Is getting an internship about personality or skill?

<p>I'm considering I-Banking from a very non-traditional route: I'm a journalism major at Northwestern. Throughout college I've had internships with financial publications, Nielsen, Fortune, Money, etc. I can sell myself as a hard worker, attention to detail, social, fraternity leadership, campus entrepreneur, etc., etc., etc. </p>

<p>Since I've spent the last three summers in New York, I've had a decent amount of contact with bankers, but whenever they're not working they're drunk, so I've never been able to get an answer to this question: do you actually need any SKILL to get one of these positions? Every time I ask someone that they laugh and say, "No, I was a history major" or whatever. I asked a couple of hedge fund guys what math I needed to know. They laughed and said "addition." </p>

<p>So, do they really teach you everything you need to know during training? This gets back to the age-old question of what a banker does--something I've never been able to get a satisfactory answer to. "Analysis" and "research" and "presentations." So the criteria is --be able to use a computer? I've taken econ classes, but certainly not advanced econometrics, and I think that's fine.</p>

<p>My long-term career plan would be PE for a communications/media firm, but I don't know if I would want to mention that in an interview. </p>

<p>Anyway, can anybody answer some of these questions? Recommend what I should play up / play down / brush up on?</p>

<p>the fastest way into IB/PE is through an internship</p>

<p>If you have no internship under your belt, then you better have some good connections. </p>

<p>if you are considering a full time as a junior analyst, typically you go through headhunters as they are the main HR giants for big name PE firms. They come to you or students who are on their 2nd year of their MBA, and without connections or a good recommendation/network, its very difficult for head hunters to notice your resume without a big name bank backing you up</p>

<p>since you said u know a lot of bankers, your best option is to speak with some of them and have them recommend you for a position.</p>

<p>If you wanna do quantitative work at the funds, you need to know stats and econ and typically a computer language. Once you rise up a little bit more, all you need is addition</p>

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<p>I had a friend of mine who majored in hospitality at Cornell and ended up in investment banking. She interned, working for free from 8 am to 9/10 pm during the summer and that led to a full time position.</p>

<p>Actually, the Hotel School at Cornell has a lot in common with an undergrad business education and Cornell is a target school for ibanks. That is a much, much easier sell than a journalism degree from a non target. Right now with Wharton students having a hard time getting a job, this will take a very good connection.</p>

<p>“Actually, the Hotel School at Cornell has a lot in common with an undergrad business education and Cornell is a target school for ibanks. That is a much, much easier sell than a journalism degree from a non target.”</p>

<p>I was not aware of people from the Hotel School in I-Banking before reading it on CC, but thinking about it , it does make some sense. A number of these people are “personality star” types, and for certain jobs that goes a long way. Their curriculum can undoubtedly be steered to be quite relevant, and they can probably get some interesting summer jobs and internships along the way too. Looking at the upper part of the class from that college is probably not a bad idea, particularly for certain kinds of jobs.</p>

<p>Some of the most sucessful people I knew from school were Hotel schools grads, but they did not go into I banking.</p>

<p>i know a person in banking who went to cornell’s hotel school</p>

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<p>Actually, no.</p>

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<p>Northwestern is more of a target than Cornell (at least at Goldman, MS, and JPM – you know, the only banks that really “count”)</p>

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<p>Your hard on for Wharton can be spotted from miles away, FYI. You may want to tone it down a bit (or wear thicker pants).</p>

<p>“Actually, no.”</p>

<p>well then, I don’t know how the analysts from Cornell who worked for me got there …</p>

<p>monydad, did you work for gs, ms, or jpm? your bank might not “count” according to the finance expert who is finishing up his last week of his banking internship</p>

<p>also, how’s jpmorgan’s m&a group treating you, pureadvisory?</p>

<p>Yes I did.</p>

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<p>^ yup.</p>

<p>What is “^yup” supposed to mean?
Do you feel that everyone working at bulge-bracket Wall Street firms must inevitably know people from Cornell’s Hotel School who are working there? If so you are sadly mistaken.</p>

<p>I did not participate in early-level recruiting, none of the people I interviewed at late stages were from the Hotel School, nor were any of the people I came across in the workplace there, to my knowledge. I can immediately recall an analyst in my department from Cornell CAS and another from CALS. there may have been others, over the years, it’s been a while. If the kids were connected I was not aware of the connection (and one usually was aware), so I assume they came in through the “regular” process.</p>

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Nope. However I do find it odd that you read it on CC before you hired those cornell analysts.</p>

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<p>Laughable you would think I’m at one of the worst M&A groups on the street. </p>

<p>How’s flipping burgers at Mickey D’s going this summer dude?</p>

<p>monydad, the “analysts” you have in your group are the banking rejects – nobody’s particularly impressed with you and your back office tech group.</p>

<p>My Wall Street years were all front office, following MBA. The analysts I was referring to were in front office.</p>

<p>I do have an engineering degree and subsequently worked in structure desk and quant areas in commodities and derivatives trading, perhaps that’s where you got that idea.</p>

<p>I leave the job of impressing people to you.</p>

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<p>aww, poor you, don’t feel bitter just because you couldn’t get in…</p>

<p>Bitter? Not even a little. Thanks for your concern, though.</p>

<p>"Nope. However I do find it odd that you read it on CC before you hired those cornell analysts. "</p>

<p>??? I don’t think you understand how this whole thing works, or what I said.
But I leave you to yourselves.</p>

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<p>This from another thread posted 8/1/09.</p>

<p>This from PA

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<p>Interesting. My D, a Cornell student, just got an offer yesterday from one of those banks that “count.” She also had lunch the day before w/ a large group of other Cornell summer analysts working at this bank this summer. Yesterday she had breakfast w/ a Cornell grad who was her mentor at another of those banks that really “count” last summer. He asked for her resume because he would like her to work at his bank rather than the one she just got an offer from.</p>