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Carmen
Student
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#Fall24 What advice would you give to a prospective Financial Analyst? How should I go about finding internships? I am a college freshman as of Fall, 2024.
#FALL24 What advice would you give to a prospective Financial Analyst? How should I go about finding internships? I am a college freshman majoring in Finance, as of Fall 2024.
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Doc Frick
Career Coach and Mentor
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California, CA
Updated
Doc’s Answer
The competition to get into a finance internship is intense, and staying well-prepared becomes a key to the process. Your success, tracking from before you join as an intern to when you move out of the same, largely depends on your resume, your performance in the interview, and the networking you form once in the position.
✅ MAKE THE GRADE
The first step to gaining an internship is to perform well in your finance courses and get good grades. Getting good grades can show employers that you're a reliable individual with a strong work ethic because you complete your coursework according to your instructors' demands and have a proven interest in financial concepts. Depending on the internship, some programs may set a minimum GPA requirement for candidates.
📝 READY YOUR RESUME
Your sophomore year is when banks will actively be recruiting for junior internships. Make sure you are set up for success so when the time comes, you are polished and ready to nail your interviews. You should build your connections, gain valuable work and leadership experiences, practice your story, and know your technical skills.
🖥️ KNOW EXCEL
For anyone hoping to get into investment banking, Microsoft Excel is extremely important. Junior analysts and associates use Excel almost every day for return analyses, data mining, and more. Learning Excel while you’re a freshman means fewer late nights teaching yourself later on.
Ⓜ️ MASTER QUANTITATIVE SKILLS
Finance internships are heavily quantitative and students hoping to pursue a career in the industry will need to demonstrate mathematical abilities. By taking the right courses and practicing technical skills, you’ll be able to build a solid foundation. You don’t need to be a math major, but you do need to be good with numbers.
✅ MAKE THE GRADE
The first step to gaining an internship is to perform well in your finance courses and get good grades. Getting good grades can show employers that you're a reliable individual with a strong work ethic because you complete your coursework according to your instructors' demands and have a proven interest in financial concepts. Depending on the internship, some programs may set a minimum GPA requirement for candidates.
📝 READY YOUR RESUME
Your sophomore year is when banks will actively be recruiting for junior internships. Make sure you are set up for success so when the time comes, you are polished and ready to nail your interviews. You should build your connections, gain valuable work and leadership experiences, practice your story, and know your technical skills.
🖥️ KNOW EXCEL
For anyone hoping to get into investment banking, Microsoft Excel is extremely important. Junior analysts and associates use Excel almost every day for return analyses, data mining, and more. Learning Excel while you’re a freshman means fewer late nights teaching yourself later on.
Ⓜ️ MASTER QUANTITATIVE SKILLS
Finance internships are heavily quantitative and students hoping to pursue a career in the industry will need to demonstrate mathematical abilities. By taking the right courses and practicing technical skills, you’ll be able to build a solid foundation. You don’t need to be a math major, but you do need to be good with numbers.