Summer Analyst Program- Morgan Stanley

Summer Analyst Program- Morgan Stanley

This summer I was offered a position as a Summer Analyst for a ten-week program at Morgan Stanley in New York City. This program consisted of being placed into one of the groups within Morgan Stanley’s Operations Division. Throughout the summer, I engaged in responsibilities specific to my group, in addition to many special events regarding the financial industry, Morgan Stanley, and networking.

What It Took

Yes, I did have a contact that got my resume into the stack with the Vanderbilt, Penn, and NYU kids.

Once my resume was deemed exemplary (resume attached), I went through a phone interview with a current employee. After passing step two, I received an invitation to “Super Saturday.” This was a day filled with interview after interview followed by an assessment where ten other applicants sat around a table with me, and we had to solve a business problem with 25-30 employees ranging from first year analyst to 30 year managing directors analyzing our group work skills. They also would occasionally yell out a problem and observe how we handled the added pressure and change. After enjoying my weekend in New York, I came back and received a call about a month later offering me a position in their Summer Analyst Program.

Morgan Stanley

Morgan Stanley consists of two main sectors, the Institutional Securities Group and the Global Wealth Management team (recently acquired Dean Witter), which deal with corporate/institutional investing and individual/retail investments respectively. I was placed on the Global Wealth Management (GWM) side. Within GWM, there is the front office, back office (operations) and IT.The front office consists of the brokers/financial advisors and their assistants (CSA’s). These are the people who deal with the clients face to face and sell the products Morgan Stanley offers. In the back office or operations all of the trades are actually booked and confirmed, the accounts are adjusted, and all of the business processes are analyzed and improved.

Financial Advisors

I had an opportunity during July to visit the MadisonSquareGarden retail office and sit with a broker and the broker’s assistants (CSA). This was an excellent experience where I got exposure to the front office where all the sales are done. These people receive calls all day long from the clients who direct them to buy or sell their securities. Sometimes a conversation about strategy is discussed between the client and the broker. Clients would also meet with the broker periodically throughout the day. I learned about the requirements for becoming a broker in addition to obtaining a good understanding of a normal day in a branch office. There are a number of licenses one needs in order to buy and sell stock and to give financial advice. The “series 7” exam is the general securities representative exam and the 66 or 63 is required to become a registered representative of a broker-dealer.There are a number of specialized exams one can take to be certified in certain areas like insurance or commodities.

Program Events

Other activities that I experienced this summer were weekly upper management speakers that spoke to the interns privately. The five GWM interns had the opportunity to have weekly lunches with managing and executive directors on the retail side. Our best speaker, but most financially unrelated was Coach K (Duke Basketball), who gave us a great motivational speech about how to get the most out of our summer. These speakers definitely gave me the most information about the financial world. They spoke to us about topics from specific products to company visionto life/work balances. We also had a number of events that consisted of anything from midtown happy hours to Dave and Buster’s to Yankee Games.

As an intern you get paired with a mentor in your department that helps a lot. You also have your own recruiting representative that ultimately makes the decision on whether you receive an offer or not that gives a lot of advice on how to handle yourself professionally and what to do to get the job.

The interns had a barbeque in upstate New York(about thirty minutes from Manhattan). Here we had the opportunity to tour the commodities center. We interacted with commodity traders and operations personnel. A highlight was learning how they measure electricity when it is sold and delivered.

In early July, we got to tour the New York Stock Exchange and go down on the trading floor. This was a great experience where toured the physical structure and learned about how an order is placed and some of the strategy the traders use when placing large orders.We were given the advice of “see everything through the eyes of Wall Street.” We experienced one trader’s keyboard malfunction and despite the fact that it took IT only 45 seconds to replace the keyboard on the floor, the trader shouted a profanity and proceeded to tell us he had just lost three million dollars in those forty five seconds. Experiencing this section of the financial services industry was definitely an eye-opening experience.

As a finance major, I originally had thought trading, money managing or financial advising was what my future career entailed. After experiencing the other side, while not as intense and rewarding, operations is a strategic division that has the ability to stabilize a company in times of extreme volatility. The opportunity to interact with a broker’s office, traders on the floor of the NYSE, IT, FX, Commodities and all of operations was incredibly rewarding. The final day of the program was the “Offer Day” where we went into a room with HR, alone, (yes very scary) and either received an offer or did not. I have a good description of every operations job/department if you are interested.

