Success Story: Sahiba Sikand ’20 lands summer internship at Barclays Equity Research
Success Stories | May 07, 2019 | admin
When opportunity knocks, open the door.
For junior Sahiba Sikand ’20, opportunity turned out to be an interview invitation while on vacation in California. Already interning with Frankling Templeton Investments in New York at the time, Sikand flew back to New York for the interview and landed a summer internship with Barclays Equity Research.
At Barclays this summer, Sikand is looking forward to “having a deep dive” into this industry, focusing on learning about “what goes into analyzing a stock” and “really understanding how stocks shift and why.”
With a major in Finance and a concentration in Value Investing, Sikand’s interest in the stock market is also personal. She manages her own portfolio, and Sikand says that her favorite thing to do is to “see how the market is doing,” making this internship and industry a natural fit.
Complementing her interest in finance and the market, Sikand is part of the Fordham Falak dance team, keeping up her interest in Indian culture. She is also part of the Residents Housing Association and Fordham’s Smart Women Securities.
The breadth of Sikand’s activities reflects advice she would give to herself before starting at Fordham. Her advice would be to “start the intern process earlier, start networking and reaching out to people. Go into college knowing what to do. For a career in finance, you need to know what you’re doing and start right away. Get into as many clubs as you can, diversify yourself. It’s important to branch out and gain a different understanding.”
Unafraid of pursuing opportunity or overcoming adversity, Sikand says that “I always push myself, [and] no matter how down I get, I always push myself up. I keep trying to challenge myself and put my best foot forward.”
Growing up, Sikand had an inspiring role model for these values and work ethic – her father.
Sikand says, “being an immigrant and being so successful was really inspiring to me.” Her father has his own Dunkin’ Donuts franchise in New Jersey, which has allowed him to be independent and provide for his family.
Following his example, Sikand says, “I can be successful, too.”