By Eigen Escario
Comeragh Sheehan
Comeragh Sheehan graduated from Furman University in May 2023 with a Bachelor of Science in Economics. After completing several internships with boutique investment banks and venture capital firms in the junior and senior years of his undergraduate tenure, Sheehan kept himself on track for his long-term plan to get a job in this industry.
“I have wanted to go into investment banking since sophomore year of undergrad, but it’s harder because of the competitive nature of the industry coming from a smaller, non-target university,” Sheehan said. “I became interested in it due to my background growing up with a small family landscaping business and the idea of learning about selling or buying a company.”
Discovering a Passion for Finance
As an economics major, Sheehan had a broad overview of the field, but he decided to specialize in the financial track, which bolstered his skillset with more hard analytical tools.
“I was drawn to the Master of Science in Finance (MS Finance) program at Vanderbilt because of the practical and fast-paced coursework with the option to take electives that would be more applicable to my interests in high finance and investment banking,” Sheehan said. “Owen does very well in terms of placing people in their industry of interest, and their employment outcomes were definitely a deciding factor when I chose Vanderbilt’s MS Finance program.”
After graduating from Furman, Sheehan went straight into the Vanderbilt MS Finance program in August 2023 after completing a required curriculum for all students in the cohort.
“The summer curriculum through the Career Management Center (CMC) helped me narrow my story down to really evaluate the career path that fits best for me,” Sheehan said. “This experience solidified that I wanted to focus on investment banking recruiting. From day one, the MS Finance program is super fast and you really get to dive in and learn skills like basic accounting or valuation skill work that are not only applicable to the job, but also helpful in recruiting and interviews.”
Early Preparation Gets The Job
During the same summer before starting the program, Sheehan was already carrying out internships in Nashville and taking other strides toward professional development to prepare for business school.
“After I graduated in May 2023, I started to network with Owen alumni who are in the field—anyone in the industry who I could get on the phone to talk with,” Sheehan said. “I started a private equity internship in July at Markham Capital Partners, a smaller firm based in Nashville. I was also recruiting at the same time and trying to network as much as I could.”
There are also plenty of extracurricular opportunities for collaboration and networking that Sheehan credits for strengthening his candidacy during the recruitment process.
“I took part in an investment banking case competition through the Owen Finance Club – it was majority MBAs, but there were 4-5 MS Finance students in it as well,” Sheehan said. “We broke up into 5-6 groups and developed a mock pitch for Williams Sonoma in the span of a week to present in front of investment banking analysts and managing directors at Vanderbilt Business.”
Sheehan says the case competition in particular allowed him to properly frame himself in the workplace for future jobs in terms of collaboration and execution.
“The competition was super fast-paced and gave me an idea of what the job is really like to work on a big project and understand the selling side of the pitch or the role of financial advising in a project,” Sheehan said. “It was also helpful to understand what you’re really doing on the job as well as getting experience working with other MBA students on a fast-paced project.”
In terms of the coursework at Vanderbilt Business, Sheehan highlights some classes that will be valuable in the jobs that he is seeking throughout recruitment.
“All of the accounting classes have been helpful for me personally,” Sheehan said. “On top of that, corporate valuation will be super helpful in terms of going into a full-time position in investment banking.”
Landing a Full-time Role
The applications for the jobs that Sheehan wanted opened the summer before his start at Vanderbilt Business, one of which was in Lazard’s Private Market Advisory (PMA) group. Sheehan talks about his early start to recruitment and the timeline leading up to his offer.
“I first started with people on Lazard’s team in late August and did interviews in early September – I did a first-round interview followed by a remote super day,” Sheehan said. “For the super day, I interviewed with 6 senior members on the team to get to know each other and address any questions.”
After a non-traditional acceptance due to a spot that opened up later in the fall, Sheehan is now gearing up to head to New York in July for training before relocating to Minneapolis next August to start full-time.
Click through the timeline below to see a visual of how Comeragh Sheehan got the job.
To learn more about the MSF program, click here.