DrKW says competition for internships intense

Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein (DrKW) has maintained its hiring of graduates across the board - albeit at a lower level than in the past - in spite of the weak financial markets, according to Terence Perrin, vice-president of the investment bank's European graduate & MBA recruitment programme in London.

He was speaking as DrKW played host to female students under the annual Capital Chances initiative, which aims to promote careers in investment banking and fund management among women.

The initiative, in its fourth year, is sponsored by the graduate careers publisher GTI and 20 investment banks and fund managers.

Perrin did not say how many graduates were being hired this year. But DrKW did say that 31 interns are starting at the firm this month for an eight-week period. This is the third year that DrKW has been running an internship programme for students in London.

An internship is a good way for students to get a hands-on idea of what a job in financial services entails. It is also a good shortcut in an intensely competitive arena, as it can lead to a job offer when the student is in his or her penultimate year of study.

&quotWe hope to make a significant number of job offers to our interns for after they have completed their degree. Competition (for the programme) gets more intense every year. This year there were around 1,400 applications for some 30 internships,&quot said Perrin.

He said the &quotvast majority&quot of applicants for graduate jobs this year had completed an internship before making the application. But out of all these applicants, only about 25% were women.

Perrin said: &quot25% is above the norm considering the average across all investment banks but is still not nearly enough. The good news is that the trend in recent years has been for increasingly more applications from women.&quot

He added: &quotThe investment banking community must all make sure the numbers keep rising.&quot

The most popular area for women to go into at DrKW has been research, either equity or debt. The next favoured area is the investment banking division, and historically the least popular has been trading.

The students present on the last day of the initiative at DrKW's plush offices on the Embankment had a glorious view of the Thames bathed in sunshine. They also had a chance to talk to recent recruits, tour the building, and participate in case studies in IT and investment banking.

In this particular group there were a high number of maths and economics graduates, but there were also women studying chemical engineering or psychology.

They were keen to find out as much as they could about financial services, and some were also brave enough to voice concerns.

Jacqueline Dullin, studying Ecoonomics Politics and International Studies, said she was interested in working for international organisations like the World Bank. But when it came to working for a bank in London, she said: &quotThe more you study the more your views change. What is the point of banking when it is about the rich getting richer?&quot

For financial institutions, initiatives like Capital Chances are also, ultimately, an excellent marketing opportunity. At DrKW, interns who have been offered a job are greatly valued for their role as &quotbrand marketeer&quot in their final year back on campus. &quotWe see them as acting as ambassadors for DrKW,&quot said Perrin.

Recruitment departments at investment banks are currently trying to work out exactly where financial services stands in the pecking order of desirability on campus. There is stiff competition from management consultancy, and uncertainty about strategic direction at financial institutions may mean fewer interns are given job offers this year.

Investment banks may be finding they have to work harder to maintain the interest of the best and the brightest. DrKW says an online fantasy trading game, Web Trader, which it launched early this year, has been popular with students. It has also run a version in Japan.

In order to play Web Trader well, you need to return to the site every couple of hours. DrKW insists on all job applications being made through its site online.

There are two games, one to coincide with the graduate recruitment programme and one to coincide with the internship programme - and a new version will launch in September.

As brand marketing goes, it is an attempt to speak to students, and would-be bankers, in a language they instinctively understand. How many of them are women is yet to be determined.