lucasg85

My undergraduate school had an optional program called cooperative education whereby they would solicit companies to create 4 or 8 month placements for students. They also helped you through the resume and cover letter writing experience and brought in HR reps from several companies to give interviewing and resume tips.

It wasn't very hard to get accepted into the program but obviously there was intense competition for the best placements (IB, ER, Corp Fin, Bus Dev, Accounting etc). You were required to fulfill at least 2 placements totaling 12 months of work. You had to pay tuition for the program but you were also paid relatively well for your placements depending on the company and sector.

Having 12 months of previous experience made all the difference in the world when I was actually out there applying for real jobs. I have no doubt that it's the only reason I was even selected for an interview for my first financial analyst type job (Corp Planning and Bus Dev) and it definitely gave me a step up over other new graduates.

Hopefully this provided some insight and feel free to ask any further questions.