Summer Internships: What You Wish You Knew
One of the most fun parts of running Mergers & Inquisitions is helping prospective bankers (and other financiers) out there get the internships and full-time jobs they’re after.
I’ve already covered quite a lot on the topic of summer internships, whether it’s how to dominate them, what not to do, a summer intern success guide and even what to do if you get transferred.
In the spirit of these previous articles, I would like to solicit feedback from readers on topics you want to read more about.
This is directed both at interns who are working in banking / private equity / related areas this summer as well as those who are interested in doing so next year or further in the future.
I’m not going to set up a survey or anything (this will be informal), but here are a few ideas to get you started thinking about what you’d like to see:
What You Wish You Knew
If you’re currently a summer intern in finance, what do you wish you knew beforehand that you didn’t? I’ve covered mostly tips on how to perform well once you’re on the job - here are a few more topics I could write about:
Recruiting
- Summer analyst selection vs. full-time analyst selection
- How full-time offers are given out to summer analysts
- Actual accounts of how summer interns broke into the industry
- How to get other finance internships (aside from banking)
- How to decide between multiple summer internship offers
Preparing
- What to expect (e.g., a day in the life of a summer investment banking analyst)
- Insider tips from current/former summer interns (one reader contributed his tips before, but there’s always room for more)
- How to prepare for summer internships - recommended modeling and finance resources
Providing Feedback
Either email me or leave a comment here with your feedback on future summer intern topics you’re most interested in reading about.
The Vacation Ends
I’m also back from “vacation” now (if that’s what you want to call working intermittently in between sitting on the beach and taking calls from former co-workers) and am focused on my new ventures as well as expanding this site. Many of you have already written in with feedback and suggestions, but feel free to continue as we move toward the fall recruiting season.
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Tags: investment banking, investment banking summer analyst, investment banking summer internship, Mergers & Inquisitions, understanding investment banking
Coming Soon: Breaking Into Wall StreetRelated Articles:
- How Summer Interns Get Full-Time Offers
- January 2008 Month In Review
- Weekly Reader Q&A: Law School Student To Finance, How Summer Analysts Are Judged And Turning Down Summer Offers
- Weekly Reader Q&A: The Age Factor, Finance Internships Abroad, And Fall Analyst Recruiting (And More Summer Internship Tips)
I’m very keen on reading more about the upcoming fall recruiting season. However, the following topics definitely seem interesting:
- Summer analyst selection vs. full-time analyst selection
- What to expect (e.g., a day in the life of a summer investment banking analyst)
Thanks - yeah, I may save some of these for summer recruiting season next year, we’ll see. The two you just mentioned are actually relatively short articles because there isn’t a huge difference between summer and full-time, but I’ll add those to the list.
I currently work for a boutique middle market investment bank. The summer analyst position is quite slow. Would I get a full time offer given the economy?
I also want to learn more about how i could leverage that for buldge in full-time selection.
These topics I am interested in:
# Summer analyst selection vs. full-time analyst selection
# How full-time offers are given out to summer analysts
# How to get other finance internships/full-time (aside from banking)
Chris: That’s a tough one, but you stand a much better chance at a boutique or middle-market than you would at a bulge bracket. Generally they do like to keep good summers around, so you have that going for you.
I’ll add those topics to my list!
Hi,
Thanks for all the great info on the blog. It’s much appreciated.
I would like to see something about different branches within IBD at a BB bank. M&A, Capital Structure, etc. What are some ups and downs between them. Which could be considered the best?
Thanks
Thanks, will add that one to the idea list… short answer is there is no “best” branch and it really depends on what you want to do, but I’ll go over that one.
# How full-time offers are given out to summer analysts would be amazing
I like the sound of all of those topics. But there seems to be a lot to read about what a summer analyst is going to do, what they should/shouldn’t do on the job, etc. I’d like to know more on how to go about getting a summer analyst internship. Resume/interview tips, advice, and any information that others found helpful or knowledge they wish they had when they went through the process.
Ryan: I think a lot of the resume/interview advice I’ve given back earlier this year applies to summer analyst applications as well, but I’ll see if I can tailor it for summers more specifically.
Yup seems like a lot of people want to see that one so I’ll add that to the list.
