Demonstrating Interest for Internships

[Hank Moody]

I'm a junior Computer Science + Applied Math major trying to land an internship as a trader or really any role in which I can gain exposure to trading.

However, not being a Math and Economics major or something similar makes it a little bit harder to show them that I am in fact interested in trading.

Does anyone have any suggestions for what I could do to show these employers that I am interested in trading? What types of things would make me a better candidate?

I have a 3.7 GPA at a top 25 school but I feel like I'm losing out to the people from Harvard and MIT.

Thanks for the help

 

[Andy Nguyen]

You didn't mention anything to show you actually are interested in finance or trading. Do you have an account with brokerage and trade with your own money? Do you read and follow news, current development in the field? Have you done any independent work or project to make sure this line of work is a good fit? Why trading? What kind of trading? Which product?

This is what you are expected to talk about during interviews and it's not difficult if you are doing these things already.

 

[Hank Moody]

Thanks Andy. I do have a brokerage account in which I trade with my own money (as of a year ago) and I follow the markets pretty closely by reading WS journal along with sites like Bloomberg. The information on this site is my main source for development in the field.

Like you said, while these things are ok, I don't feel like they provide any tangible evidence that I am truly interested or if I even know what the heck is involved in trading.

What types of independent work or projects would you recommend?

 

[JulianT]

Is there an investment club at your school? There probably is, and you might want to consider joining it. There might also be a portfolio management program you can apply to, which would demonstrate interest. Involvement in extra curricular activities can lead to interesting projects, such as hosting stock simulations, etc.

Being a voracious reader is a plus. Read about the industry and see where you would fit in. As Andy said, Trading what? equity traders, bond traders and FX option traders are slightly different breeds (from my limited experience). Next sell side or buy side?

If there is a product that interests you, some reading should probably turn out some interesting projects to work on. Each book I read tends to offer more questions than answers. Creativity and drive is what will get your foot in the door. Create a trading strategy, build a pricing model, make a market monitor, there are countless things out there that you can do to prove you are interested. Andy is right in saying you list nothing that you are actually interested in.

And while it may be true that the American bulge brackets principally hire from ivy league (I do not know, my experience is purely canadian) its not true that you can't get into a good firm from a scrappy school (I got in a rotational program from a B - name school with a slightly higher gpa). Top 25 school shouldn't be what is holding you back. The bigger issue is that there are hiring freezes in many shops, though I'm not sure if it has impacted the internship programs.

 

[chuckhouse]

Saying that you are loosing out to Harvard and MIT is pretty much what everyone experiences. There are just these schools that churn out a lot of people on Wall Street. Get in contact with alumni on the street if your school provides a database. Just because you are a top 25 school doesnt mean ur a target school, you may be I dnt knw. Go on LinkedIn (if you dont have an account get one) and find alumni on the street,. Wall Street Oasis has a list of email formats for banks (ie john.doe@bank.com). Just email the alumni you find on LinkedIn and reach out. Build a network, its the quickest way to get infront of banks. that is the hardest part, getting an interview. once your there you can show them you are smart and interested.

 

[mfegrad]

Wall Street Oasis has a list of email formats for banks (ie john.doe@bank.com). Just email the alumni you find on LinkedIn and reach out.

i highly recommend not attempting to guess people's work emails. many undergraduate institutions have an alumni database; if alums are interested in receiving inquiries from students, they'll list how they can be contacted. if yours doesn't have such a database, i'd suggest sending a linkedin message over trying to fish for someone's work email.

 

[chuckhouse]

I mean to each his own. guessing ppl's emails has worked for me and yielded very positive results. I think the takeaway is find alumni to help.