From the Horse’s Mouth

MBA Finance Club always has a healthy mix of members: people with strong backgrounds in Finance (The Hardcores), non-finance people who’ve worked with finance in someway at some point (The Dabblers), and people who don’t know debit from credit (The Newbies). But one thing unites them is their passion about Finance. However, only the Hardcores really know what the lay of the land really looks like. Lectures help out on the theoretical side, but when it comes to actual experience, there is nothing better than directly hearing from those who have gone there and done that.

“From The Horse’s Mouth” is an annual event which happens every first semester. It was held on August 28 and was the first event the Finance Club conducted for the freshmen this year.

What followed that evening was the sharing of extremely insightful internship experiences by second year students. We have had some very diverse and rich internship experiences in the graduating batch, in spite of the economic downturn. The list of firms they interned with is undeniably impressive: Ernst &Young, Johnson & Johnson, ING Group, NUS Investments Office, Mumbai Angels, KPMG, Citigroup, Saratoga Capital, ANZ, IDBI Capital Markets, Focus Partners.

The second year students provided an overview of entire process – not only their experience but touched on all aspects of a summer internship - the best ways to hunt for an internship, the importance of networking for getting one, ways to manage application deadlines, and setting realistic expectations about the tasks assigned. We discussed skill-sets such as financial statement analysis and financial modelling that proved to be crucial on the job. They talked about important behavioural aspects, such as being aggressive about getting the right projects, being inquisitive, asking questions until the problem is well understood, and being ready to take on any and every task assigned. We learnt about how patience is a virtue, and perseverance a must-have, on a trading floor. We found that age-old attributes like common sense, punctuality, and willingness for hard-work still held true.

The career-switchers got reassurance, support and guidance from their seniors who had similarly switched careers to finance. Practical tips were given on ways to pick up financial knowledge, develop financial acumen and construct a suitable resume out of a non-financial background.

The evening ended with some much appreciated snacks and a chance to mingle with the second year students. The concept of the event was extremely apt - the Horse’s Mouth addressed an important requirement of the new batch. The informal setting allowed a free dialogue, a rich exchange of information, and an excellent opportunity for the two MBA batches to get to know each other.

The incoming batch definitely owed it to the horses that evening.

by Mihir Mohite - Batch of 2011