Undergraduate Blog / Career Development

First Internship Insides

It can be hard to transition from an area to another. When I first thought about which position to apply as an intern, I was almost sure I was going to apply to the commercial area. Throughout the year, I have heard a couple of times that freshmen were rarely hired in the operations department of big firms due to the complexity of all processes. In addition, I have always considered myself very communicative and a nice fit to work directly with clients. Even so, I decided to give it a shot and chose what I was most interested in. After 4 interviews, It was still surprising to know that I was selected for my first summer internship as an Operational Analyst in a portfolio management firm, with no previous experience in the area. My main goal became then, learn as much as I can from the financial market to determine if it’s the industry I want to work in the future. As soon as I got in the firm, I was told I had three major projects to implement throughout my internship and already had to rush to finish my first sprint. I had meetings with the commercial and investment departments, participated in the investment decision’ committees and understood all technological processes of the company’s new and self-developed platform. This internship appears to be the opposite of what I thought, as I am having the opportunity to get deeply involved with all areas of the company in order to understand the entire process and finish my project requirements. Now, after being done with the first month out of three, I realized how much I’ve grown since the beginning of the summer, and how I enjoyed the challenge.

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