Strive for Success
Are you someone who wants the very best out of a product or service?
Whether you enjoy working with numbers through calculations and forecasts, prefer to persuade others toward a specific goal, or have a natural acumen for identifying successful innovations, careers in Business + Entrepreneurship offer ample opportunities for the savvy student.
As the backbone of economic activity, people who pursue Business + Entrepreneurship are often driven to increase efficiency and profitability through roles such as finance, accounting, management, sales, real estate, operations, logistics, actuarial science, and quantitative analysis to predict future business models. Learn how you can jump-start your career in Business + Entrepreneurship and reach your highest potential.
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Gain Experience: Finance
For complete information on internships, student jobs, research opportunities, extracurriculars, and more, review our starter tips to Gain Experience in all careers as well as the specialized tips on this page.
Overview
No matter which industry, company, or occupation you wish to break into, obtaining financial experience will make you a competitive candidate for a future in finance. Analytical and quantitative experience of various types is almost always beneficial for stepping into this career path. Most importantly, gaining some type of hands-on skills that are relevant to the field will support your competitiveness when entering a career in finance.
Types of Experience
Click below to explore resources to help you get involved in finance and build yourself beyond the classroom.
Gaining experience through campus organizations is a great way to showcase your skills. For underclassmen, it is important to build leadership experience within campus organizations, and to prepare for work experience while maintaining a high GPA.
Here are some campus organizations that you may consider joining; many of these are organized through Associated Students (A.S.):
Banking and Finance
- A.S. Community Financial Fund (CFF): Conduct student-to-student financial literacy education through workshops and presentations.
- A.S. Finance & Business Committee: Oversee and allocate A.S. funds to student organizations.
Consulting
- 180 Degrees Consulting: Foster partnerships with clients from various industries within consulting to provide students with hands-on experience.
- A.S. Office of Controller: Serve as a consulting unit for A.S. entities and seek proposals for business enterprises or ventures within A.S.
Investment Management
- A.S. Investment Advisory Committee (IAC): Participate in student-run committee managing and investing A.S. funds into companies.
- Finance Connection: Provide students with information regarding the finance industry, and connect students with successful alumni.
- TAMID Investment Group: Gain practical investing and consulting experience with the Israeli economy.
Early on in your time at UCSB, you should strategize your research for companies you want to intern at; this is essential to understanding which skills you need to specifically develop in order to be marketable.
During the summer after your junior year, it is ideal to land a competitive internship with a global financial company. An internship will allow you to become comfortable utilizing the jargon that is communicated on a day-to-day basis within finance. It will be impressive if you are able to speak about the knowledge you gained, such as performance of financial markets, explanation of key financial concepts (e.g., profits, expenditures, assets, and mergers), or calculation of advanced formulas in Excel (e.g., pivot tables or Vlookup).
The UCSB Economic Forecast Project conducts research and analyzes information on economic, demographic, real estate, and regional business trends encompassing the Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, and Ventura County areas. One way in which students can get involved is by applying to become a research analyst intern for the organization.
UCSB Professional and Continuing Education offers various courses in finance, such as Strategic Investments. For careers in finance, we typically recommend taking individual courses that interest you, instead of completing a certificate program due to the out-of-pocket expenses that will be incurred (financial aid assistance is typically not available).
This can be a useful method to become familiar with terminology and concepts used in the financial sector, because UCSB does not usually offer these types of courses in undergraduate programs.
Most importantly, employers highly value financially-related experience on your resume, as it demonstrates your curiosity and interest to work in the financial sector. Gain relevant experience in every way that you can!
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