Help Regarding an Investment Banking Internship?

[Achikara]

Hello everyone. I am a new member and this is my first post here. First, please accept my thanks for letting me be a part of this community.

I am a first year MBA student at Kenan-Flagler Business School in the United States. I am really passionate about investment banking and am looking for an internship in the industry. I have four and a half years of experience as an officer in the Merchant Navy. I scored a 770/800 in GMAT and have a full scholarship at the School. I realize that the present environment is tough and it is difficult to get into IB industry. The few banks that recruited at our school, focused only on domestic students.

I would greatly appreciate if anyone could provide me some guidance as to how I should proceed further. I am more than happy to do an unpaid summer internship at an investment bank, both in the United States and back home in India. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[rsdalal]

I would suggest try something nin NY/NJ/CT tri state area, as most of the investment banking jobs are in that area. If possible use some local address in your resume as well, as many companies would prefer local candidate over people from another state, like NC.

[kapdal]

Abhishek,

I work in the industry and would try to help you to the extent I can. I have some questions and a couple of suggestions.

- When is the start and end time for your internship? Is it fixed or is there any flexibility on that?

- Do you have a CV ready?

- Do you have an area of choice? I am sure you'd know, but within IB, you'd have the Markets side and you have the Mergers & Acquisitions and Financing sides. Within Markets, you have secondary markets roles (structuring/trading/sales) and you'd have primary market roles (Origination, syndication, etc. in Equity Capital Markets and Debt Capital Markets). All of the above are front office roles. Then you have middle office / back office roles as well in Credit Risk, Market Risk, IT, Operations, etc. The nature of work and career scope is quite different in all of them, so you should think of what you want to do.

- Related to previous question, are you strictly looking at investment banks only or are you open to other finance roles on asset management, funds, etc. side?

- What is your visa situation, i.e. is your choice restricted between US and India? Or can you look at other countries?

It helps that you are open to unpaid internships. But do bear in mind that unpaid internships are not taken as seriously as paid ones. The paid ones are part of a structured program and you usually have a shot at a full time offer. An MBA internship is quite important and you should seriously think whether you want to focus on IB so much so as to miss out on a properly structured internship.

As you said, the environment is challenging. Banks are in the cut mode (again!) and internships take a back seat when the focus in on cutting costs. So it is important not to become too single-minded.

I'd also politely suggest that don't restrict yourself to just IB. Since you don't have experience in the industry, your enthusiasm may be based on hearsay. It is still not bad, but it is no longer the same as it used to be till 2007. And it could get worse. I don't want to scare you - I'd probably still choose IB if I was doing my MBA now. All I am saying is that it is important to be aware of the bigger picture. Many students have the attitude (atleast I had) that let's get in first and we can think later. It is quite difficult to change
industries - so use your MBA judiciously.

Wish you best of luck!

[devdagar]

Please check following for internship and JPA (Junior Professional Associates) program
Internship program

[Achikara]

Thank you everyone for your kind replies. I am truly grateful that you took the time to reply to my queries.

Mr. Ranvir Singh Dalal: I am trying for banks in NY & NY but I am mostly reaching out to my School's Alumni who are working there. It's a slow but steady process and I am realizing that domestic students are preferred over international students (while overlooking the talent).

Mr. Kapil Dalal: Thanks a lot for your suggestions. In response to your questions:

a. The internship starts in May and usually runs for around 10-12 weeks.

b. I have my CV ready and will be more than happy to send it to you and seek your thoughts and inputs on that if that is fine with you.

c. Being a career switcher, I am pretty much flexible. However, I am much more fascinated by the technical side of Investment Banking. Mergers & Acquisitions, Leveraged Finance, Equity/Debt Capital Markets and to some extent Restructuring remains my top choices. But again, I am flexible and am open across different industry (Energy, TMT, Consumer and Retail etc.) & product groups.

d. My primary objective to join Business School was to seek a role in the financial sector. At the School, I was told that the best chance would be in IB since it is next to impossible to make a career switch to Sales & Trading, Investment Management or Private Equity. Moreover, being an international student makes it all the more tougher. Hence, I had been focusing on Investment Banking divisions in Banks such as Barclay's Capital, Morgan Stanley, Jefferies, Bank of America Merrill Lynch etc.

e. My main priority at this time is to learn more about this industry. I want to gain firsthand experience, be it in US, India or anywhere else in the world.

f. To your last point, I would say that I have read a lot about IB and I really believe that this is the right step for me going forward. Outside of the school, I undertook financial modeling courses on my own. I enjoy doing a discounted cash flow analysis, a comparable company analysis or an LBO valuation. I am absolutely certain that IB is something that I really want to do and if a free internship increases my chances of entering the industry, I am more than happy to do that.

[annch]

The reason why companies in US focus on domestic students is that visa sponsorship for international students is not available for these positions.
Is there any professor who may be consulting for a financial company in and around your city, whom you can support in his/her consulting assignment?

The few banks that recruited at our school, focused only on domestic students.

[Achikara]

I would say that it is not true because I have seen and spoken to Indians at these banks. During the initial informational with these banks, we were specifically told that sponsoring a visa is not a problem. That is the reason why I progressed to the final interview rounds with these banks. However, it is in the final rounds only domestic were selected. The few indians that I have spoken to were selected a couple of years back in good times.

[annch]

Yes, things were much better few years back. My post was w.r.t. now.
Good Luck with your search!

I would say that it is not true because I have seen and spoken to Indians at these banks. During the initial informational with these banks, we were specifically told that sponsoring a visa is not a problem. That is the reason why I progressed to the final interview rounds with these banks. However, it is in the final rounds only domestic were selected. The few indians that I have spoken to were selected a couple of years back in good times.

[kapdal]

b. I have my CV ready and will be more than happy to send it to you and seek your thoughts and inputs on that if that is fine with you.

c. Being a career switcher, I am pretty much flexible. However, I am much more fascinated by the technical side of Investment Banking. Mergers & Acquisitions, Leveraged Finance, Equity/Debt Capital Markets and to some extent Restructuring remains my top choices. But again, I am flexible and am open across different industry (Energy, TMT, Consumer and Retail etc.) & product groups.

d. My primary objective to join Business School was to seek a role in the financial sector. At the School, I was told that the best chance would be in IB since it is next to impossible to make a career switch to Sales & Trading, Investment Management or Private Equity. Moreover, being an international student makes it all the more tougher. Hence, I had been focusing on Investment Banking divisions in Banks such as Barclay's Capital, Morgan Stanley, Jefferies, Bank of America Merrill Lynch etc.

e. My main priority at this time is to learn more about this industry. I want to gain firsthand experience, be it in US, India or anywhere else in the world.

f. To your last point, I would say that I have read a lot about IB and I really believe that this is the right step for me going forward. Outside of the school, I undertook financial modeling courses on my own. I enjoy doing a discounted cash flow analysis, a comparable company analysis or an LBO valuation. I am absolutely certain that IB is something that I really want to do and if a free internship increases my chances of entering the industry, I am more than happy to do that.

I don't think it is impossible to switch to sales/trading. Lots of people with non-banking experience join sales & trading from B-schools. In fact, there is no obvious reason for the opportunity to be any different from M&A/ financing. Anyways, I have sent you my email ID - let's take it from there.