The Blackstone Group, Goldman Sachs and Northwestern Mutual are among firms that offer the best Wall Street internships, according to Vault.com, a career website that offers rankings, advice and job listings.
When it comes to getting a job in finance, having an internship at a top investment bank or private equity firm on your resume can give you an edge, according to the Vault survey. And not only do employers like seeing experience on a resume, landing an internship will help you get a foot in the door of the finance world.
For the survey, Vault examined compensation, perks (including housing, transportation and access to exclusive events), mentorship programs, hands-on work, pay, prestige, and responses of an intern experience survey it distributed to interns at companies in 2010.
Some usual suspects grace the list (Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley), but what made internships at AT&T and Northwestern Mutual, two other companies that ranked, so good?
"The top 10 is not just about prestige," said David Limm, Vault's education editor. "So while Goldman makes the list, AT&T and Northwestern do, too, because of their career advancement opportunities."
One intern at AT&T said that they were "responsible for five major projects throughout the summer. Time management was key because I worked on several simultaneously."
At Northwestern Mutual, interns get to work directly with clients after working with a mentor. They also have to pass a state licensing exam.
Limm said that the internship at Northwestern Mutual has long been considered among the best, and that interns receive substantive training and become familiar with products, sales methods, policies and procedures. About a third of interns are offered full-time positions.
For AT&T's Financial Leadership program, about half of interns are offered full-time positions.
Here are Vault's top finance internships, in alphabetical order (the site didn't rank them):
AT&T
Blackstone Group
Credit Suisse
Deutsche Bank
Goldman Sachs
JPMorgan's Investment Bank
Lazard
Morgan Stanley
Northwestern Mutual Financial Network
UBS Investment Bank
One intern described working at Credit Suisse as "better than chocolate." Another appreciated getting the chance to perform regression analysis "on various securities in order to determine proper hedging tactics" at Deutsche. Surprised by any omissions on the list? Confused about some inclusions? E-mail us to tell us why.
Write to Julie Steinberg