The new backdoor into an internship at Pimco

It's incredibly difficult to get an internship at the $1.75 trillion fund giant Pimco, but now there's another avenue for young women interested in a career in asset management to get their foot in the door.

Pimco is partnering with Girls Who Invest, a non-profit organization dedicated to increasing the number of women working in the asset management industry. It opens up another avenue for female university students to score an internship.

Pimco will hire six Girls Who Invest scholars as summer interns in its Newport Beach, California headquarters, New York and London.

The Summer Intensive Program consists of four weeks of in-person academic courses at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School or the University of Notre Dame, where Pimco executives and other investment professionals will be guest speakers, followed by a six-week paid internship. Students who get into this program have a 6% chance to land an internship at Pimco; if they're not one of the lucky six, then they'll be placed in an internship program at another buy-side firm.

Participation in the broad Girls Who Invest summer program is limited to 100 current sophomores/rising juniors at U.S. colleges and universities. Girls Who Invest scrutinizes applicants’ SAT/ACT scores, GPA, transcript, two essays, two recommendations, work history, activities, recognition, a short video and their social media presence.

This year, the Notre Dame program goes from June 3rd to the 30th and the UPenn Wharton program goes from May 27 to June 22. Immediately following the educational session, the girls will enter their six-week internships from approximately July 5 to August 15, although the exact start and end dates vary depending on firm and location.

Pimco’s own global summer intern program is a ten-week program that starts in early-to-mid-June. It is open to undergraduate and MBA students who are a year away from graduation. The minimum cumulative collegiate GPA is 3.2, but realistically yours would most likely have to be higher than that to gain admittance.

Pimco’s website touts the following perks for its summer interns: breakfast with the CEO, Manny Roman; weekly global speaker series featuring Pimco experts; coffee chats with senior managers and partners; a mentor program; bonfires; bowling outings; and the flying trapeze.

If Pimco doesn’t do on-campus recruiting at your university, and you haven’t had any luck after applying via its off-campus recruiting portal at www.pimco.com/careers and you’re a woman, then Girls Who Invest is another option that you can try.

“Those who are accepted distinguish themselves by the strength of their academics and recommendations, how they express themselves in essays, their ability to overcome adversity – which is actually a topic for one of their application essays – and their overall interest in asset management,” says Janet Cowell, the CEO of Girls Who Invest.

“We are also looking for diversity in socioeconomics, ethnicity, schools and geography,” she says.

Have a confidential story, tip or comment you’d like to share? Contact: dbutcher@efinancialcareers.com

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