I will start my masters in St.Gallen next year, and well... money will be an issue, so I'm just looking at scholarships, grants and everything, but if I could get an internship in finance/analytics jobs I believe that could make things much easier financially.
I just don't know with what salary should I calculate with? On glassdoor I see 3-5k CHF/month for finance interns, but I'm not sure how realistic that is.
Any input is appreciated. (I'm from the EU if that matters, and got 1+year of internship experience while doing my BSc)
I know that, and I guess interns are paid by the hour? Do you know by chance the usual hourly wages for interns in this field?
I am seeing 2-5k CHF/month on glassdoor, with the 4-5k being bigger corporates like UBS, credit suisse, nestle etc. for finance interns, and I'm just not sure how realistic that is.
There seems to be some confusion in terms. An intern isn‘t someone who works in term time. They are for 3 to 6 months of continuous work. The numbers on Glassdoor are correct for UBS/CS.
There is also the opportunity to work as a staff on call as a student. This is at a max of 20% i.e. one day per week. It pays better than McDonalds. Those kind of jobs are typically for admin related roles that require you to be in the office and I would expect at one of the main buildings and not at a branch. So you would need to factor in travel time and costs.
Both internships and staff on call positions are advertised on the respective websites.
I see, so seems like internship in Switzerland is different than in some other countries. So is there any opportunity for a student to work part-time next to the studies in a field related to the studies? So a 15h/week (maximum allowed by law) job? Or all internships are full-time for 3-6months?
Well, all I checked was the job title, which said internship, and internship in most parts of Europe means a part time job next to uni. It has nothing to do with my reading comprehension skills.
Firstly, I have either been employed as, recruited directly or have been and continue to be involved in the recruiting process for interns in the banking and finance industries across Western Europe. The meaning across all of those roles and countries is consistent with what I posted above, with the exception of the duration - At my request one of my internships in Germany lasted 8 months. A year is also possible.
Nope - in all the European countries I have studied/worked/hired from, internship is used as was said, for a full time role 3-6 months, with some exceptions if someone can stay longer etc. What you are looking for is a part time job. A lot of the supermarkets offer them and typically, compared to other countries, you can earn good money. They will also offer holiday jobs etc. Manor, Coop, Migros are good places to look for these types of jobs.
I see, well my bad then, maybe it's different in Western Europe, in Hungary internships are 20-30 hours/week, so they can be easily done next to uni.
Well you mentioned internships which I obviously can't do if I attend uni, and staff on call, which is more of an administrative job and not really related to finance.
In Hungary at least internships are 20-30hours/week, but maybe this is the exception then. I guess part-time student job is the right word for what I'm looking for then.
well it seems that hungary is a bit different because all my colleagues from abroad agreed on what an internship is: it might be a part of your studies in the sense that you take 3-6 months internship work as part of the credits you have to get, or it might be a low-paid or unpaid first job if you have no experience, but it's always full time and with an end to the contract at some clear point in the future.
Full time here is 42 h/week so it's not really possible to study on the side. Most people would struggle with 30 already depending on what they are studying. And you must be able to choose when to work as lecture attendance is often obligatory.
What you want is a part-time student job, I don't know if this is possible in the finance sector, in my sector it would have hardly been possible except in collateral roles (hence the not really finance part).
I think the best chance is getting a job at a supermarket chain or any kind of retail really. They have one shopping evening a week (thursday in most regions) where they're open until 21 and weekends where they need extra personnel just for those periods. That's compatible with students. Some high school students do those jobs as well.
But you need the language for sure.
Master students can also work as teaching assistants and the like, look into what is possible at your uni.
Tbh if you need the money, I wouldn't care about it being finance right now but just being able to find anything at all.
I think you need to adjust your expectations of what a student job is. With a BSc and a little bit of work experience (is this an internship as we all see it or do you mean you have some part time work experience?) you are not going to be designing trading strategies, closing deals or managing client relationships. As a reality check - when you have your masters you won't be doing that either. If you think that admin work doesn't have any relevance to you or your future career, you are in for a rude awakening.
A staff on call job can be a great way to understand how some banking processes work and a chance to get a foot in the door, while earning some decent money.
I don't know Hungary and don't have experience of all degrees, but in Switzerland and Italy a 20-30 hours per week job is not very compatible with uni, and even less "easy".
As said, as a reference, in CH the official limit is 15 h/week. In Italy some universities offer small jobs into the Uni administration, limited to 150 h/semester.
My point is: be careful of how many commitments you take before you realize how much time Uni St. Gallen is gonna take you. You might risk having to prioritize - I've been there, it's awful and hard, since exam dates in CH are usually just given and kind of hit-or-miss.
It is part time, but I did help the full-time team with a lot of their processes, it's basically what a fresh graduate full-time employee does but they pay us less, that's what interns are here.
So in terms of responsibilities and learning experience a staff-on-call would be a huge downgrade.
I know, I'm not sure how hard St.Gallen is compared to my uni, but here I did 25-30hours a week on top of being a TA in a few subjects and I could manage. So even if St.Gallen is harder I think 15h/week should be doable.