NEXT (Northwestern Externship Program) -- Externships in Finance
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Please refer to the reply code below each externship when you are completeing your application. Click here to return to the NEXT homepage.
California
Beverly Hills, CA
Available: Opportunity for a student to shadow a financial advisor (advising clients on how to invest their money). Student will be exposed to capital markets and client servicing primarily. Reply Code: FIN32
Cupertino, CA
Available: Opportunity for a student to shadow an alum at the Office of Pricing and Licensing,which entails various strategy related analysis and decision making companywide. An example of such projects include price lists strategy, i.e. how should we account for our exposure to foreign exchange fluctuations? How many price lists should we keep? What should be the policy regarding those price lists to prevent possible arbitrage? Also, how should we account for server virtualization? What licensing models would be best to capture the value that our customers derive from this technology? How are we positioned with comparison to our competitors?
Host's job is very eclectic and stimulating as it deals with ambiguous situation and involves great independence: involves deriving the problem needed to be solved given a certain situation. Furthermore, in many cases, Host's deliverable is a recommendation to the actual decision-maker, which requires Host to present the case convincingly. Lastly, a great part of Host's job includes cross-functional work, which adds another, very challenging, dimension to the job. Reply Code: FIN33
Los Angeles, CA
Available: Opportunity for students to experience investment banking operations. Focus on financial restructuring and distressed companies. Reply Code: FIN11
Newport Beach, CA
Available: Opportunity for a student to experience a typical day as an equity research analyst covering the medical technology industry. Student will be able to learn about the application of science and medicine to the more fast-paced world of the financial markets. Depending on the day, this may be the attendance of a medical conference or perhaps a meeting/conference call with a medical device management team. Reply Code: FIN40
Palo Alto, CA
Available: Opportunity for a student to shadow a partner at an investment fund with a focus on healthcare. Host is also a practicing radiologist. The experience would include interaction with Wall Street, company management, as well as analysis of companies and industries. Reply Code: FIN04
Palo Alto, CA
Available: Opportunity for a student to experience a typical day in a Silicon Valley venture capital office. Reply Code: FIN10
San Diego, CA
Available: Opportunity for students to gain exposure to the energy industry, as well as to how investment decisions are made and implemented in a regulated environment. Reply Code: FIN22
Colorado
Denver, CO
Available: Opportunity for a student to have hands-on experience working with financial advisors and learning how the business is done. Involvement in market development, client interaction, investment strategy, and compliance activities. Reply Code: FIN14
Connecticut
Darien, CT
Available: Opportunity for a student to be introduced to the world of small, entrepreneurial, low-risk equity arbitrage trading: strategy research, design, and implementation; trading; risk control; P&L tracking. Block Island Group is currently a three person company, trading its own money and not at this time looking for outside money (which would make us a hedge fund in the generally accepted sense). Reply Code: FIN03
Florida
Orlando, FL
Available: Opportunity for a student to see first hand the day-to-day activities of finance and operations strategy at the world's leading entertainment company. Externship will be based at the parks and resort business at Walt Disney World in Orlando, FL. Reply Code: FIN19
Illinois
Chicago, IL
Available: Opportunity for a student to visit a private real estate private equity firm with approximately $550 million under management. Founded in 2002 in Chicago, Blue Vista co-invests with investors and developers of all real property types, including office, retail, multi-family and industrial properties, across the United States. To date, Blue Vista has participated in joint ventures representing over $1.5 billion in total capitalization. Additionally, the firm has a real estate investment platform focused on the acquisition and development of student housing properties.The externship will provide an opportunity to learn about the responsibilities of an associate in the acquisitions group at a real estate private equity firm. Student will review potential acquisition opportunities as well as examine the due diligence that is required to complete a property investment. The due diligence will likely include financial modeling, market research, and conference calls with brokers, lenders, local operators, etc. Additionally, the student will participate in company meetings as well as talk with other members of the firm about their responsibilities. This is an excellent opportunity for anyone interested in leaning more about a career in real estate or private equity. Reply Code: FIN26
Chicago, IL
