I am doing MSc QF this year. Would like to find an internship for some months in summer. Can anyone suggest how to go about this? All the banks seem to unapproachable unless you apply for one of their programme Unfortunatly, my scheduale is a bit tight and I an graduating already this year. I am also thinking about the future dissertation topic and was wondering how could I find an employer, who would be interetsed in me doing some research for them (ideally I would specialise in Fixed Income)?Thank you

which city are you studying in??

Hi, JMRI am in London.

then start harassing all the possible asset mngmt/hedge funds with your CV. also send your CV around if you know some people in the I-banks, there's a fair part of recruitement(intern/fulltime) that is made outside the line of the programs

Thanks, JMR, for the advice. Unfortunatly I don't know anyone in the IB who can help me on that and normally you are ending up emailing (with no reply) or calling HR, which are not interested in anything ad hoc :-(Do you think the recruitment adencies would be of any help in terms of finding an internship as well?

well I'm telling you this from my own experience, (eventhough not in london), but I sent my CV to a TON of companies, when it was possible it was straight to someone otherwise just to HR, I ended up with one offer some 9 months later, so you never loose anything just try.and if you've got someone that has access to a bloomberg screen, ask him for details of people and start sending around, all you loose is some time and the ink in your printer, if you don't get anything you'd have tried and then go and spend your holidays under the sun.good luckPS: there's a lot of hedge funds in london that would be interested in getting someone once they get a CV, so even they don't publicize for a position your chances aren't dead

In fact I ve got an access to Bloomberg! What s the best way to do it - find people in the area of my interest (not sure whether I can see the department where theywork?), at which level (i.e. should it be somebody quite senior or rather an analyst/associate)?

well higher the guy the better are your chances, so if you can get some highly rated people you CV than that's good, but I still think that your CV is better on an associate's desk than in your PC.the only search I did is to list all the people by their company and spent time reading everyone's profile, and got with a fair list of potentially useful numbers. you sometimes get all the details in some people's profile, sometimes it's just their names, but as I said give it a try you loose nothing.

Thanks a lot, JMR, will definetly explore this option! How about the agencies/headhunters - do you think they can help with an internship?

well i don't know about the rest, but I didn't get much of them.Although have to say that Dominic was the only one that ofered help, but if you think that you've got an attracting CV call up some HH and see what they think of it, but in general don't rely too much on them, I wouldn't rule out sending your CV thoughwhat do others think of that, I spoke from my own experience, so get others thoughtsHTH

Go ahead and contact the HH but be prepared to negotiate terms/bens/details with HH before you send and make sure you know everywhere it goes (i.e. keep a log). Any thoughts Dom?