During the 2022 Summer Intersession, rising junior Judge Horvath completed an internship at Barnum Financial Group. Read on to learn about his experience in the AdvisorScholar Internship Program!
If you’re interested in doing your own internship but don’t know where to start, make an appointment with your Career Advisor by going to Handshake.
RWU Athletic photography including this headshot is produced by David Silverman.
What was your internship? This summer I was a part of the AdvisorScholar Internship Program at Barnum Financial Group. It was a 6-8 week program, including 4 days per week and 20 hours completed a week too.
Why were you initially interested in this internship? I was interested in this internship because first off my major is Finance, and Barnum Financial Group is a financial servicing company. This internship was specifically designed for interns who want to be future financial advisors or pursue a career in the financial field. Second, I have a great connection already with the CEO of Barnum, Paul Blanco and I thought this Internship Program can be a great opportunity for me to make even more connections at Barnum and to get my name out in the company, so that when I graduate I already will have a place to start my financial career.
How did you find your internship? I was fortunate enough to have already worked at Barnum for the past two summers prior to this year’s internship program. I was not age eligible to apply for this internship program in the past because you have to be a rising junior and older to be able to apply. I know that Barnum has a huge LinkedIn profile that they use to reach out to students who are interested to go into the field of finance. A few names from their Talent Acquisition Team that message students around the east coast primarily are, Clifford Bray and Anthony Lobosco.
What did you do as part of your internship? The duties of an intern at Barnum consisted of having a one-on-one experience with a mentor who is a Financial Advisor at Barnum, completing any tasks that they might give to you, Interviewing 4 or more people in the company, and writing a small summary of each interview, completing a graded case study with your mentor, which you then had to present in front of a few people, and lastly a group shark tank project, that you had to present as well.
Has this internship helped you work towards your future career goals? If so, how? This internship has helped me work through my future goals. It has shown me the roles of a financial advisor and what type of work they perform on a daily basis. It also gave me a realistic approach to what a financial planning meeting would look like through the case study they provided to us.
What was your biggest lesson/takeaway from the internship? The biggest lesson I took from this internship program is that this career path is not easy but there can be a lot of flexibility, opportunity, and freedom down the road. In order for this to happen, those first five years after college are going to be the most important and from there it’s all about putting in the work and grinding day in and day out. There are going to be challenges that you face and days where you don’t want to work anymore, and you are going to question yourself why did I choose this career path, but those are the times when you have to realize you aren’t alone through this process of success. You have people around you in the office to lean on and get advice from because they have probably gone through similar challenges too.
What advice would you give to someone interested in a similar internship opportunity? I advise anybody who is looking to pursue a career in finance and who is a rising junior or senior to contact Barnum about their AdvisorScholar internship program. I advise all students as well to do an internship that relates to their major because it’s a different experience of learning than what you learn in the classroom. Being able to have that face-to-face and hands-on exposure will help determine your career path. So don’t wait for an opportunity to fall in your lap, create the opportunity for yourself by taking action and reaching out to companies in the field you want to pursue to see if they have internship opportunities available.
