Stockholm School of Economics in Riga Students' Magazine

Days of Opportunities 2011 organizing team is already working to ensure that a large variety of successful and perspective companies participate in the event to provide students with many different internship opportunities. Meanwhile, you can get acquainted with experience of students who found their internship at DoO 2010.

Investment banking is not only about numbers

Sten Sonts (Y2)

Internship at: Evli Securities

Please give some general comments about your internship

I worked at Evli Securities Tallinn’s office for 8 weeks; however, Evli Securities had summer analysts in Riga and Vilnius as well (Dmitrijs and Justas from Y3). I already had some previous experience in equity research, and I wanted to apply it in the context of corporate finance.

What were your main tasks?

One of the main tasks was to compile overviews about Estonian companies. Basically I had to go through their annual reports and assess whether we could (successfully) offer them our investment banking services. It involved some number crunching, of course, but drawing conclusions out of them required a great deal of creativity.

After I finished an overview and sensed some potential in the case, I had to “sell” it to my colleaguesduring a meeting. If they agreed with me, I would help to prepare a “sales pitch” to the company wewere dealing with. This would include the respective industry background, preliminary valuation of thecompany, etc.

Obviously, one has to have a good grip on accounting, but it was more about interpreting the numbers. It is absolutely quintessential to keep yourself up-to-date with everyday business news from the Baltics, sothat you’d know the underlying trends.

Last but not least, all the materials were prepared in English; hence, the ability to write in a professionalmanner was welcomed.

What were your biggest challenges? How did you succeed?

Preparing industry overviews for some industries that were really specific could sometimes be a pain in the neck, but eventually surfing the Internet and going through various reports and news paid off. In that sense it was similar to some of the reports we write at SSE Riga.

Tell me about your colleagues

The cut-throat work culture in investment banking is just a stereotype cultivated by movies such as “Wall Street”. We had loads of fun and a really open and friendly atmosphere in the office. I really enjoyed the fact that we had lunch together on a daily basis. This gave the opportunity to get to know your colleaguesbetter and chat not only about work-related topics. We also had some common events, like yachting across the Gulf of Tallinn and going for a couple of drinks afterwards.

Overall, what did you learn?

It always pays off to develop yourself not only in the field of economics, but also somewhere else, so that you’d be perceived as a well-rounded person. One practical thing I learned was that you have to make proper notes during meetings so that you wouldn’t have to bother your boss afterwards asking the same things for the second time :)

Mission completed, one more dream fulfilled!

Aleksandra Volnistova (Y3)

Internship at: Oriflame

Please give some general comments about your internship

Oriflame is one of the leading direct sale companies in the beauty care and wellness industry. My internship lasted for 8 weeks and I worked mainly in Riga office, but I also had several business trips to Tallinn and Vilnius.

What were your main tasks?

I had three tasks and all of them required the knowledge acquired during my studies and previous work and internship experience. The tasks were as follows: price research, customer service analysis in the Baltics, and competitors’ analysis in Latvia.

Did you receive any training?

I had some training for pricing research when a pricing manager taught me where and what kind of data should be gathered, how the table files for the research should be developed, and how to analyze and draw conclusions for further price changes. I performed my three major assignments under the supervision of different managers. Sometimes I felt “lonely” during my projects because of lack of attention from the supervisors’ side, but I managed to complete the tasks successfully nonetheless.

Were there any funny accidents?

 To name one, it was a day when all key managers went on a business trip and only six people were left in the back office. Therefore, we decided to run out of the building into the heavy summer rain (everyone had been waiting for rain this dry summer). I couldn’t imagine this happening in any other company. Dancing in the rain and a portion of healthy laugh brought us energy for the whole day.

Tell us about your colleagues

People at Oriflame were just brilliant, and every day I was working with a smile on my face since I was always happy to see my colleagues. I felt as if my family became larger during those 2.5 months, and I’ve been communicating both with my local and international colleagues after the internship. What is more, the majority of my managers were SSE Riga graduates.

What did you learn during your internship?

A LOT! First of all, having freedom in the way you perform your work and, simultaneously, being 100%responsible for the outcome. Secondly, being able to present your point of view, argue for it, and makethe best out of the feedback you receive. In addition to this, I developed the skill of cutting off irrelevantthings and focusing on the main things, still keeping the general picture in my mind. Finally, being able to work in an office and deal with all daily issues that might arise.

Can you compare the intensity of the internship with the intensity of studies at SSE Riga?

It’s almost the same, in the sense that if you do not finish something you work on, you will continueworking in the evening and during the weekend. Moreover, no one will persuade you to work this way;you will feel the responsibility to do whatever it takes yourself. The feeling when you present your projectto Senior Regional Management in Moscow (via “skype-like” communicator) and they are stunnedreminds passing a tough subject in studies.

What are your suggestions for your peers when looking for an internship?

Don’t give up! If you feel that some internship place is made for you – fight for it and you’ll get it. It isn’talways knowledge or experience that matters. If you share the vision of the company and feel that is isthe right place for you, don’t hesitate. As I was told during my internship – we can teach anyone, but wecannot change a person; if it doesn’t feel like one of us, no experience will bring him to our office.