Here’s a question I would love to hear answered:
I’m currently at an Ivy League school but in a social science major that is non-technical (i.e. not Economics, Finance, Science, Math-related), and therefore don’t have much of a marketable background. I am considering applying for investment banking summer internships for the summer between junior and senior years, and was wondering what you think the best strategy is for marketing myself or improving my resume even though I don’t have the kind of experience or knowledge that an Economics or Finance major would have.
From what you (and others) have said, the actual work as an investment banker only requires basic econ and math, so what I would gather from that is one’s major is not all that important. At the same time, it’s a bit daunting to have to compete against people (like financial engineers) who seem to have been bred to do this kind of work.
I would love to hear your advice on getting an internship for English, History, Politics, etc. majors.
Hi John,
Long story short is that you’re right and they don’t really care too much about major as long as they’re convinced you can do the work.
For a social science major like yourself, I would simply try to learn as much about finance as possible and have activities/interests that indicate your quantitative/financial aptitude. If they’re convinced you can do basic math and will like the Excel part of the job, you’re good to go.
I’m currently at a middle market bank this summer and am curious about how to approach FT recruiting if I don’t get the almighty offer. Is this something that will kill me for FT recruiting, or will firms be more understanding given the current economy (people in the know at my firm are already saying FT offers will be down dramatically).
What are some strategies to help myself and others in FT recruiting if we don’t get an offer?
Brian: It will most definitely be harder to go through FT recruiting without an offer in hand, but given the state of the economy I think more banks would understand this year vs. in previous years.
Probably the best strategy is to say you simply weren’t interested in working at your firm for whatever reason and that’s why you’re shopping around, but I’ll write some more material on that one.
I have a follow up to this question.
Do they ever ask if you got the FT offer from your summer internship?
More importantly, if you dont get the offer, is it detrimental for FT recruiting in banking?
They do ask if you got the FT offer… up to you whether or not to lie about it, but if you worked at a bigger firm it might be a bad idea as it’s easy for them to discover you were lying.
If you don’t get the offer it will be detrimental for FT recruiting, but it’s not the end of the world… for example one of my friends did not get a MM offer from his summer internship and then ended up at Goldman!
I currently work at a no-name boutique investment bank as a summer analyst to which I have no intentions of working for full-time
I am graduating and have high hopes to work at a bulge-bracket firm and was wondering how to best use my experience into securing interviews at some of the larger firms.
I would love to see something on how to write about summer analyst experience on resumes and general tips while interviewing with investment banks
What should be the main takeaway from the experience and major areas of focus interviews and/or resumes?
Hi there,
I’m actually about to post a few sample resumes (within the next week or so), so you’ll be able to see how best to write about summer internships from those. Key takeaways should be deal/transaction experience and convincing your interviewers you learned something substantial rather than just doing lots of pitching/pointless work.
You should be able to get interviews with your experience, but bulge brackets are unlikely to be doing a ton of hiring this year so that will make things tougher than usual for someone with your experience.
Dear Inquisitor,
Thank you for all of your excellent posts. I also appreciate you taking the time to see what your readers are interested in learning more about. A few things I am interested in include:
-How to prepare for summer internships - recommended modeling and finance resources
-What to expect (e.g., a day in the life of a summer investment banking analyst)
-Insider tips from current/former summer interns (one reader contributed his tips before, but there’s always room for more)
-Summer analyst selection vs. full-time analyst selection
Thanks again, and can’t wait for the next post.
Thanks Michael, will add those to the list!
Dear Inquisitor,
I would like to see an article on how to go about getting a full time offer without a finance background for seniors. I am coming from an elite university with almost all my experience in the middle east (including language ability) and am going to do full time recruiting for bulge brackets in Dubai. However, I don’t have any finance background. So far, talking to people, they seem to think I can spin my experience in the region into a job–but it’d be nice to hear some concrete direction on how to do this.
Thanks!
Mike, that’s a great idea and a topic I’ll definitely cover because I actually did the same thing my senior year (got into banking with no previous finance experience).
Here’s one more question:
From what I’ve gathered from your site, wearing a french cuff shirt with cuff links while a summer intern (or analyst, or maybe even associate) makes you look like a huge tool. Are silk knots just as bad? Is there any way to acceptably wear french cuff shirts if you’re not a MD? I have a bunch of them, and would hate to have to replace them all just to have enough shirts to wear for the summer, although it sounds like that’s what I might have to do.
