An interview with Joy Kihara, a spring intern at Morgan Stanley

An interview with Joy Kihara, a mechanical engineering undergraduate who completed a spring week at Morgan Stanley.

For our fifth edition of “In Their Shoes,” we meet Joy, a first-year Mechanical Engineering student at the University of Warwick. Whilst many in her program dream of crafting mechanical marvels, Joy finds herself drawn to a different blueprint for success: the dynamic world of tech. Join us as we delve into Joy’s impressive journey and discover how her unique blend of skills and determination landed her a spring internship at Morgan Stanley.

1.Can you please give us a quick introduction of yourself?

I am a first-year undergraduate at the University of Warwick, studying mechanical engineering. However, I find myself more passionate about the tech industry, and I’m just a bit more excited about where that can take me instead of going into a straight engineering role. I completed a spring week at Morgan Stanley, and I’m excited to continue exploring my options in fintech and, hopefully, other places, such as start-ups.

2.What attracted you to a career in tech?

I feel like it's a really growing area where you can invoke a lot of change because of the capabilities of tech. Since innovation and creativity are something that really excite and motivate me, I thought that tech was the perfect fit. I've always had a love for maths or physics, so logical and methodical thinking comes quite naturally to me. I feel like the tech space just rewards you for that more than another sector will. There are so many opportunities available in tech.

3.Can you please share your experience as a spring intern at MS?

The first two days were quite finance-heavy, obviously, as it is an investment bank. I would say it was a great opportunity to learn because, if you want to go into FinTech, some knowledge of finance would be helpful. We had a workshop on the first or second day, which was centred around personal branding, and that was quite helpful. We also learned more about the culture at Morgan Stanley and what differentiates them from other investment firms. In the second half of the week, you got split into our specialised division groups, such as technology, sales and training, and equity. For technology, it became more technical-based. We held workshops on critical thinking and programming. It was an opportunity to find out more about the role of technology.

4.How did you prepare for the technical interview questions?

You have a HireVue interview where they ask normal questions, such as why you applied to Morgan Stanley, as well as some competency-based questions. One thing that definitely helped me was looking at their core values and finding a way to incorporate them into my answers. I researched Morgan Stanley and came up with a random fact: in the 1960s, Morgan Stanley was the first company to use technology to aid financial problems, and I incorporated that in one of my answers. There was only one technical question, which was the last one, and it was a problem-solving question. The next stage is an assessment centre. One of the activities is a non-technical group task, which tests how well you work in a group, how you communicate, and how innovative you are. This was followed by a strength-based interview, and finally, there was a technical interview. I would say that because I do not come from a computer science background, it definitely caught me quite off guard because it is quite technical. They give you a problem, and you give them your initial ideas, but then they give you code on a piece of paper, and they tell you to find the problem. To be fair, I don't know if there's much you can do to prepare for this unless you already have an understanding of code. I would say it's quite a big ask to learn a language just for spring week. But if you can, that would also be great. My advice would be to practice laying out your thoughts in a concise way and being really good at getting your point across.

5.What is one thing you wish you knew before starting university and/or applying for jobs in finance?

I would say be proactive about the particular field you want to go into and do your research. Even if you don't understand or don't study a course that is directly related to the industry you want to get into. I still feel like it's vital to make sure that you do some outside research and learn some sort of skill before applying to these things. Especially if I want to go to a tech space, you might be required to have some coding skills. I would say that's something I wish I had done in the summer before university had I known I wanted to go into tech because I feel like that would have helped me so much in terms of applications and dealing with imposter syndrome. Another thing is commercial awareness. Companies now love commercial awareness. It doesn't matter how smart you are. If you have no commercial awareness, that's like the big no-no for them.

6.What is your key takeaway from the internship at Morgan Stanley?

My main takeaway is to network with the people around you. As one of the seniors said during the internship, your network is your currency in your work. That is the most valuable thing to you. Networking and referrals can be crucial for gaining access to certain positions. For jobs not advertised publicly, these connections may be essential for career progression. I'll say that was definitely a big takeaway for me. Some people like to say that it's not what you know, but it's who you know. You need to have someone who can advocate for you, and you can only get that if you actually get out of your comfort zone and network with people.

Joy’s journey highlights the importance of embracing technology, proactive learning, and effective networking. Her valuable experiences and insights, from navigating technical interviews to understanding the significance of commercial awareness, offer great advice for aspiring professionals.

We are thrilled to announce that Joy has joined The Job Seeker Hub as a Partnership and Outreach Officer. Welcome aboard, Joy! To learn more about Joy and our initiatives, stay tuned for upcoming events and updates from The Job Seeker Hub.

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