Career Advice from a Woman Who Ruled Wall Street

Everything you need to know to land your dream job on Wall Street

Embarking on a career on Wall Street can be a nerve-wracking experience.
You're up against thousands of other people during the application process, competing for a small number of roles.

And if you land a Wall Street internship or a full-time role, you'll have to learn how to navigate complex products, markets and organizations in double-quick time.

A Morgan Stanley exec says this is the one personality trait she looks for in every job candidate.

Carla Harris was a star dealmaker for Morgan Stanley before being named vice chairman of the firm's prized global wealth-management division.
Now also a senior client adviser, Harris has landed some major deals throughout her 28 years on Wall Street, including the initial public offerings of UPS and Martha Stewart Living.

She's also published two books and built a career as an accomplished singer.

Harris had to work hard to make it all happen. And it's that kind of diligence that she now looks for when hiring young people.

"I like to call it the 'Hustle Gene,'" Harris told Business Insider.

To gauge whether candidates have that "gene," Harris wants to know.
How far will they go above and beyond the job description?
Do they have initiative?
Do they follow through?
Do they understand the importance of relationships? Do they deal with people in a way that people want to deal with them?"
Of course, there are analytical and quantitative skills that are crucial to work in finance, Harris said. But she's particularly interested in candidates' ability to build strong relationships in addition to everything else.

"At the end of the day, if you're one of those folk that people don't want to work with, I don't care how successful you are, at some point it will get muted," she said.

"Those are some of the other things that I think really makes somebody stand out."

Want to work on Wall Street? One thing on your résumé is more important than finance experience.

Applying to work for a Wall Street bank can be nerve-wracking.
You know you're up against thousands of other people, and you want to highlight your accomplishments to look as qualified as possible.

But what if you don't have enough experience in the industry?

JPMorgan's head firmwide campus recruiting, Michelle Bucaria, told Business Insider that having previous finance experience is not necessarily the most important thing on your résumé — it's all about how you frame the experiences you have had.

So maybe you haven't interned in finance before, but you have a part-time job. That shows you have the ability to multitask.

"When I look at a résumé and I say, 'Gosh, they were working, frankly, in the dining hall while they were getting a 3.5 GPA' — that's pretty impressive," Bucaria said.

She also likes to see involvement in campus clubs and activities.

"The ones that are in officer type roles are going to stand out versus someone who's a member of a club," Bucaria said.