Thanks for all your great posts!
John: I am very reluctant to give fashion advice once again because it is very, very difficult and each person has his/her own idea of what is acceptable.
In general, you don’t want to go overboard with dressing up as an analyst/associate, but if you already have silk knots/french cuff shirts, I would not replace all of them for the summer. I would just wear them as is and if someone makes a comment you can consider changing wardrobes, but it’s not a big enough deal to go in and replace all your existing clothes.
a few quick points: first, thanks a lot for what youre doing; its an absolutely fantastic resource. second, ill be interested to hear the response to the question above; im in the same predicament! third, i too would be interested in how best to prepare for modelling etc.
John - thanks for the feedback. I just answered the question(s) above; on the modeling question, this is something I wish I had a better answer to other than “Wait for my upcoming course”
but if you don’t want to wait, you could check out the existing guides and resources out there such as Wall Street Prep etc.
oh i will most definitely be waiting for your course!
Inquistor,
Could you maybe address the ease (or lack thereof) of transferring to different divisions (e.g. investment banking to alternative investments or research to sales/trading) within the same bank as well as other banks in between a summer internship and a full-time position? And how would one, based on your own experiences, go about doing such a thing?
Thanks.
Börn: I’ll add that one to the list. Short answer is it’s usually difficult to transfer from back/middle office to front office but other ones are more do-able, especially if it’s going from a summer internship to FT position. To do it successfully, you will have to network during the summer and get friends/supporters in the division you want to switch to - that is often the hardest part for interns.
Hi Inquisitor!
I work in interest rate derivatives at a middle market investment bank and I’m curious about how deals are initiated at bulge-bracket investment bank in M&A or corporate finance. Our deals are largely sourced through bankers in other branches of the bank so basically we don’t ever do any cold calling or pitching to non-referrals. How does the deal process work at banks like GS, ML, or JPM?
Also, I have a fair amount of relevant work experience in financial services working with equity research, financial analysis, derivatives as I mentioned, legal research, and being an Excel monkey, but I come from a non-target university (top 30 though). Do you think my work experience will be enough to leverage me above candidates from top tier schools? If not, what do i-banks look for that I can add to my arsenal?
Thanks!
At bulge brackets most deals are sourced via longstanding relationships and sometimes inbound interest - they really don’t do much of any cold calling since they’re so large and have so many relationships.
They obviously pitch a lot, but that’s because most companies have relationships with multiple banks.
Hard to say on your experience but it definitely helps - you will need to try harder of course, but that’s more because you’re already working, not because you come from a non-target school. Work experience and preparation are the best tools to get ahead with i-banking recruiting.
Hey,
I am going to be a sophomore in college with an economics major, and the school also has a well known undergraduate business program that is very well networked. Which I am not part of. See I like economics and all, but i don’t want to pursue a ph D in it, and maybe focus on finance. What is the best way to get involved? Are there any internships for rising juniors? Boutique or Bulge? What is the key thing these firms look at? GPA’s mostly?
Yes I would go for school-year internships especially if you’re a sophomore - spread your net wide and see what you come up with.
GPA is a factor but they mostly care about work experience / personability and coming across well in interviews so I’d focus on that.
Hey,
One more question. When is the recruiting season for internships? early second semester?
January/February
how valuable would this experience be to a career in investment banking? im still learning, and just was notified that they will be at my school tomorrow for an information session and accepting resumes for an 09 summer internship…we have a large event coming up near the end of september, so its not like this is an only shot, but how relevant is this experience?
Global Index Internship
Russell Indexes
Tacoma, WA
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This position will work in the product development group and will be exposed to the full product development life cycle with particular focus on company research for the Russell Global Index.
Primary responsibilities:
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It’s ok but not terrific. Worth a shot to apply for but not nearly as relevant as banking/PE/hedge funds.
How about “The First Day” for summers?
P.S. This blog is excellent. Or at least that’s my justification for spending the last 2 hours reading your surprisingly informative (given the high entertainment value) articles instead of being productive. yay…
Anna: see some of my summer internship content below. I cover do’s / don’t’s for summer interns in those articles.