最初发表于 卡罗尔的资本, the print publication of the 卡罗尔管理学院 at 太阳城网赌平台. 点击这里阅读全文.


想象一个平静的池塘. Seen from the shore, a few ducks seem to be swimming along smoothly, nary a feather out of place. 但是在
water line, their little webbed feet are kicking 就像 crazy. Today’s would-be accountants and investment bankers are a bit 就像 that.

卡罗尔学校 students are staying afloat—earning good grades while juggling classes and extracurriculars. They’re applying for internships, often working part-time, and maybe even starting companies. 他们几乎让它看起来很容易. But a lot of hidden effort goes into keeping those balls in the air. And students concentrating in finance and accounting face an extra challenge, one that has lately begun to consume more and more of their time.

对于这些学生, the first step toward landing a post-graduation job offer is to secure a summer internship in an accounting firm or investment bank. 在过去, this process was fairly straightforward: You’d apply during the spring of junior year for an internship that would begin that very summer—within a few months at most. “可能从2016年开始, that accelerated to [interviewing] fall of junior year for the following summer,艾米·多尼根说, assistant dean for undergraduate career advising. “在2018年,它被提升到二年级.“招聘热潮达到了这样的地步, 2024年1月, a slew of sophomores already had Summer 2025 internships lined up.

This change brings the stress of applying for internships into the earliest fall days of sophomore year. But perhaps the new system has both good and bad points? After all, it might be reassuring to have that internship sewn up early. 多纳根从不拐弯抹角. “I would say it’s mostly bad, to be honest,” 她说. “College is a time when you’re supposed to be exploring.” Particularly so at 太阳城网赌平台, where formation of the whole person is a real focus.

探索也有实际的一面. Even the hardest of hard-nosed business students should want to know what field best suits them. “There are a handful of people who probably come out of the womb knowing that they want to do investment banking,多纳根说, 但大多数人都不太确定. They need time to learn about their options, and that requires getting a grasp on the basics. “你可能会考虑做会计, 但你真的不知道,多纳根说, adding that the same goes for investment banking (IB). “You could be interviewing for an internship that starts the summer after your junior year when you’re a sophomore, two weeks into your first Fundamentals of 金融 course.”

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Assistant Dean for 本科 Career 建议 Amy Donegan

整个招聘过程非常耗时, especially for finance majors who face a more competitive market than accounting students, 她说. “You have to do an incredible amount of networking and interview preparation.许多人的回应是“负荷过低”,一个学期只选四门课, 并计划稍后补上错过的学分. Lexi Patton ’27 knows students who have skipped classes in order to attend networking events. “They’re obsessed with trying to connect with as many people as possible,” 她说. “Even freshmen feel 就像 they’re already behind.” Patton scored her own internship as a freshman, though that is still unusual.

The uptick in recruiting activity has caused ripples of panic across other majors as well, 说数日. Students might be aspiring to an industry that has kept the traditional timelines, but when they see friends getting internships already, “这几乎造成了恐惧的循环, 就像, ‘Oh, 我得早点开始了, 我应该知道我现在想做什么.’”

Students are “obsessed with trying to connect with as many people as possible. Even freshmen feel 就像 they’re already behind."
莱西·巴顿,27岁

Donegan and her colleagues provide a variety of resources to help finance and accounting majors navigate these shoals. 他们举办银行周, a series of no-pressure educational events (rather than networking events) to help students learn about corporate finance, 资产管理, 以及其他类型的金融. They’ve also hired industry coaches—three alumni, with help from seven seniors—who offer guidance, 审查简历, 进行模拟面试. 

And staffers 就像 Associate Director for Career 建议 Drew Barksdale work hard to get the word out to underrepresented and first-generation students that employers are recruiting to diversify their workforce. Attending Barksdale’s 多样性 in Business events “broadened my mindset about [career] opportunities,26岁的金融专业学生贾斯汀·霍姆斯(Justin Holmes)说.

In 2018, soon after the trend toward earlier recruitment began, the 卡罗尔学校 led a consortium of business schools in issuing an open letter to IB employers expressing their concerns. Many employers privately agreed, Donegan says, but the situation has proven too thorny to untangle.

Today’s 卡罗尔学校 students are high achievers, and they’re managing full plates with impressive aplomb. But parents and employers should understand the pressures they’re under. The students are on the ball; but to an extent, that ball is a rolling boulder that they dare not slip off.


Partick L. Kennedy' 99 is a contributing writer for the 卡罗尔管理学院.

 

插图:Edu Fuentes.