Available: Opportunity for a student to work at an independent software vendor for the algorithmic trading community worldwide. Company is relatively small (300 people total), and the Chicago office comprises roughly 25 people. A big part of the Chicago office is development resources -- Java mostly, with some C and C++. Host's role is somewhat a crossover between the sales and the development sides. As a sales engineer, it is Host's responsibility to:
- Perform demos of our software to prospective clients (typically hedge funds, prop shops, some brokers)
- Communicate between development, product management, support, and clients to ensure that the appropriate problems and needs are addressed quickly
- Provide training, technical support, and implementation assistance to help customers become proficient and profitable with software
Day-to-day work is somewhat variable, depending on the needs of customers, but there's almost always something to do -- whether it's investigating/fixing bugs in the software, writing new functionality, or just discussing new ideas (software/trading-related or otherwise). If student is interested in the software side of automated trading (especially from an ISV perspective), this would be a good opportunity. Reply Code: FIN27
Chicago, IL
Available: Opportunity for a student to learn about the financial reporting process including the use of SAP. Reply Code: FIN31
Chicago, IL
Avaialble: Opportunity for a student to visit eXtensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL), an organization that has seen considerable activity around the world in the last 10 years. Student will learn about how XBRL is being applied in the financial areas for regulators and investment analysts. The SEC has just announced XBRL requirements using the US GAAP XBRL taxonomies for the five hundred largest public companies. These companies would begin filing 2nd quarter 2009 annual and quarterly reports using the taxonomies created in the last five years. Major companies have participated in the SEC Voluntary Filing Projects since 2005. The experience in XBRL will be of benefit to accounting, finance, and IT students. The AICPA and accounting firms have been active in the development of the XBRL taxonomies. Host's interest has been in the development and current use of the XBRL insurance taxonomy. Reply Code: FIN35
Chicago, IL
Available: Opportunity for a student to learn how quantitative methods are used to manage large diversified stock portfolios. Some of the tools that will be discussed are optimization programs, trade management systems, and risk models. Student should expect a review of how investment strategy is positioned in the marketplace and how it is presented to prospective clients; a review of the basics of trading in the U.S. and international developed and emering markets; and a discussion a few of the unique considerations when trading in each market. This opportunity would be useful for students interested in equity portfolio management and/or general quantitative portfolio construction techniques. Students interested in investment management will find this opportunity useful. Students should be intellectually curious and be comfortable discussing basic mathematical concepts. Course experience in economics, engineering, and math are helpful but not required. Reply Code: FIN36
Chicago, IL
Available: Opportunity for students to spend a day in a proprietary trading office. Student will learn about trading futures contracts on a variety of products such as equities, commodities, and fixed income. Student will also learn the basics of fundamental and technical analysis and about managing risk. Finally, students will be given the opportunity to try their hand in trading on live markets. Reply Code: FIN37
Chicago, IL
Available: Opportunity for a student considering a legal career, but from the in-house counsel's perspective. This externship will provide an opportunity to spend the day with an attorney who is a member of the legal and compliance department at a Chicago-based investment management firm.This opportunity will not only provide insight into the workings of an investment management firm, but it also will help the extern obtain a better understanding of the role of in-house counsel. Reply Code: FIN21
Des Plaines, IL
Available: Opportunity for a student to experience a day at an entrepreneurial organization. The opportunity can be made to fit, as there are many different hats to wear at Feldco(R). One has to know management, leadership, finance, marketing, banking, etc. Host has background in investment banking and private equity/venture capital. Reply Code: FIN24
Naperville, IL
Available: Opportunity for a student to experience QSG, a leading provider of quantitative solutions designed to improve the investment decision process. The student will be exposed to a highly analytical environment at the intersection of finance, accounting, and computer science. In addition, students interested in a finance career will benefit from an understanding of the techniques used by successful money managers to manage large datasets, investigate return anomalies, assemble, prove, and deliver alpha producing signals. Reply Code: FIN30
Rolling Meadows, IL
Available: Opportunity for a student to shadow a trader of US Treasury and Euro futures. Student will observe the real-time trading of several different types of contracts and how they interact with various financial markets. Host watches the Dow, Bund, S&P 500, and various other indicators to make a short term play. Student could learn about hedged trading methods and what exactly is happening in the fixed income markets. Reply Code: FIN06
