I am a rising junior majoring in international relation with no previous work experience in finance. I do have a fair bit of work experience, having interned at the United Nations and a Senators office, among other things. GPA is a 3.7, so isn't much of a problem. I'm looking to get an entry level finance internship, but I'm not sure what or where that is. I've heard boutique investment banks have less ability to train due to smaller staff, and as such boutique firms typically look for more experienced interns that know what they are doing. On the flip side, BB firms like Goldman Sachs have immense ability to train interns, but have acceptance rates lower than Harvard.
Where should someone like me who wants to get investment bank experience look? Which of the two are more accessible?
Try to find alumni that work at boutiques in your area. BB's are a long shot because of your limited experience in finance. Try to read up on DCF, LBO, Merger Modeling, etc (the basics). Your best bet is to get a boutique or middle market PE internship during the year and leverage that for a boutique summer analyst position. Just my $.02. I can't really comment that much on this subject because I am actually in the same boat.
There are many different methods you can use depending on what school you go to/location. Make a list of banks you are interested in. Start by searching their websites as well as your schools career site. You can also stop by your schools career center.
For the middle market and boutique banks, you can generally find info (email/phone numbers) of senior members (director and MD) on their website based on region/office location. You can't find them for everyone, but you can generally find it on a lot of them. This will allow you to find numbers/emails of people in the offices near your location.
You can also go to the offices your interested in located in the city you live in with your CV and leave it with the front desk receptionist. For my first internship, I put on my suit/tie and went out to three different shops to leave my CV. A director liked the move I made and ended up reaching out to me, and I was able to get my first internship. This internship wasn't a formal program and was located in a smaller office (~25 people), but it was the way I landed my first gig.
This is probably accessible way for me, because I go to NYU, but I'm curious do middle market and boutique banks require interns with more experience, since they employ so few? And is contacting a senior member of a boutique bank too ballsy? Or is that something that can go both ways, good and bad?
I mean it might be harder to hide that you're clueless compared to BBs. But you also get a better shot since more people apply to BBs in NYC. Boutiques and MM aren't easy to get in either still especially in other cities. Contacting a senior member isn't bad at all. They have the most power and also to be honest more time to spare.
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