I’m a rising undergraduate sophomore at Northeastern University. At NEU, we are required to go on co-op, essentially applying for and working a 6-month fulltime job. I plan to do 3 of them before graduating. I am on the Fall co-op cycle, which means I begin my co-op next July 2018 and it lasts until December 2018. I begin the application and interviewing process in the Spring 2018 Semester. I wish to land a solid co-op at well-known financial institutions such as Wellington Management.
What could I do until 2018 Spring to add to my resume?
I’m not looking for suggestions like joining a club or doing a summer internship (which I am on currently). What I’m looking for are any well-known leadership programs, any relevant events, skills I can learn on my own, anything really that could help… I browsed through Deloitte and PwC’s leadership programs but their programs are only offered to specific schools and had to be applied through my campus site which I couldn’t find.
I never hear of a certified bookkeeper and if you are going for an accounting degree I wouldn’t bother with that.
Honestly I have no great ideas. I would join some clubs at school – not only for your personal benefit but also because future employers like to see students who are interested and involved. Other than that if you haven’t done so already I’d visit your college career placement office and speak with someone there.
@happy1 I mentioned bookkeeper certification because there’s less requirements than CPB or CPA. If one is trying to stand out on applications for co ops, being a certified bookkeeper could help the resume out! There’s basically no requirements for minimum work experience or education so if OP is good with accounting it seems like a straightforward thing to acquire?
@philbegas I’m just saying that I don’t think that being a certified bookkeeper would impress anyone in the professional world. I’ve been a CPA for 30+ years and never heard of the designation – personally I’d rather hire someone who has taken a couple of college level accounting classes. We may have to agree to disagree on this.
One thing the OP can do on his/her resume is to list some relevant subjects he/she has taken classes in. For example a line such as:
Completed Coursework in Financial and Managerial Accounting, Finance, Economics, English, Calculus, and Statistics. (obviously the OP should include his/her relevant coursework not the random things I listed).
I was thinking that maybe a bookkeeper certification would be a nice way to capitalize on accounting classes already taken. But you’re the professional here, not me, and that’s why I tagged you haha.
@doschicos Investment banking would be the end goal. But right now I’m open to any experience, whether it be PWM, PE, ER, etc… just made the decision to pursue a fall part-time internship in any boutique banks in Boston. Working on perfecting my resume first. not sure where to start with cold-emailing though, which would be the next step.
use the school’s career center to guide you or google advice online. It’s pretty plentiful. Most important is a willingness to actually do it. I think cold emailing can be quite successful and is underutilized, which works to the advantage of those who do so.
