Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Common Interests Anyone in the financial industry?

I have a question:

I go to a school that has a co-op program (6 month internships) and majoring in Finance. I am getting ready to go on my last co-op and I was just offered a position. Basically, starts off part time until my actual co-op cycle starts, with the option (if everything works out) for a full time position. The job is with a community bank, in commercial lending. Over the summer I would start off in the credit department basically just doing analysis of companies. Once I start full time, I would be working with the commercial lenders and learning about the lending side of things. Basically, if it all goes well I could start a full time position as a jr. lender or go back into doing credit analysis. To me, this sounds like an excellent opportunity and experience. I was just interested to see what all of you had to say.

I say aim your sights a bit higher than a small town local bank. You should be shooting for a larger financial insutuiton where you can get higher level experience.

I did accounting in school, and small time meant a local or regional firm. I ended getting into a global firm and my experiences trounce those of a small local firm. sure my job is harder, longer hours, and even the pay is less but my experience is invaluable.

Plenty of friends from school ended up at CSFB, SSB, Wells, Schwab and the like. Nothin wrong with bein a good analyst though its a lot tougher to get into a top tier financial instatution than local banking. I know its hard times at the finance companies so I'm sure jobs are scarce.
Your coop experience should be real helpful getting you a good job though.

I've been in the commercial finance industry for almost 10 years now. Currently I'm a VP of underwriting for a large commercial finance company, working on loans from $10 million to $150 million+, and love the job.

My best advice to you is to initially focus on the experience, not the pay. My first job out of college didn't pay well, but it gave me a tremendous amount of experience at a young age. And that experience really jump started my career and put me ahead real quick. That experience was worth a LOT. You won't see it in your pay check when your starting out, but later in your career you will.

You can start with that co-op job with the local bank, but I wouldn't stay there long (they don't need to know that though..). Give it a year or so, get your experience, let the economy improve, then go seeking bigger name firms. Keep focused on your career track in general - not on a career track with one company. Set goals of where you want to be at certain points in your life. And if you're not reaching those goals with your current company, then its time to move on. Its easy to get on a bad career path or dead ended in this industry. Be careful and aware of that. There's a lot of turnover in this industry - its both unfortunate, and opportunistic at the same time.

If you really want to make it big in the industry, you should plan on getting an MBA at some point. I did, and it shot my career ahead by about 10 years. Don't go for your MBA right away though. You'll want a solid 5 years or more of good work experience before tackling the MBA.

Hope this helps, and good luck!

Thanks for all of your input. Right now, it is all about the experience for me. My feeling on this, and please correct me if I am wrong, that having actual experience in this field (whether it is a large bank or smaller one) will help me out in the long run. I have looked into all different concentrations in Finance, and I think that corporate lending would be the best fit for me. The way that this system at my school works, is unless you are very lucky, it can be difficult to find a job with a great experience. Usually it is low end jobs to help you get your foot in the door at large companies. My last job at ING was working with financial controls for their annuities. It sucked. All I (and everyone in my dept) did was try and figure out why these accounts were out of balance. I just could not see myself doing that for the rest of my life. I am an analytical person but I also like dealing with people, which was the reason I chose a finance degree over accounting in the first place.

I think I may have misrepresented the bank a little bit. While it is definitely a smaller bank, it funds commercial projects in the Philadelphia Metro area. So, it is not quite as small as I originally may have implied. I have time to think and I also have 2 more interviews so I will keep you all posted.

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My feeling on this, and please correct me if I am wrong, that having actual experience in this field (whether it is a large bank or smaller one) will help me out in the long run.

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You're right on target.

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Usually it is low end jobs to help you get your foot in the door at large companies. My last job at ING was working with financial controls for their annuities. It sucked.

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You're absolutely right. Just because its a big name company does not mean they have good jobs or even good experience for you. Some of the worst jobs I've ever seen were with big name companies. The only thing they really had to offer was the cache of working for a well known company.

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I am an analytical person but I also like dealing with people, which was the reason I chose a finance degree over accounting in the first place.

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I'm the same way. I need to interact with people and I thrive on responsibility. Sitting in a cubicle everyday crunching numbers is exactly what I do NOT want to do.

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I think I may have misrepresented the bank a little bit. While it is definitely a smaller bank, it funds commercial projects in the Philadelphia Metro area.

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That's no cool - no worries. Just try not to get latched on to the Philadelphia area too much. It can be a much tougher job market there for finance jobs. Its unfortunate, but the best job opportunities in the industry are in 1) New York, 2) Chicago, 3) Los Angeles, 4) Atlanta, and 5) Dallas. If you're prepared to move to any of these cities at some point, it will open up a whole bunch more opportunity for you than if you stay in Philly.