First year students -- what internships are you gunning for?

Question

Just curious what you all are hoping to do this summer? Banking? Consulting? Non-profit.

I imagine it is going to be a very hectic January for you all. Best of luck!

aaudetat · Answer

retail banking or consulting.

pelihu · Answer

I'm going for investment banking. The two most popular career choices are banking and consulting (shocker). You pretty much have to choose whether you'd rather be on the road a lot, or if you'd prefer to be in your office a lot. I guess I'd rather work hard and sleep in my own bed most nights (on the nights I'm allowed to go home

) than hang out in airports and hotel bars. I've also got several interviews with hedge funds coming up, but their recruiting has been disjointed so it's hard to gauge whether they are truly interested.

MGOBLUE2 · Answer

Is it hard to land internships at the top tier firms? It seems as if they hire many more full-times than interns.

pelihu · Answer

For the top schools, I believe the common belief is that consulting firms hire a lot more for full-time than for internship. On the other hand, the common belief for bank hiring is that it's extremely difficult to secure a full-time job if you didn't do an internship. Most of the 2Ys that are able to land bank jobs actually just move between firms.

As to whether it is hard, I'll have a good answer in about 3-4 weeks. From what I can tell, about 2/3 of the people interested in banking here will land top-tier jobs. I kind of feel like the 1/3 that aren't able to land top jobs have only themselves to blame; whether it be poor networking skills, bad manners, lack of effort or just plain rudeness. For consulting firms, I think far fewer end up with internship offers, but many are laying the groundwork for full-time jobs next year.

MGOBLUE2 · Answer

What does 'laying the groundwork for full-time jobs' entail? What kind of internships do these people do? Do people ever do banking in the summers before moving to consulting full-time?

pelihu · Answer

To me, laying the groundwork means getting to know the recruiters, learning about the firm and showing interest. When they come back next year and hire for full-time positions, these people should be in the best position.

Some people take banking internships and then switch to consulting the next year, but the reality is that you really can't effectively recruit for both types of jobs during the first year; there's just not enough time. People interested in consulting that do not land the jobs they want as 1st years tend to go for product management or marketing internships I guess. Banking and consulting interviews take place very early; so it's possible to go after something else if you don't succeed.

kryzak · Answer

pelihu, i remember you mentioning that you're on the "older" side of the b-school students, and generally people who are younger look for the IB jobs. Is there a reason for you to look at IB jobs, and does your age come into play during your interview process?

I'm curious because I'm also in one of the "older" categories, thank you!

pelihu · Answer

Well, I didn't really consider what type of person they generally try to look for, but I can tell you with 100% certainty that age never came up throughout the recruiting process. We haven't had interviews yet, but I've had a really successful fall and I expect to be on a lot of closed lists. I'll post my results as things develop over the next few weeks.

kryzak · Answer

congrats on the good work pelihu! Good to hear that age isn't an issue so far for IB!

pelihu · Answer

The results have started to come back in as firms started releasing their closed interview lists earlier this week (varies by school of course). I can definitively confirm that age was not a factor at all. Like most people, I dropped a bunch of resumes, and so far 14 of the firms I submitted for have released their lists. I'm 13/14 including those rumored to be the most competitive (GS & MS), a pedigreed hedge fund and a surprise call from Google (I think 90% of our class submitted resumes to them). The only one I didn't get, so far, is a firm where I was forced to miss their last two big events due to schedule conflicts; I chose to attend events with other firms so I think they gathered that they weren't my top choice.

Anyhow, age never came up, but I think it's important to demonstrate experience commensurate with your age - kind of like how it works for b-schools admissions. If you're just plain older and don't have impact experiences in your background, that would be difficult to overcome. I do think as an older candidate you need to demonstrate that you can get along with 20-somethings because you'll probably be spending some late nights out grinding away with them. But really, this isn't any different than most other candidates because few are 'naturals' and most people must overcome certain things.

So, the battle is only half-won at this point because there is still work to do in order to land an offer but up to this point things couldn't be better. As someone suggested elsewhere, I will try to start a thread on recruiting and schmoozing. I definitely observed some missteps that caused people a lot of grief so it might be helpful to try to learn from them.

kryzak · Answer

CONGRATS Pelihu on your amazing record there!

Google is also a pleasant surprise! I might try to intern there too.. we'll see. working with 20 somethings is pretty easy for me, considering I still hang out with a bunch of college students (as their mentor) all the time in crowded cabins, haha... trying to stay young mentally.

braindancer · Answer

My first choice for summer is consulting; if I don't get it, I'll probably try tech or CPG.

Darden2010 · Answer

Hi All,

So what industries pay the most for internships? Do IB & Consulting inters get the highest monetary awards?

skaballet · Answer

Generally IB and consulting. Although when I was at Yale I met someone who interned with the National Episcopal Church and made as much as her classmates in IB!

rhyme · Answer

I award you the most confusing username avatar combination of the year. Tuck, Michigan and Darden

Darden2010 · Answer

hihih

at least I made it to one of 'the most' lists

I liked Darden a lot last year but I don't like it how everything has changed over there this year... so I ended up applying to Ross and Tuck

isa · Answer

just curious, what are the average salaries for the summer internships at IB and consulting firms?
cheers,
ac.

togafoot · Answer

2 pints of lager, 3 pints of bitter, and half a stout with a packet of pork scratchings. :twisted:

togafoot · Answer

Same here, because i behave so immaturely :evil:

First year students -- what internships are you gunning for?

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