Finance Early Insight Programs and How to Get Them

Who is This Guide For?

This guide is for driven college students eager to launch their careers in finance. Whether you’re exploring the industry for the first time or looking to build on prior experience, these early insight programs provide the chance to gain hands-on experience, sharpen essential skills, and give you a competitive edge by securing automatic first-round interviews ahead of internship application processes.

Why Finance?

• Diverse Career Opportunities: Finance offers roles in sectors like investment banking, asset management, private equity, hedge funds, venture capital, corporate finance, and fintech. Whether you want to analyze mergers and acquisitions, manage investment portfolios, or innovate with technology, there’s a path for you in finance!
• Accelerated Career Growth: Early on, you’ll gain exposure to complex transactions and projects, like billion-dollar M&A deals or IPOs. These high-impact experiences support rapid skill development and can open doors to leadership roles.
• High Earning Potential: First-year analysts at top investment banks (like Goldman Sachs or JPMorgan) can earn over $150,000 in salary and bonuses combined. Within private equity and hedge funds, earning potential climbs even higher with experience.
• Global Impact: The deals you’re working on are monumental for industries and economies: these could include financing renewable energy projects or helping companies expand internationally––decisions that drive innovation and societal change.
• Exit Opportunities and Networking: Finance is known for its robust exit opportunities. After gaining experience at top firms, opportunities open in private equity, hedge funds, venture capital, or corporate strategy at top companies. The relationships and skills built in finance provide a strong network for these high-impact exits, as well as for opportunities in entrepreneurship, consulting, and beyond.

Types of Finance Breakdown

Insight Programs

If any of these financial careers interest you, you’ll want to check out insight programs to learn more about the role, firm, and how to stand out in the application process.

The Blackstone Group

Bank of America

Barclays

Jefferies

Credit Suisse

Deutsche Bank

Evercore

Goldman Sachs

JP Morgan

Lazard

Morgan Stanley

Perella Weinberg Partners

Girls Who Invest

Capital One

Citi

Houlihan Lokey

The Raine Group LLC

Lincoln International

Wells Fargo

How Should I Prepare for the Interview?

To crush your finance interviews, you need to cover all your bases:

Research the firm and division: By doing coffee chats or researching, understand the firm’s values, specific office culture, as well as any standout deals in the news. 

Polish your behavioral answers: Be ready to discuss your leadership experiences, teamwork, problem-solving skills, and why you are interested in finance. Try and avoid cookie cutter answers! You can use the STAR method (Situation, Task, Action, Result) to be more structured.

To read all of our tips on some of the most common behavioral interview questions and how to answer them, go here!

Master your technicals: Familiarize yourself with core financial concepts and valuation methods (like the DCF), basic accounting principles, and how financial statements are connected. Some common technical questions may include:

• “Walk me through a DCF.”
• “What is the difference between deferred revenue and accounts receivable?”
• “Can a company have a negative book equity value?”

Know the deals: It’s helpful to study recent deals your firms of interest have worked on, focusing on areas related to your desired role (M&A, IPOs, leveraged buyouts, etc). You may be asked to discuss challenges of a deal, its financial structure, and strategic implications.

Practice mental math: Financial interviews may test you with scenarios involving market sizing or variation multiples, so practicing quick and accurate calculations is crucial for success. 

Refine your fit stories: The “Why [area of finance]” question is almost guaranteed. Be sure to have a clear and personal answer that highlights what sets you apart and also aligns with the firm’s values!

Mock interviews: Practice with friends and mentors, preparing for both behavioral and technical questions. You’ll want to familiarize yourself with the structure and time constraints of Superday interviews, which can be grueling and intensive.

Get Started with Simplify Today

Exploring finance insight programs is an incredible way to gain real-world experience, sharpen your problem-solving skills, and build a strong foundation for long-term career growth. Many top firms offer structured, short, programs designed to give you a glance of what a career in the field would look like, and connect you with experienced professionals.

One drawback to the finance recruiting process is its length—like most internship roles, consulting applications are long, and ask for information you've probably entered 100+ times while applying to different roles. When applications are all due around the same time, you need to make the most of your time! Don't worry though, we've got your back – save some time with our free browser extension, which helps you autofill your applications (Capital One and 100,000+ other roles). Best of luck with the job search!