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By Phil Pascucci ‘22

If you are a current sophomore, now is the best time to explore finance and begin your educational and professional journey. Finance internships tend to recruit far earlier than others; in fact, many internships are currently open and will close during the summer and fall for next summer. So, if you are a current sophomore, the Center for Career Development recommends beginning your internship search soon.

Utilizing the Finance Club is the first step to discovering if finance is right for you. The Finance Club is chaired by seniors who have completed an internship in finance and will begin a role in finance following graduation. With their industry experience, they provide a general overview of all of the different aspects of the finance industry. From investment banking to wealth management to sales and trading, the leaders of the Finance Club will help you gain an understanding of different roles and help you decipher which roles may be of interest to you. Once they have covered the different areas of the financial world, they lay out all of the steps necessary to secure an internship. From beginning with an elevator pitch to best interview practices, the Finance Club is there every step of the way.

While the Finance Club gives a fantastic overview of different roles in finance, the Holy Cross Student Investment Fund (HCSIF) is an exclusive investment club. Upon acceptance into the club, students become analysts and are assigned to cover different market sectors, such as industrials or consumer products. Students gain valuable technical valuation skills necessary for research roles, and they use these skills to create equity pitches. The HCSIF typically competes in equity pitches once or twice a year against other colleges all over the country, and in 2019 won a competition against competitors including Ivy League schools.

Beyond educating yourself through clubs on campus, networking can be extremely helpful. Within finance specifically, networking is perhaps the most important aspect of the application process, especially because Holy Cross is not a target school for all firms. Networking is simply the act of reaching out to alumni or employees that work in roles that are of interest to you. Networking is beneficial as it allows you to ask questions and truly understand their role, but also make meaningful connections so that when it comes time to apply for a position, your connection may be able to advocate for your candidacy. To begin networking, first look on HC Network in the resources section of the career center website. HC Network is essentially an HC-alumni network. LinkedIn is also a great place to find individuals to network with as well.

The time is now! If you are a current sophomore, believe it or not there are applications open for the summer of 2023. These are mainly roles on Wall Street, such as investment banking or sales and trading, but I would recommend to look as early as you can so you don’t miss any deadlines. Further, applications for finance internships are generally due early fall, so I would recommend spending a lot of time over the summer networking and applying so you aren’t scrambling at the last minute. It is also important to note that many of these internships have applications that are rolling, meaning the sooner you get it the better.

Further, I would also advise all students to visit the Center for Career Development (located in Hogan 203) and utilize all their resources. To begin, students should get their resume checked to make sure it's perfect. The Center for Career Development has drop-in resume and cover letter help every day from 1 to 4pm. Making an appointment with a counselor can also be helpful to ask more specific questions, or to aid with the internship search in general. Mock interviews and many other resources are all available as well. For additional questions, email careers@holycross.edu.