Finance Sector Overviews

Our sector overviews can help you explore different areas of finance and learn how you can prepare for success in recruiting!

Investment Banking

Investment Banking requires strong financial modeling and analytical skills with culture fit being critical in the recruiting process. Specifics vary by the role/group:

  • Generalist and M&A: Analyst programs with no specific industry knowledge required. Involves helping companies navigate deals (mergers, acquisitions, IPOs).

  • Coverage Groups: Industry-specific roles (i.e., healthcare, TMT, financial institutions) requiring sector knowledge. Note that some groups expect academic alignment.

  • Restructuring (RX): Works with distressed companies, creditors, and investors (e.g., bankruptcies).

  • Capital Markets: Generalist or desk-specific roles (ECM, DCM, Leveraged Finance) focused on helping companies raise capital.

Sales and Trading

Many Sales and Trading internship seats are rotational across different desks, both sales and trading. Some firms recruit directly onto specific desks, and they expect specialized preparation accordingly.

  • Sales and Structuring: Manage institutional client relationships, communicate market ideas, design products and solutions for specific investment or risk-management needs

  • Trading and Market-Making: Price securities, execute client transactions, manage inventory and risk as markets change

Quantitative Finance

Quantitative finance roles require exceptional technical skills with the majority of candidates coming from Math, CS, CAAM, and similar majors.

  • Quantitative Trading: Use models, data and rapid decision-making to identify opportunities, price instruments, manage trading strategies.

  • Quantitative Research: Develop and test mathematical and statistical models to explain markets, forecast outcomes, construct portfolios or manage risk

  • Quantitative Development: Build software, infrastructure and research tools used by traders and researchers (typically requires strong software-engineering skills)

Asset Management and Public Investing

Non-quantitative roles at asset managers and in public investing require strong analytical thinking and a thorough understanding of the asset classes specified in the role.

  • Fundamental Investing and Research: Analyze companies, industries, financial statements valuations to develop recommendations. Roles vary by firm strategy (e.g., long-only, long/short).

  • Fixed Income, Credit and Multi-Asset Investing: Analyze bonds, rates, credit risk, macro trends, multi-asset portfolios.

  • Portfolio, Product and Client Roles: Additional pathways to recruit with asset managers focused on overall portfolio analysis, client management, etc.

Private Investing

Most private investing firms recruit post-graduate candidates, but there are a subset of firms that host undergraduate interns or full-time hires.

  • Private Equity (PE) and Private Credit (PC): Evaluate deals, build models, conduct diligence and support investment-committee and portfolio-company work

    • PE focuses on generating returns through acquiring equity in companies

    • PC provides privately negotiated debt financing (more popular in recent years compared to traditional debt due to flexibility and customized structures)

  • Venture Capital and Growth Equity: Research investment opportunities, evaluate deals, conduct diligence, provide portfolio company guidance, and support investment-committee work

    • Venture firms invest in emerging companies (i.e., startups)

    • Growth-equity firms back more established, rapidly expanding businesses