Full Name: Carson Marsh
Internship Company: WAE/MG Advisors
Internship Position: Analyst
Internship Location: New York, NY
While looking for your internship, what services did you use at the Center for Career Development?
I frequently visited the Center for Career Development throughout my entire internship search process to seek advice, assistance with my resume/cover letters, and attend different functions/workshops they hosted. I specifically met with Pam Ahearn, who is the the industry based career counselor for financial services and Wall Street. Ms. Ahearn helped me figure out how to best present myself to companies I was interested in, and she also answered my questions about the general recruiting process. Ms. Ahearn and I met regularly and I was able to keep her informed throughout my internship search process.
If you want to intern on Wall Street, you have to talk to specially to Ms. Ahearn. She and the rest of the Career Development staff are really helpful in scheduling mock interviews and going over my cover letters and resume. The entire office is fantastic and I really appreciate all of their help with my internship search.
Are you involved in any of the COES clubs and/or programs? If yes, how did they help prepare you for your internship?
Yes, I am involved with the Holy Cross Pre-Business Program. I have participated in the Summer Business Program (SBP) and Finance Bootcamp. The SBP really opened my eyes into the world of business and showed me all of the opportunities available. These programs allowed me to learn how to effectively network with other professionals. SBP showed me the many different career paths available within business. Once I realized I wanted to go into finance, I participated in the Finance Bootcamp. Here, I was able to visit banks and network with Holy Cross alumni, who were in charge of recruiting current students for summer internships. Additionally, Finance Bootcamp allowed me to experience firsthand the different career paths within finance such as private banking, sales, and trading and investment banking.
What skills did you gain from your internship experience and how have they added to your professionalism?
My internship at WAE/MG advisors helped me improve my analytical and quantitative abilities. During my internship, I honed my Excel skills, drafted emails, and edited marketing materials. These jobs really improved my attention to detail, and ability to execute tasks as fast as possible with no margin for error. All of these skills made me a much more attractive candidate for the bulge bracket banks during Wall St. recruiting and I highly recommend applying to WAE/MG Advisors if one is trying to best position himself to get into investment banking or any career on Wall Street.
How did this experience influence or connect to your future career plans / goals?
When I started the internship, I was not really sure what area within finance I wanted to go into. But after working at WAE/MG Advisors, I decided that I wanted to go into investment banking. Also, being in the city presents an easy platform to network with alumni and learn about what they do. You can learn from them and that can help you decide what kind of career to pursue.
What is one piece of advice that you would give to the future intern?
This job has a lot of extremely random responsibilities and tasks so there is nothing you can do to prepare for them. Just go in with the mindset ready to do whatever it takes to get the job done and be able to multitask. Also, take advantage of being in the city and network with as many alumni as possible. This will set you up really well for Wall Street recruiting.
Overall, what was your most exciting experience at your internship?
One time I got to sit in on a couple meetings with private equity firms. This was an incredible experience that is very hard to replicate elsewhere in business. Just watching my boss discuss business with the partners at the firm was very inspiring.
