FINANCE

Finance Career Guide

We're glad you're interested in this finance/banking! While you may liaise with any member of our team, Liz Wilson is the key advisor for this field and is eager to support you in your search. You may book an appointment with her, or any advisor in our office today!


Overview of Finance

The financial services industry offers many diverse career options for students. Most Davidson students interested in finance/banking will choose to enter the field under the umbrella of Investment Banking (IB), working for a big bank or smaller, boutique firm. While IB is often an entry point into finance, students can also consider opportunities in Private Equity, Asset & Wealth Management (AWM), Sales & Trading, Corporate Banking, Venture Capital, and Accounting among others.

The finance field, and the interview process for landing a position within it, are competitive and nuanced. Students are encouraged to meet with Liz Wilson early in their Davidson career to map out a path to success!

Please note: If you are an international student, please ensure that you are in compliance with OPT/CPT guidelines in order to complete off-campus work along with conduct research to determine if the company will provide sponsorship.


Important Things to Know about Finance

There are three very important things to know about the finance recruiting process:

1. The Timeline: The finance industry recruiting process starts VERY early--the earliest of any industry! The earliest deadlines will occur in January, the summer before you would start the internship/full-time job. For example, if you are looking for a summer 2025 internship, you will start to see deadlines in Janaury 2024. Most of the big banks will have earlier deadlines (the spring or summer a year before your internship begins). Deadlines will continue throughout fall semester, with many of the boutique firms in Charlotte hiring in late summer/early fall.

Many applications are accepted on a "rolling basis." The earlier you can apply, the better. Firms will continually review applications as they are submitted, so the longer you wait to apply, the less spots there are available. 

2. The Interview Structure: Finance interviews will have traditional behavioral interviews, but they will also have technical interviews. A technical interview aims to discover the base and depth of a student's finance knowledge. You absolutely MUST put a significant amount of preparation into technical interview prep. Further information and resources are below.

3. Networking: Getting to know people within the finance industry and at the firms to which you are applying is of paramount importance. You can use LinkedIn and Davidson Connect to find Davidson alums in the industry. Attending on campus employer events is also a strong way to show interest in a firm and their positions.


General Finance Information Sources

1. Pro Forma Futures (“PFF”) is a non-profit working to increase diversity in finance and consulting. PFF introduces candidates who are currently underrepresented across these industries (women, people of color, folks from the LGBTQIA+ community, and individuals from other diverse backgrounds) to the various post-graduate opportunities available to them. If you decide a career in consulting could be the right path for you, please reach out! The PFF team will help you develop a road-map to land your dream internship / job and, critically, teach you how to succeed during the recruitment process. PFF mentors are not typically involved in your hiring process, but they have been through the process recently themselves, so they are the ideal people to answer your questions about the field. Mentors are happy to help you by answering simple questions, conducting a practice case interview with you, or anything in between!

To begin scheduling one-on-one calls with PFF mentors, check out the website and/or shoot an email to proformafutures@gmail.com with a sentence or two on your background and which roles you are interested in learning more about (if you're not sure what you're interested in yet, that's totally fine - just say that you're hoping to learn more about consulting). If you're more certain about what you're pursuing, please check out the team page – you can find folks whose roles align with your interest and reach out to them directly.

Finally, you can also follow PFF on LinkedIn, where they frequently post about upcoming opportunities and information sessions various firms are hosting.

2. Early Insight Program List: This is a fairly comprehensive list of programs geared toward 1st year and sophomore students interested in finance. It serves as a great place to keep track of early access programs to some of the larger, more competitive firms.

3. Ferguson’s Career Guidance Center: Ferguson’s Career Guidance Center is a comprehensive career exploration and job search preparation database. Articles, blogs, and videos help users explore industries and careers, plan for education and learn best practices for resumes, cover letters, interviews, networking, and salaries/benefits.

To access Ferguson’s Career Guidance Center:

--Visit the site nclive.org; Select the Career Development Database; From the alphabetical list presented, scroll to select “Ferguson’s Career Guidance Center"; Once prompted to enter your library, select Davidson College and log on (single sign on required). *Davidson alums residing in the state of North Carolina who possess a library card can access by selecting their respective library and entering their library card number.

4. Barron's: Barron's is a leading source of financial news, providing in-depth analysis and commentary on stocks, investments and how markets are moving across the globe. Students who are beginning to learn about business/finance can read Barron's to learn more about the industry. Students preparing for internship/job interviews should read Barron's to become familiar with current market conditions. Click here to activate your free Barron's account, using your Davidson email.

5. Careers Explained Podcast: Hosted by Heidi Meyer ('23), Careers Explained is a podcast intended to simplify the job-seeking process through weekly interviews with professionals in a wide variety of industries, companies, and roles. The goal of the podcast is to help job seekers understand their options, whether certain roles would be a good fit for them, and how they can pursue specific careers with minimal effort and stress. Each week a new episode will interview someone new about their career path, current role and company, and advice. 

6. Davidson Student Organizations: Joining clubs on campus can help expand your knowledge of the field and gain stronger fluency with technical concepts. Consider joining DIFA (Davidson Investment & Finance Association), Pre-Business Society, Women in Business (not solely finance-focused), DCVC (Davidson College Venture Capital), and Davidson Impact Fund. The Davidson Investment Banking Club (DIBC) is also open to first year students interested in IB. Applications are required and come out in the spring of a student's first year.


Technical Interview Resources

While you do not have to major in Economics to go into finance, some Econ courses can be particularly helpful as you are preparing for technical interviews, including Stats/Econometrics, Intro to Accounting, Intermediate Accounting, and Intro to Finance.

Online Technical Interview Resources

Practice Technical Interviews

Davidson professor and Wells Fargo employee, Barrett Kollme, is willing to help students practice technical interviews. You can reach out to him at bakollme@davidson.edu to schedule a practice interview.


Firms To Consider

Big Banks: This is where many Davidson students will enter the finance field. Feel free to explore all firms and opportunities. Some of these firms offer comprehensive services including investment banking, asset/wealth management, and corporate/commercial banking. Firms that offer asset/wealth management as one of their services are denoted with (AWM).

Boutique Firms:

Others: The firms operate within the finance sector, just not necessarily within IB.