eFinancialCareers

For students determined to work in finance, the Wharton School's senior associate director of Career Services has some advice and observations.

What advice are you giving students who want to pursue a career in financial markets?

We are lucky. Most of the recruiters are still coming here, but they’re not hiring nearly as many people as they were in better markets. Some, after all their recruiting, decide they can’t make an offer to anyone.

We encourage students to be proactive, and to have specific goals but to be flexible. If you haven’t found anything by (Spring), expand out. What other skills do you have and where else can you use them? The federal government is hiring, smaller firms are hiring. Think more broadly. Finance is a skill that every organization needs so you don’t have to work in financial services to use those skills.

How has the recent downturn changed the college recruitment process?

Student expectations need to be realistic about the opportunities they may be offered. Most students are not going to have four or five offers. Companies are not interested in waiting around to hear back from a student on an offer. In a tight job market, it can irritate companies if students try to negotiate too heavily. Organizations want students to take the offer or not, so don’t try to string them along. Companies are watching their budgets, so I’m not seeing the nice dinners and lavishness we have seen in the past.

If I want to work on Wall Street but can’t get hired, what can I do now to improve my chances of eventually landing a job there?

It’s hard to get those positions when you’re not coming out of an MBA or undergrad program. However, you might become familiar with a particular industry by working directly in it and then use that knowledge to move over into banking eventually. For instance, you could work in the pharmaceutical industry and then move to a company that invests in pharmaceutical start ups.

Is it possible to find work on the buy side with only an undergraduate degree?

There are fewer opportunities, but we certainly see students taking investment research positions and going into private equity positions doing the background research on acquisition targets. There are some opportunities on the buy side and it’s growing more common, but still not as many as on the sell side.

How do I turn an internship into a full-time job?

Do an extraordinary job. Stay late, network outside your department, do more than you’re asked. The organization might have something at the end of the summer for high performing interns. That being said, fewer interns from last summer were offered full-time positions in the fall 2008 because of hiring reductions.

What can young people do to make sure they leave school with a job offer in hand?

Consider how flexible you’re being. Look at different geographical or functional areas. If it drags into months after graduation, consider volunteering at a non-profit in a business area to develop fresh skills and show you’re acquiring new skills. Keep going back to your career center. Most will provide some careers assistance to alums.