I'm finishing my phd in a theoretical subject. I'm potentially interested in spending a few months doing research in finance - or at least getting much deeper into it. I've got a postdoc lined up where they'll expect me to work on non-financial stuff - do you think I could just get an internship or something for an ibank? my problem is its not summer - can i just call up a few of my contacts in finance and ask them if I can hang out for cheap for a while? i've done some preparation for the interviews and crap - i just wanna start doing the real thing - tired of reading kiddie textbooks. I'm impatient enough that I wouldn't mind working for cheap as long as its interesting and I'm learning something.

Can't see why not, just contact a couple of head hunters and try to see if something is available.QuoteOriginally posted by: iamquanttired of reading kiddie textbooks.Untill you have practical experience you are effecively a kid

Maybe you meant internship *instead* of the postdoc. If that's the case and you want to work in finance consider that:1. if you take the postdoc you're starting your career in the wrong direction2. however, t might be not so easy to find a job now (so prepare psychologically so you don't end up whining with the I-should-have-taken-the-postdoc crap)EDIT: Maybe that was a bit harsh, sorry. What I meant is that it's totally up to you/ your preferences/ your needs. EDIT: given your nickname you're on a good track!

let me tell you a story of a friend (yeah, actually a friend not me): Guy speaks several languages, finished a PhD with 25 and rules at math. Thought he could have any job. Turns out: One year has passed since his graduation and he still found nothing. NOTHING. Not even crappy shit.without real world work experience you are dead. do the internship and make sure that you have the right status for the application: could just be that they cannot hire post docs so it could potentially make sense to do the internship before graduating

hey, thanks for the replies. and yes, I meant doing an internship instead of postdoc. my postdoc would be starting soon. @devon - i guess there is the possibility that the situation will continue to suck or get worse (recession) in which case maybe hibernating in academia for a while might not be a bad idea (much better than getting sucked into the unemployment vortex) - on the other hand if i can find a decent learning opportunity that should translate into something no? - again maybe contingent on the situation not getting worse... and maybe i could land a real job with some additional prep w/o internship - it just looks like a pretty slow market now so doing an internship may be a quicker route to some real stuff. but i'll have to find a way around the fact that its not summer.@crashed - that's terrible - wtf? btw can anyone recommend a hh (ok to pm)? i've already spoken to a few about permanent positions. most of the opportunities seem to be in algo - none of the derivatives hhs i talked seemed to know of entry level positions in derivatives. i didn't talk to too many though.

I would apply directly to the banks for real internships/jobs rather than through headhunters. I don't think the banks are willing to pay commisions to get entry level jobs.If you were going for an official internship then I would definitely go for it - its like winning the lottery and you have a very good guarantee of a job, assuming you perform well during the internship ( which seems easier to me than performing well at interview).I don't understand why if its not going to be an official internship you cant do it part time with your postdoc. ie if you have the contacts and you offer to work for free on a project. ( I think it would be hard to get paid - hassles of HR)

QuoteOriginally posted by: spv205I don't understand why if its not going to be an official internship you cant do it part time with your postdoc. ie if you have the contacts and you offer to work for free on a project.For a bank or an established place, get paid (thru intern or at low rate) could sometime be easier than work for free... You can see there are lot of compliance issue to allow a non-staff member to know too many things... Small places would be the other way round... I know some small research house and financial IT firms "hire" (read: free or maybe £200/month to cover transport expenses) loads of interns to do grunt work resalable to full fee paying commercial clients....And the postdoc arena also undergoes quite a bit of crunch. PhD candidates would find that they have lost a lot of the student privileges. For example, many banks do not accept postdocs for graduate training program (and postdocs in general are hopeless to be considered as experienced for financial hires). Also, taking time off for internship is going to be a lot harder as many professors considers postdoc as a full-time position (read: lab tech or their secretary) and refuses to let them taking no paid leave for internship in banking.

i think working for free will simply be not possible because your salary is the smallest portion of your cost. parts of the building's rent, 1/x of the tech support, 1/x of compliance, your computer etc etc etc will all count towards your cost.in addition banks are about money. not sure if: Umm, i'm desperate and won't care even if you don't pay me! is a very good selling pitch

Quotei think working for free will simply be not possible because your salary is the smallest portion of your cost. parts of the building's rent, 1/x of the tech support, 1/x of compliance, your computer etc etc etc will all count towards your cost.I wasn't clear. What I meant was that iamquant could offer to work on a project at his university, much as mfe students do projects under supervision of company. so then there is no hassle of drawing up contract/ getting a desk in bank etc... Whether iamquant gets paid or not then depends on how the budget is set for the dept. This all depends on iamquant having a few contacts to trial him out.

QuoteOriginally posted by: spv205Quotei think working for free will simply be not possible because your salary is the smallest portion of your cost. parts of the building's rent, 1/x of the tech support, 1/x of compliance, your computer etc etc etc will all count towards your cost.I wasn't clear. What I meant was that iamquant could offer to work on a project at his university, much as mfe students do projects under supervision of company. so then there is no hassle of drawing up contract/ getting a desk in bank etc... Whether iamquant gets paid or not then depends on how the budget is set for the dept. This all depends on iamquant having a few contacts to trial him out.simply not realistic. why would any bank want to do this?

Its not about banks its about people. if iamquant has contacts at the banks, then they are likely to have some pet project they are interested in, eg working on some published paper just as MFE students typically do. Projects don't have to be commercially sensitive to be interesting to a quant. If that quant finds iamquants work good then he can pass the word around. its very easy to do - the issue is more how to convert a succesful project into a job. entry level quants phds would typically need to join through an "associate scheme" and so still need to go through the standardised entry procedures i would have thought. Thats what the official internship procedures streamline.