. But if you don't see how this could enhance your resume, I don't really know what else to tell you.

What is it you want to do? Your tag says Other-Student, maybe if you mentioned what specific path you wanted to follow, someone could give more advice.

EBITDA rules everything around me
 

Don't you dare pay for internships man. It's the biggest scam making you pay to show up to an office and play around with Excel all day. I was desperate for internships too this time last year, and I just spammed the shit out of regional boutiques, sending cold-emails and asking for unpaid work.

I have 3 internships under my belt within that one year, and currently working at a boutique IB. Don't give up man, just keep hustling and network your way into something. If I could do it, you most certainly can too.

 

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