I was a sophomore at the University of Texas at Austin when I saw a poster that read: “Make $10,000 for the summer with an internship on Wall Street.”
For a young woman who had $5 in her bank account, $10,000 seemed like a fortune and the answer to all my problems. I thought: “That’s where I need to be!”
Even though I was a business major, I knew very little about Wall Street and less about how to land an internship. I soon learned that the odds were not in my favor: I was a woman, I was Hispanic, I had no connections and no legal papers for employment. Wall Street was a boys’ club, and I didn’t have a membership. Regardless, I had my eyes set on Wall Street and I put all my efforts into getting there.
“By the time I was 27, five years into my career at Goldman…I had gone from making $10,000 as an intern to making over $340,000 as a vice president.”
After attending an information session for the Sponsors for Educational Opportunities (SEO), an organization that brings outstanding students from underrepresented minorities to Wall Street, and speaking to a Goldman Sachs recruiter, I learned a couple of things. First, if I was going to work on Wall Street, I wanted to work for Goldman Sachs. Second, to get an internship at Goldman Sachs, my grades needed to be near perfect, I had to have other internships, I had to have leadership positions, and, somehow, I needed to stand out from the other 17,000 applicants.
As a sophomore, I wasn’t qualified to land an internship at Goldman Sachs just yet, but I started to create a roadmap and an execution plan to get there. The first thing on the plan was to land another internship. Through the help of the Hispanic Alliance for Career Enhancement (HACE), I interned at the Chicago Fire, a Major League Soccer team. The internship was unpaid, but the experience was invaluable.
I couldn’t afford to live in Chicago with an unpaid internship, so I also worked for HACE part time. I stayed with family an hour and a half away to save on rent, and used the commute to read “How to Win Friends and Influence People,” twice. For extra cash, I dressed up as a mascot during special fan events for the Chicago Fire. It turned out that dressing up as the mascot would always be a point of conversation with recruiters and the thing that stood out on my resume.
Back on campus my junior year, I had checked a few items off my execution plan: I had excellent grades, I had been sworn in as the president for the Hispanic Business Student Association, and I’d had another meaningful internship. I realized that beyond the $10,000, an internship could lead to an amazing career on Wall Street, where $10,000 could eventually be my bi-weekly paycheck.
I decided that, if I was going to make it on Wall Street, I needed mentorship and I needed a network — two things that SEO offered.
I applied to SEO and was accepted for a summer internship on Wall Street. The only problem was that SEO doesn’t take requests for where to be placed over the summer. I could have easily ended up at another firm. Instead of leaving it to chance, I called the Goldman Sachs recruiter that I’d met and stayed in touch with. I told him that I would love to come spend the summer at Goldman through the SEO program. He made one phone call to SEO, and my internship with Goldman was secured.
Once I was at Goldman, I created another plan to turn my internship into a full time job. Once I had the full-time offer, I turned that plan into, “How to become the first Hispanic woman partner at Goldman.” I came up with that plan after reading books like “How to Win Friends and Influence People,” ” 7 Habits of Highly Effective People,” and others.
My strategy was:
1. Check in with my bosses periodically on my progress
2. Set and receive expectations for compensation
3. Be intentional about promotions
4. Self-promote (something many people are afraid to do)
5. Be flexible
Every new year, I’d sit down with my boss and set expectations for the year — measurable, tangible items that I could compare against my performance. Then, in the summer, I would set up another meeting and share my progress on the items they outlined in the winter. I would ask questions like: “Am I on track to be promoted this year?” and “Given the revenue of the team and my contributions, what type of raise should I expect?”
By the time I was 27, five years into my career at Goldman, I had been promoted from analyst to associate, and from associate to vice president. I had gone from making $10,000 as an intern to making over $340,000 as a vice president.
I re-evaluated my plan every year, and after being promoted to VP, my plans changed. Amazingly, I no longer wanted to pursue becoming the first Hispanic woman partner at GS. But I learned a lot during my time on Wall Street.
The No. 1 lesson I learned is that there is always a way. Navigating a world where men still rule wasn’t easy. Seeing my future when I was scared every day that I may get caught for not having legal papers, wasn’t easy. But where there is a will, there is a way.
I left Wall Street, but in my new career as an author, writer, speaker and advocate, I continue to employ the same strategies that got me through the maze of Wall Street.
Culled from CNBC
