Hi. I am a college investment finance major looking for ideas on how to find quality internships in the area. Any and all help or advice is greatly appreciated.
So far, my best ideas are applying to the largest firms that would definitely have locations nearby (such as Goldman, Citigroup, JPMorgan, Merrill, etc.), visiting the closest metro stops and walking around to find other potential candidates, and otherwise searching companies' online locations pages and finding firms in the area.
I think the large places are likely to have very little to offer you... most of their DC outposts will likely effectively be just retail brokers serving their high net worth client base. Probably won't be much to do other than glorified clerical work (don't get me wrong - that could still be useful on a resume). Try going at the secondary sources of information - maybe the local society of CFAs and try to find firms that have more substantial operations here. There are some mutual fund groups such as Rydex, Calvert and Legg Mason (Baltimore) as well as more local investment firms like Farr, Miller.
www.dc-energy.com is highly competitive but compensates very well. constellation commodities may or may not have some positions in the area.
To show up, have your CFA charter, first, or phd. I've never heard of any other pedigree making it there in the last 20 years.
Interesting idea. I have found the CFA society website for DC and I'll look into it. I also found earlier today that just by google searching "securities" and the name of the town I can pull up all kinds of companies and their information. I will begin phone calls on Monday. Great. I will make sure I look hard for trading firms and the possibility of things like forex brokers in the area, which are the things I'm most closely interested in. I will probably contact dc-energy as well and submit the resume and such, but I didn't see anything about internships on their site exactly. Everything is worth a shot. A thin market and a thin personal background means I will need hard work, exposure to many opportunities, and a little luck. Great suggestions
Also give http://www.fortigent.com/ a look They manage billions of dollars, and are among the best. I grew up with the founder. One of these days I will have to beg him for a job, they are doing some good things.
Might want to try www.fbr.com or www.proshares.com I think there might be a few hedge funds in the area too.
Absolutely! Thanks, pkang. Does anyone know what I can do to look more attractive to these top firms? I'm thinking about saying something about my trading and adding that my experience has shown me the importance of risk management and adhering to clear rules, etc. I'm very glad I decided to make this thread