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How do I get an internship?

How can I get a finance internship as a rising HS senior?

  • I am a rising senior in the Phoenix area and am looking for an internship in financial consulting, banking, or insurance. I've been involved in business competitions like DECA, have started two successful nonprofits, have run advertising campaigns for local businesses, and have started to do supply chain research. I feel like a financial internship would really solidify my business experiences in high school. One of my family friends is an investment banker and she got an internship as a high school senior at Morgan Stanley, so I'm hoping it won't be too much out of my reach to be looking for a legitimate finance internship. How would I go about contacting financial firms like Morgan Stanley, Accenture, etc. for a position in their companies?

  • Answer:

    Thank you for the A2A, Naveen. I have experience with HS interns in my position at a financial institution. The students who work for us are participating in a formal two-year program that is part of a structured  School-to-Work state curriculum. They would not be hired outside of that program. We do not employ anyone under age 18 outside of this program. If you have family friends or contacts in one of your chosen industries, you may be able to secure an internship that way. However, you will likely be very limited in what you can do and what areas of the business you can participate in due to your age, confidentiality policies and licensing requirements. Because you are not a potential hire (like a college senior would be), most firms will not be willing to invest the amount of time it would take to train you for anything beyond simple clerical work. I'm going to make a suggestion you probably won't like. Your desire for well-rounded business experience might be better served by getting a job in the trenches of retail or food service. If you approach that kind of job with the right attitude, you'll learn workplace relationship and customer service skills that will serve you well throughout your future career.

Carol Lloyd Neill at Quora Visit the source

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Your friend who got an internship at MS in high school is a very rare and very extreme exception to the norm. Banks rarely if ever will even consider high schoolers for internships. It's hard enough to get one even if you're coming from an elite college. First you need to ask yourself why you want to work in the field. If you don't have a legitimate reason that doesn't involve the fact you want to be rich someday (everyone in finance wants that, and they already know you want the same thing as well) then you really need to reconsider. Second, you need to figure out how much you actually know about the industry. Chances are a high schooler doesn't know all that much about finance, no matter how much self studying you have attempted to do. While this may not necessarily be true, you need to look at it from a recruiter/employer's perspective. Everyone will be very skeptical of you from the start. You really know how to sell yourself in a humble and professional manner that subtly projects confidence and a thirst for knowledge. Your best bet is to look at local boutique firms and try cold calling them, explain your story and why you have an interest in working at their firm. You should be looking at this as an opportunity to learn more about the industry and more about finance and something you enjoy doing, not as an opportunity to make a boatload of money. Don't set your hopes and expectations to high, and be grateful of any opportunities that may present themselves to you. Right now, you should be more focused on getting good grades and into elite institutions foe your final year of high school. That and that alone is the best way for you to get a finance internship, maybe not in the short term but definitely in the long run. Over the summer, invest in yourself and learn more about the industry. Read up on finance as much as you can. There are tons of books you can use to learn from, and unfortunately I'm not going to write and exhaustive list when you can find them out on your own. There are some great resources online for learning about banking and finance: WallStreetOasis and Mergers and inquisitions are great places to start.

Chris Binder

You can get an internship as a hs senior by networking. Or, in plain English, knowing someone who will give you a job. To be blunt, I have never heard of any of the larger investment banks giving one of their structured internship slots to a high schooler. But, you may have luck getting access to smaller shops.

Ke Ding

Really Sorry Naveen, I don't have any idea about this.

Harshit Gupta

These big players got tons of applications from the candidates. If you think you have a good profile (and it seems you have), you might consider to register on http://www.internavenue.com, which helps employers to find the most relevant candidates for their internships and junior positions.

János Fehér

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