I mentioned I had a contact there and would like to extend an offer to any UTSA alum to reach out to me as a contact there from now on. Anyone interested in this opportunity is more than welcome to contact me and I can submit your information in the referred pile.

Requirements: Over 3.75GPA (it’s worth the effort), Entrepreneurial activities, any leadership experiences, EXCEL, EXCEL, EXCEL. PERSONALITY is the whole interview process. One girl did not receive an offer because she was the typical “teacher’s pet.” They do not hire just nerds (that’s Goldman). Caveat: My credibility is based on anyone I refer, so please be serious about this opportunity if you are interested. If I refer good candidates, they will continue to look to me for more recruits and hopefully put UTSA on their target school list. (Don’t laugh, its possible). FYI: Moving to and enjoying NYC is a major concern for HR throughout the application process.

Brian Dorber

1234 UTSA BoulevardSan Antonio, TX 78249

Phone: (469)-231-7890Email:

EDUCATION

The University of Texas at San Antonio Fall 2004 - Present

Bachelor of Business Administration with concentration in Finance 3.77 GPA

• Member of UTSAHonorsCollege
• Anticipated Graduation: May 2008
• B.B.A. in Finance coursework includes:

Accounting I & II – composed balance sheets, income statements, statements of retained earnings, statements of cash flow and review costs analysis systems

Honors Seminar in Entrepreneurship – serve as director of finance, promotions, and productions for souvenir glassware company

Money and Banking – analyze current markets and the role of the Federal Reserve

LEADERSHIP EXPERIENCE

Business in Ethics Awards Program, San AntonioEcumenicalCenter Fall 2006

Group Leader

• Led group of 4 students in semester-long project evaluating the ethical standards and actions of KB Home
• Reviewed company’s code of ethics and financial statements to report how they impacted the San Antonio community
• Information collected to determine company’s eligibility to receive Ethics in Business Award

CampBRK Summer Camp Summer 2006

CampCoordinator

• Created and organized 8 week summer camp for 10 to 12year old children
• Managed 5 employees and finances for camp
• Generated $500 per week average profit

• Developed evaluation system to improve communication with camp staff and participants

EMPLOYMENT and INTERNSHIPS

Household Childcare Provider Fall 2004 – Present

• Provide 15 to 40 hours of weekly care for two children
• Position requires multi-tasking skills and flexibility

Morgan Stanley Summer 2007

Summer Analyst - Internship

• Responsible for developing new metric to record volume and track employee productivity
• Acquired technical knowledge in all facets of Account Transfer Services department
• Created workflow process diagrams for new employees

• Contact contra firms to resolve issues with undeliverable assets, develop policy guide and compile contact list

ORGANIZATIONS

• Golden Key International Honors Society Member Fall 2006 – Present
• National Society of Collegiate Scholars Member Summer 2005 – Present
• Collegiate Entrepreneur’s Organization, Vice President Spring 2007

AWARDS and RECOGNITIONS

• President’s List Spring 2006 & Fall 2006
• Dean’s List Spring 2005 & Fall 2005

COMPUTER SKILLS

Proficient in Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Access.

*NOTE: MARGINS ARE OFF. ORIGINAL IS ONLY ONE PAGE*

Brian Dorber
6900 UTSA Boulevard
San Antonio, TX78249

January 30, 2007

Mr. John Smith
Executive Director
Morgan Stanley
1234 Broadway
New York, NY10036

Dear Mr. Smith,

Currently, I am a junior at the University of Texas in San Antonio, and I am very interested in the Summer Analyst program at Morgan Stanley. I feel Morgan Stanley would provide the ideal environment to begin my career in finance, offering me in-depth knowledge of the financial world and hands-on business experience at a successful financial institution.

I am specifically interested in the Operations division at Morgan Stanley, because I enjoy researching and designing new systems that create more efficient processes. My organizational and problem solving skills, along with my ability to work data, will benefit me when working in Operations.

In addition, I have demonstrated my leadership ability throughout my college career, including leading a group of students in a project evaluating a Fortune 500 company.

Thank you very much for your time and consideration. I look forward to discussing opportunities at Morgan Stanley with you.

Sincerely,

Brian Dorber