Corporate Internships
corporate internships
How Women and Minority Students Can Benefit From Minority Internships
It is more and more common to see a company, organization or government agency that has an internship program that is specifically for women and minority students. Companies such as IBM, Nationwide Insurance, NASCAR, and even Google were amongst the first to do so. Such minority internships were created for two reasons: To help a company diversify their staff, and to offset the effects of years and years of racial and gender discrimination.
Specifically, such programs are for African Americans, Native Americans, Hispanics, Asians, and women of all races. Many question whether or not women need such programs, but they forget that women (including white women) have also been victims of a system that did not allow them advance to leadership positions. Therefore, they too are a minority group because they also are underrepresented in corporate America.
When accepted into such an internship program, a student should view it as a prime opportunity to work for a company that 30 years ago may not have hired them. Here are four tips on how to make the most of a minority internship:
1) Understand what an internship can lead to. Starting off as an intern can lead to you being hired full-time, and getting promoted. It’s not uncommon to hear about a CEO of a company who started out as an intern. Even better, there now are more women and minority executives in Corporate America than ever before. That could be you!
2) Understand that you still have to work hard. While many companies have programs that are designed to assist women and minorities, it doesn’t mean that gender and racial discrimination don’t exist any more. Continue to work hard, so that no one will ever have a legitimate reason to keep you from moving up the ladder.
3) Remember that diversity works. You were brought in to the program to help diversify the company’s staff. This means that they realize that diversity adds a valuable component to the workplace. So be yourself, and never feel like you have to change your culture or viewpoints.
4) Keep diversity alive. If you start off as an intern, but are promoted to a position whereas you can make major decisions – remember to take action. Never allow your company to forget the power of diversity. It’s been proven time and again that a company’s implementation of diversity marketing, diversity recruiting, and supplier diversity can and does create more revenue to their bottom line.
Although minority internship programs are not new, more and more companies are noticing why it is very necessary. Students who occupy the positions in those programs should be responsible and professional, so that those programs will always exist for future generations.
Will passing a CFA exam help get me a job?
I decided to complete a degree in economics after studying a lot of subjects. I’ve been applying to jobs and internships at smaller asset management places but without luck. Recently, I tried the CFA sample questions and I got 80% of them correct. It seems like stuff I’ve learned in finance, accounting and econ.
Is asset management a good field to get into? I’ve been applying to jobs in that area rather than corporate jobs but I don’t know. I enjoy reading about economics and investments. Although, sometimes I think I’d like to be an actor.
I was awarded my CFA charter in 2001 and the reason I pursued the CFA(r) designation was because I wanted to enter the asset management industry.
The short answer is passing Level 1 of the CFA(r) exam will open more doors for you as there are companies who use the passage of the Level 1 as a job requirement.
The hidden question that you didn’t ask and you should ask yourself is do you enjoy asset management. Keep in mind you will be working in an industry that is filled be fraud, corruption and unethical behavior. You have to ask yourself if you pursue your CFA(r) designation are you will to be a servant and be loyal to your clients. The CFA(r) mandate is that the interests of your clients comes first, the interests of your employer comes second, and your own interest comes third.
In my case, I enjoyed analyzing numbers and working to help my clients. I didn’t mind working 50-60 hours a week to as much as 70-80 hours a week during earnings season because I enjoyed financial analysis, the investment process, and locking under rocks for answers.
You mentioned you liked to be an actor. Here is Warren Buffett’ career advice as told to Tuck MBA Candidates.
“Q: What is your career advice?
A: If you want to make a lot of money go to Wall Street. More importantly though, do what you would do for free, having passion for what you do is the most important thing. I love what I do; I’m not even that busy. I got a total of five phone calls all day yesterday and one of them was a wrong number. Ms. B from NFM had passion, that’s why she was successful. A few months ago I was talking to another MBA student, a very talented man, about 30 years old from a great school with a great resume. I asked him what he wanted to do for his career, and he replied that he wanted to go into a particular field, but thought he should work for McKinsey for a few years first to add to his resume. To me that’s like saving sex for your old age. It makes no sense.”
You will succeed in whatever you do if you have passion for that job. Therefore, passing the Level 1 CFA exam will open doors, but to succeed on your job, you need passion.
Land O’Lakes Interns: As Program Grows, Participants Take On Greater Responsibility
