Finance Club kicked off its inaugural event for this academic year with the traditional "Horse's Mouth" session. The event primarily catered to the first year students focusing on the Summer Internship experiences of the 2nd year students who were just fresh out of their internship. The first years didn't let go of this opportunity ( filled up the room even before the event started !!) to get some insider information on tackling the internship behemoth.
And I'm sure none of the first years were disappointed. In fact it was a great practical insight on Internships. We had 8 speakers covering different sectors of finance. Sectors covered included Investment banking, Corporate Finance, Risk Management, Investment Management, Private Banking and Real Estate Management. Most of the speakers ran through their internship process, applications, interviews and finally the hands on experience followed by Q&A.
The two I-Bankers Rajesh and Omer gave us a reality check on Investment banking. I could sense many first years who were gung ho on I-Banking are thinking again :) As they bombarded us with questions and explained their typical day/night (or whatever I-Bankers call it !!) I realised that it was a long winding road ahead and not everybody’s cup of tea (irrespective of how much it paid). Well I guess we all read monkey business but hearing it from the HORSES'S MOUTH was just another experience in itself.
Andi and Reuben spoke on their projects in conventional banking. They covered Risk Management and Global Markets respectively. They gave valuable tips on the Interview process. Arindam spoke on his interesting experience in Corporate Finance at the highest level. After all how frequently do you get to work with the CFO ?? Lie Lina ran us through her internship experience in one of the largest Real Estate Funds and about the importance of being open to different requirements of the company. Kashif spoke about the Private Banking space and the importance of also being aware of your golf handicaps (yah.. knowing golf ..is a given !!) and the best wines. Amruta talked about her experience in the Investment Management sector and about the pros and cons of being on the buy and sell side. Guess it was a first time most of us first years would have also heard of endowment funds and the kind of assets they commanded.
Some key takeaways from the talk :
- Business newspapers are not to be only read (..but also remembered). You have to start understanding the bigger picture (macro economics)
- Well most of the speakers seemed to be career switchers (hmm...don’t know how much comfort that gives the ex fin guys in our batch)
- Start networking (the bitter pill has to be swallowed, guys !!)
-Openness to additional job responsibilities (read... getting coffee and doing mundane admin work !!)
- Keep a tab on the individual deadlines (the last thing you don't want to miss is an application deadline because you were busy studying :)
- Start networking (the bitter pill has to be swallowed, guys !!)
-Openness to additional job responsibilities (read... getting coffee and doing mundane admin work !!)
- Keep a tab on the individual deadlines (the last thing you don't want to miss is an application deadline because you were busy studying :)
Yours truly
Alex
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Finance Club – NUS MBA
Horse’s Mouth: September 3, 2008
"Money, get away.
Get a good job with good pay and you’re okay.
Money, it's a gas.
Grab that cash with both hands and make a stash.
New car, caviar, four star daydream,
Think Ill buy me a football team."
These lines are from Money, one of my favorite songs from Floyd and were playing at the back of my mind as I entered CR-E which was the venue for the Horse's mouth event of the NUS Finance Club. An exclusive list of speakers and an inquisitive audience marked the occasion.
We, all first year students had been eagerly waiting for the event for begin and the wait was worth it. We received a good insight not only about the effort that one needs get an internship but to sustain it during the internship. Rajesh kicked off the event by sharing his experiences at Kotak followed by Amruta who shared her NUS Investment Fund experience. This was followed by Arindam who talked about his Corporate Finance experience at Agni Advanced Energy Inc. Kashif shared with us want he went through the course of looking for an internship and the joy of getting one almost at the fag end of the semester. Never loose hope is the mantra!
Andi gave some good interview tips as he talked about his JP Morgan experience while Lina provided a good insight of Real Estate Fund as she mentioned about her summer experience at Pacific Star Group. However, one speaker who made us do some thinking was Omer. Man! He made us do some Arithmetic when he asked us to guess how many hours he slept during his 10 week stint at Goldman. And I leave the readers (of course those were not present there) to do some guess work here! He also asked one of the most thought provoking questions to the audience and that was why all (and by that time I sure all had changed to few) of us wanted to be I-Bankers. And I am sure quite a few are still pondering to find their answers.
As I left the room, Money was again playing all over!
- Shekhar
Horse’s Mouth: September 3, 2008
"Money, get away.
Get a good job with good pay and you’re okay.
Money, it's a gas.
Grab that cash with both hands and make a stash.
New car, caviar, four star daydream,
Think Ill buy me a football team."
These lines are from Money, one of my favorite songs from Floyd and were playing at the back of my mind as I entered CR-E which was the venue for the Horse's mouth event of the NUS Finance Club. An exclusive list of speakers and an inquisitive audience marked the occasion.
We, all first year students had been eagerly waiting for the event for begin and the wait was worth it. We received a good insight not only about the effort that one needs get an internship but to sustain it during the internship. Rajesh kicked off the event by sharing his experiences at Kotak followed by Amruta who shared her NUS Investment Fund experience. This was followed by Arindam who talked about his Corporate Finance experience at Agni Advanced Energy Inc. Kashif shared with us want he went through the course of looking for an internship and the joy of getting one almost at the fag end of the semester. Never loose hope is the mantra!
Andi gave some good interview tips as he talked about his JP Morgan experience while Lina provided a good insight of Real Estate Fund as she mentioned about her summer experience at Pacific Star Group. However, one speaker who made us do some thinking was Omer. Man! He made us do some Arithmetic when he asked us to guess how many hours he slept during his 10 week stint at Goldman. And I leave the readers (of course those were not present there) to do some guess work here! He also asked one of the most thought provoking questions to the audience and that was why all (and by that time I sure all had changed to few) of us wanted to be I-Bankers. And I am sure quite a few are still pondering to find their answers.
As I left the room, Money was again playing all over!
- Shekhar
