Finance, Hedge Funds, Real Estate, Private Equity, Venture Capital

The Wall Street investment banks have large junior internship programs and hire for full-time largely from their summer internship class. These internships are competitive, as both students and employers hope that the junior internship results in a full-time job. They look for high achievement and a demonstrated interest in finance and financial markets, which can be established through coursework, involvement in student organizations, participation in employer-led networking and educational events, as well as previous internship or externship experience in the broadly defined realm of financial services. Other types of financial institutions, asset management firms, hedge funds, trading firms, private equity, and venture capital firms may also have summer internships.

Many firms have increasingly focused on converting their summer interns into full-time hires. However, there are still positions available beyond the class of summer interns. It is particularly important that you make every effort to meet and get to know (and be known by) as many people in the field as you can.

Graduate school is not required to work in finance. However, financial services firms often hire from MBA programs, as well as master’s of finance and master’s of accounting programs.