“I am just finishing my sophomore year and had not really given much thought yet to internships. What do you think is the best way to find an internship that would help me to find a job when I graduate?” Michael, Comment to posting on 5/2/08
First I suggest you concentrate your search within the immediate proximity of your school. This opens the possibility for a summer internship to become a full year internship which is always viewed positively in the eyes of future recruiters and/or employers.
Secondly, start making a list of the Hedge Fund and Private Equity Firms that you can approach for internships. You may want to broaden your list to include investment banks and traditional investment management firms to approach. If you do not get an internship at a Hedge Fund or Private Equity Firm, these alternates will at least start you on the right track for interning and relative investment experience.
In order to identify funds in your school’s proximity I suggest using the internet and your school’s alumni center. The alumni center can be an extremely valuable tool for your search since most firms in the alternative investment space do not actively recruit interns. Therefore if you want an internship with these funds you must be the proactive part of the equation. Having the school connection or something else in common can be a very strong selling point for you.
Once you have identified a couple of funds send your resume to the firm’s Managing Partner and then following up with a phone call in about four business days. Your goal for this call is to make sure they have received your resume and to express to them (the decision makers) why they should talk with you. Be prepared for this call: know your resume, know as much about the fund as possible, have an investment idea or two ready and know what is happening in the market.
As you prepare for an internship in this space I would suggest you start reading the Wall Street Journal and Financial Times everyday. Firms want to know you are passionate about investing and this action can help express this passion. Believe it or not something as simple as reading these papers and having the knowledge of what is going on in the market places you into a smaller more select group of candidates.
Also make sure you do have one to two investment ideas ready to go and more importantly the reasons you like the ideas. Your reasons should be concise and to the point. You need to get across your main points in less then 1 minute. Monitor these ideas as if they were presently in your portfolio and know on a daily basis if anything has changed your investment hypothesis. I know many candidates who actually have a short one page write up which they give to prospective funds. This write-up allows the fund to see the candidates writing style, presentation and thought process.
If you are applying for an internship with a large fund that has its own recruiting infrastructure in place, remember a firm’s recruiter can be your biggest cheerleader during the interviewing process–always be kind and follow their instructions. Do not try to go around the recruiter as this will be detrimental in most cases.
Please understand that if you are applying to a large fund your competition will often be stiffer than with smaller funds. For this reason a smaller fund or lesser known fund can be a great source of an internship.
If you are not successful in obtaining an internship with a Private Equity firm or Hedge Fund then look into internships with either a traditional investment management firm or investment bank. Any type of internship within the financial services field will be beneficial to you in the long run.
Next Monday Student Blog: What to get out of your internship?