Iowa
Iowa City, IA
Available: Opportunity for a student to visit eXtensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL), an organization that has seen considerable activity around the world in the last 10 years. Student will learn about how XBRL is being applied in the financial areas for regulators and investment analysts. The SEC has just announced XBRL requirements using the US GAAP XBRL taxonomies for the five hundred largest public companies. These companies would begin filing 2nd quarter 2009 annual and quarterly reports using the taxonomies created in the last five years. Major companies have participated in the SEC Voluntary Filing Projects since 2005. The experience in XBRL will be of benefit to accounting, finance, and IT students. The AICPA and accounting firms have been active in the development of the XBRL taxonomies. Host's interest has been in the development and current use of the XBRL insurance taxonomy. Reply Code: FIN35
Michigan
Kalamazoo, MI
Available: Opportunity for a student to visit the division headquarters for Heavy Duty Transmission. Students will be able to see how division management interacts to deal with business issues, how the division finance function operates and provides information to the rest of the organization, and how the division interacts with the manufacturing facilities and overseas operations to deliver the results expected by the parent organization. Reply Code: FIN09
Minnesota
Minneapolis, MN
Available: Opportunity for a student in an institutionally-focused investment bank. A half-day program would be most appropriate. Student will sit in on the morning meeting, sit with a salesperson during morning calls to clients, sit with a trader for an hour to witness process, and sit with an analyst learning about the research process. Business casual attire. Reply Code: FIN01
Minneapolis, MN
Available: Opportunity for a student to learn about a large institutional investment program, specifically about the investment philosophies, strategies, and implementation tools used in running a pension fund in the not-for-profit space. Host is a senior investment manager and the student would spend the day in the investment unit of our organization. Reply Code: FIN20
St. Paul, MN
Available: Opportunity for student to visit one of the largest privately owned companies in America, and the world's leading brand of windows and doors. Extern will start the day with an orientation to our company and industry, then have an opportunity to interface with senior executive leaders and recent college graduates through organized information sharing sessions. Students will also participate in meetings on current business topics. Areas of opportunity for exposure will include business unit and corporate finance, treasury, and investments (especially relevant in these times of financial and credit market volatility), information systems and technology, strategy, and corporate development. Externship agenda will be structured based on the areas of exposure of most interest to student. In addition to being one of the leading brands in the building materials industry, company has been a leader in environmental stewardship, sustainability, and corporate citizenship throughout it's 105-year history. The company has one of the longest established employee stock ownership plans, with more than 25% of the company owned by the plan trust. Another quarter of the company is owned by one of the largest charitable foundations in the Midwest. The company employs approximately 15,000 people across the United States and Canada. Reply Code: FIN16
Missouri
Maryland Heights, MO
Available: Opportunity for a student to encounter meetings with IT vendors related to negotiations or procurement/product issues. The student may also participate in internal meetings related to IT projects and proposed purchases. Reply Code: FIN18
St. Louis, MO
Available: Opportunity for a student to shadow the CEO of Belden, a public company with revenues of approximately $2 billion and 8,000 employees. Student will experience the day in the life of a CEO. This may include businesss reviews, financial analysis, and strategic reviews. Reply Code: FIN34
New York
New York City, NY
Available: Opportunity for a student at a hedge fund. Extern can expect to observe the research process which can entail listening to conference calls, attending meetings, or just simply interacting with other members of the fund. By the end of the day, extern should have a decent understanding of a day in the life of a hedge fund analyst. Reply Code: FIN05
New York City, NY
Available: Opportunity for a student to learn what a day in the life of an investment banker would be. Student will have the opportunity to shadow Host through meetings and modeling to pitches and financial analysis, etc. and everything in between. Host is available to answer questions about banking and the broader world of financial services. Reply Code: FIN07
New York City, NY
Available: Opportunity for a student to experience day-to-day operatsions in corporate treasury. Reply Code: FIN13
New York City, NY
Available: Opportunity for a student to encounter a day of equity research at a long short equity fund. Day may include management meetings or conference calls, analyst meetings, reading SEC filings and conference call transcripts, and primary field research with the goal of making good investment decsions. Reply Code: FIN23
