Pursuing a Career in Finance with Barnard Resources
Hello everyone!
It is good to be back with you again! My name is Jessica Moreira, I am a senior at Barnard majoring in Economics and minoring in Education. I know that thinking about a career path might feel overwhelming, especially when you are just about to start college. But, believe me: time flies and four years will pass by fast, unfortunately. Even though you do have a lot of time to figure out what you want your career to be and it can change a lot along the way, starting thinking about potential ways it can go early on can help you to experiment, learn what you like or not to do, and prepare for your next steps.
Hence, today I want to share with you a little bit about my experience on pursuing a career in finance and how Barnard helped me in this path. Landing a job in finance is not the easiest task to do and it takes a lot of perseverance and hard work - qualities that all Barnard students have! When I first started at Barnard I was very curious about what people meant when they would say that they worked in finance and banking. For that reason, I went back to Brazil in my first Summer and worked at BTG Pactual - the biggest investment bank in Latin America. I could learn with hands-on experience what banking and finance are all about and start understanding which parts of it I would potentially be happy landing a career in.
After this first experience, Beyond Barnard, the career center at Barnard, helped me to connect with other financial institutions in the US through the career fair they organize every semester and through this connection, on the Summer of my Junior year, I was able to intern at PIMCO - an investment management firm from California. This experience was crucial for me to understand that I do not enjoy too much contact with clients, but instead I prefer more technical tasks in which I can help develop, for instance, portfolio management and positioning.
With these new experiences, I started my Senior year applying for full-time positions to start after graduation and was accepted to a position at a multinational investment bank on the wealth management division that directly deals with Brazilian clients. Again, Beyond Barnard helped me to prepare for the interviews and navigate the negotiation process. I am just one example of many students at Barnard who successfully land a career in finance right after college - it is completely possible to do it and Barnard has many great resources to help you to do so. I would highly recommend to check out Beyond Barnard’s resources and use them while navigating job applications and career choices.