Please briefly describe your background prior to Haas
My name is Peter Higgins, and I am a FTMBA ‘25 at Berkeley Haas School of Business.
Prior to Haas, my main working experience was on the Corporate Strategy team at Robinhood, the trading app. My role at Robinhood was focussed on providing analytical-backing to the Corporate Strategy team and product teams at Robinhood.
What industries and functions did you recruit for and why?
I came to Haas in large part to try to pivot into product management. Although I found FinTech fascinating, my work on the Corporate Strategy team often put me in the position of making recommendations rather than having the authority to execute on those recommendations. I viewed product management as a way to get closer to execution.
Briefly describe how you approached recruiting. Anything worked particularly well for you?
Candidly, recruiting for product management was brutal, and without any direct product management experience, I was unable to land any product management internships. I applied to something like 100+ product management internships before finally relenting and applying to non-PM roles. By then, it was around the end of April.
Briefly introduce your internship company and your team
I was incredibly fortunate that the opportunity with SoFi became available (in early May). The opportunity was for an “MBA Fellow,” with the job description outlining a focus on strategy and marketing. Given my background on the Corporate Strategy team at Robinhood, I knew I would be a strong candidate.
Briefly describe your summer project or job description
The role at SoFi ended up focusing exclusively on a single project: SoFi is interested in providing benefits to its members for attending live events, and they tasked me with setting up a series of trials in order to better understand the value-propositions that resonate most with SoFi members as well as anything else that might be relevant prior to scaling the program.
Although I technically reported directly to the Director of Marketing at SoFi, my effective boss over the course of the summer was the Marketing Chief of Staff, to whom authority for this special project fell. Apart from working with the Marketing Chief of Staff, I was largely left to my own devices over the course of the summer.
The first half of the internship was quite intense, as I was learning how to set up these trials and navigate the organization. I leaned as much as I could on the Marketing Chief of Staff. However, my primary resource for getting up-to-speed were company artifacts such as Slack channels and slide decks. I also learned a lot through trial-and-error with my colleagues.
The second half of the internship was pretty chill, as by then I understood how to navigate the organization and had set up nearly everything to run the trials.
Thoughts / reflections on your internship
In all, I had a very positive experience with SoFi. I learned a lot, worked with smart and pleasant people, loved the subject matter (FinTech), and enjoyed the positive company culture. I even won a ticket to the SoFi suite at the Chase Center to watch Olivia Rodrigo perform live!
Nearly everything I learned at SoFi, I learned through experience and by actively seeking out knowledge. Very little was spoon-fed to me at SoFi. I think having an active attitude is one of the best things one can have during a summer internship.
Closing thoughts or advice
All in all, although I did not get the product management internship I initially sought, I had a very positive experience at SoFi. I would focus less on the title of the role and more on the complete package – company, people, subject matter, etc. And in order to succeed in a summer internship, expect that you will need to hustle and that you will not have much handed to you.