New York City, NY
Available: Opportunity for a student to shadow the manager of Scotia's power & utilities and private equity sponsor coverage industry teams that lend and cross sell Scotia products to those industries. Difficult to predict what a day would look like, however, student should expect exposure to either or both of those industries and a range of Scotia processes and products. Reply Code: FIN28
New York City, NY
Available: Opportunity for a student to experience a day at Merrill Lynch Global Wealth Advisors, the largest wealth management business in the world. The firm provides comprehensive solutions in all matters relating to asset and liability management. Externship will focus on investment management with an emphasis on portfolio construction and some of the more non-traditional investment offerings including structured & alternative investments. Extern should expect to learn about the how and why associated with diversification, risk management, and asset allocation. Reply Code: FIN29
New York City, NY
Available: Opportunity for a student to extern at an aerospace and defense hedge fund. Student would spend some time with portfolio manager (a Kellogg alum), as well as with an analyst and a trader. Reply Code: FIN38
New York City, NY
Available: Opportunity for a student interested in the financial industry. Half-day. Phone/e-mail correspondence possible. Reply Code: FIN39
New York City, NY
Avaialble: Opportunity for a student to experience a day at a private equity fund that acquires portfolios of direct private equity and venture capital investments in the secondary market. Company is the largest firm dedicated exclusively to the acquisition of direct private equity investments in the secondary market. Student will spend the day learning about the secondary market for this asset class and work with our teams in assessing portfolios and active opportunities. Reply Code: FIN41
White Plains, NY
Available: Opportunity for a student to visit Bunge, an integrated, global agribusiness and food company operating in the farm-to-consumer food chain. Founded in 1818 and headquartered in White Plains, NY, Bunge is the world’s leading oilseed processor, the largest producer and supplier of fertilizers to farmers in South America, and the world’s leading seller of bottled vegetable oils to consumers. Host works in the "Carbon" group (Bunge Emissions Group), which manages its global operations to minimize environmental impacts and is active across all sectors of the emission markets. The Carbon market is a very interesting and exciting sector involving multiple market players and expected to grow into the next big commodity. The job itself is at the intersection of energy, finance, and climate change. Reply Code: FIN17
North Carolina
Greensboro, NC
Available: Opportunity for a student to shadow an alum whose position is managing $500 million for high net-worth families. A typical day will involve reviewing portfolios, meeting with clients, and meeting with money managers and hedge fund managers. Reply Code: FIN08
Pennsylvania
Malvern, PA
Available: Opportunity for a student to gain exposure to a segment of the order-to-cash processes of granting and managing trade credit to customers that purchase our equipment and services. It would also provide insight about handling and applying incoming cash collections. Reply Code: FIN15
Texas
Houston or Dallas, TX
Available: Opportunity for a student to tour several commercial real estate development projects, at different stages of their lifecycle. The student would also participate in development, finance, leasing or partnership meetings where operational, construction, or deal structuring points for commercial real estate projects are discussed. PM Realty Group would assist in the travel cost for the student. Reply Code: FIN02
Virginia
Mclean, VA
Available: Opportunity for a student to shadow a senior client service associate at a financial services company that works with top businesses in U.S. to provide them with proprietary data in order to locate wealth. Host's role is in the banking sector of the financial services industry. It uses financial side as well as marketing side. Day-to-day activities include: market analysis, mapping geographies, day-to-day client interaction, and data appends. Reply Code: FIN25
International
Geneva, Switzerland
Available: Opportunity for a student to visit Bunge, an integrated, global agribusiness and food company operating in the farm-to-consumer food chain. Founded in 1818 and headquartered in White Plains, NY, Bunge is the world’s leading oilseed processor, the largest producer and supplier of fertilizers to farmers in South America, and the world’s leading seller of bottled vegetable oils to consumers. Host works in the "Carbon" group (Bunge Emissions Group), which manages its global operations to minimize environmental impacts and is active across all sectors of the emission markets. The Carbon market is a very interesting and exciting sector involving multiple market players and expected to grow into the next big commodity. The job itself is at the intersection of energy, finance, and climate change. Reply Code: FIN17
London, UK
Available: Opportunity for a student to gain exposure to financial markets. Meet a diverse group of experienced professionals in a financial services boutique setting. Reply Code: FIN12
