So where do I begin?
September 06, 2008 - by Kanishka KelshikarThe first thing you would want to do is set up an appointment with the Center for Career Development and make sure that your résumé is good to go. Simultaneously, you might want to figure out exactly what kind of jobs you are looking for. Okay, so you have already decided that you want to work on Wall Street—that is a good start but unfortunately you need to be a little more specific.
A good resource is the Goldman Sachs "Where do I fit in?" quiz that you can find under the "Careers" section of their website. Needless to say, you have to be honest with yourself when it comes to this quiz. For example, if asked whether you like to take risks, don't answer "yes" just because it seems like the thing to do. Would you really feel comfortable making a $100,000 unhedged bet in volatile markets such as the one we are currently in? The perspective changes a little, doesn't it? Personally, I am a little more risk averse but that is my individual trait and this is something that you will have to figure out for yourself.
Alright, so we now have a résumé and we also have a better idea of our target jobs. The next step is simply research, research, and research. There is no other way about it, you simply have to look up firms and read about their business and whether you see yourself being a part of their team. Resources that you could use are www.vault.com, www.monster.com, and a very familiar tool—Google. For example, you could simply run a search for "Investment Banking firms in New York" and see what hits you get.
Once you have found a list of firms you like, you can begin the application process by looking up the "careers" section of their websites.
