Landing an internship or a full-time role at a prestigious bank or hedge fund is merely your first step in a larger journey on Wall Street. There's still loads of competition internally and much to learn about complex products and markets.
Business Insider asked this year's Rising Stars of Wall Street to give us their best career advice for those just starting out.
Here's some of the best insight that we got.
Credit Suisse's Mandy Xu: Take initiative early on in your career
Mandy Xu is the chief equity-derivatives strategist at Credit Suisse and a director in the global markets division in New York.
Her advice for young professionals entering Wall Street is to take initiative as soon as you can.
“Take initiative to learn as many things as possible early in your career, even if it’s outside your immediate group/product area — being able to understand different products and markets is extremely valuable in this industry.”
Blackstone Group's Anushka Sunder: Stay curious and ask questions.
Blackstone's Anushka Sunder advice to those starting out in their career is to remain curious and establish your own style.
“To be curious and ask questions, to develop your own style rather than imitate others, to find people who invest in you personally, and to be determined and optimistic. A bit of humor and lightheartedness can make a world of difference as well — to find humility at your best moments and resilience at the most challenging.”
Grayscale Investments' Michael Sonnenshein: Don't be afraid to take a chance.
Just because you make one career choice early on, it doesn't need to define your path forever, said Michael Sonnenshein, a managing director at Grayscale Investment, the cryptocurrency investing arm of Digital Currency Group.
"You really cannot be afraid to take a chance. I think that a lot of young people that are joining Wall Street think they have to immediately go to a big bank or they have to immediately go to a startup or Google and they have to choose one or the other," he said. "I would say that there is actually quite a bit flexibility back and forth between the two camps, between being a traditional finance banking role and also get more startup-type company roles."
Before Grayscale, Sonnenshein worked at several banks, including Bank of America, Barclays, and JPMorgan.
Sonnenshein also advises young Wall Streeters to go to business school early, particularly if they don't have experience in finance, economics, and business.
"I think the longer you wait, it sometimes gets a little more difficult to find time or to go back to school," he said.
But that doesn't mean he suggests that people get their MBA immediately after they get out college.
"It is important that they have a couple of years' experience in the workforce before doing so, which would make it more valuable," he said.
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