How College Helped a Strategy and Finance Manager at DoorDash Succeed
Justine's investment banking internship provided "rigorous training in building technical skills," laying a strong foundation for her career by developing skills in financial modeling and business valuation. Early exploration, including informational interviews with upperclassmen and mock interviews, proved invaluable in navigating the competitive finance landscape, highlighting the importance of proactive networking and self-education even before securing internships.
Financial Modeling, Networking, Career Exploration, Internship Preparation, Business Acumen
Advizer Information
Name
Job Title
Company
Undergrad
Grad Programs
Majors
Industries
Job Functions
Traits
Justine Lee
Manager (Strategy & Finance)
DoorDash
University of Pennsylvania, Wharton, 2016
N/A
Economics
Technology
Finance
Honors Student, Scholarship Recipient
Video Highlights
1. Landing an investment banking internship was crucial for developing skills in financial modeling and business valuation and for building a strong foundation in finance.
2. Taking relevant coursework like corporate finance and real estate provided additional context and preparation for the internship.
3. Networking and informational interviews with students who had experience in investment banking were invaluable for understanding the industry and preparing for the job application process. Mock interviews were also extremely helpful for building interview skills
Transcript
What did you do in undergrad to set you up for success in your career?
My banking internship played a huge role in my career. Investment banking provides rigorous training in technical skills that are hard to develop elsewhere. It equips you to be fluent in financial modeling and business valuation.
While sharpening your analytical skills and business acumen, it also acclimates you to a high caliber of work, given that it's client-facing. You gain a better understanding of financial markets and economics in general. Each aspect of that paid dividends in my career.
To this day, it's easy for me to understand a model or pick up a new concept because I built that foundation during my banking days. To prepare for a banking internship, I took corporate finance and real estate courses. These helped me analyze transactions and provided context for what a banking internship would be like.
More than academics, the most practical actions I took were having exploratory conversations with seniors or juniors who had gone through a similar process. I also had them mock interview me. The mock interviews were helpful in preparing for actual job recruiting processes.
Exploratory conversations were important to help me understand what investment banking was like. I had no idea before I heard about it in college. Given my lack of understanding, I entered college not prepared to join pre-professional finance clubs.
At Wharton, these clubs can be competitive and require a resume and several rounds of interviews. Because I didn't know about them, I was precluded from joining. If a student knows they want to get into banking or finance, talking with students who have done internships is a good method.
This is an even better method for students who don't know what they want to do, because you probably won't be able to get into more competitive clubs otherwise.
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