No internship and I still got in! ( flow credit trader)

Sanna Garton is a trader in flow credit (Fixed Income) at BNP Paribas in

London. Sanna studied Physics at Cambridge University before joining the

bank in July 2004.

Q: Did you apply for any banking internships while at university?

No. It didn't occur to me to apply for an internship. I needed to be

around in the summer holidays for family reasons. In retrospect, and

considering how tough the job market was when I graduated, I think it was a

bit of a mistake. Friends who had worked in the summers found it much

easier to find placements either in their internship bank or elsewhere.

Q: Did you apply to be a graduate trainee in a bank in your final year?

No. The course was so intense, there just didn't seem to be any time. I

watched other people attending milkround presentations and rushing off to

interviews at the same time as some of our exams. I decided to leave

applying until afterwards so I could focus on completing my course.

Q: So you left university without having a job lined up?

You could say that! I started off temping in London. It was fairly

pointless work, and was just to pay the bills while I looked for something

better.

I got my first 'real job' months later, working as a geo-statistical

researcher for Total Oil in Central London. I ended up spending about a year with them, during which time I decided I really wanted to be working in the City.

Q: How did you go from oil company to investment bank?

While I was at Total, I got in contact with everyone I knew who was

working in banking, and asked them if they knew of any openings. I also

applied via recruitment agencies for a wide variety of banking jobs, from

research to quant. A colleague of a friend had heard that BNP Paribas was

looking for people to join its credit trading desk, so I applied and got the

job.

Sanna's tips:

Make your CV as professional-looking as possible. You should present it as if you already work in banking - ie. A maximum of two A4 sides of bullet points listing your most recent strengths. If you've got a degree there's no need to mention your GCSEs.

Make the most of your contacts. You need to get your CV on as many desks as possible.

If you manage to get an interview, don't interrupt your interviewer. Enthusiasm is good, but butting in when someone else is talking is a complete no-no.