25. Interns

25. Interns

It’s summer time and you know what that means? Great weather, analyst bonuses, sunburns, and, best of all, interns. Ah yes, investment banking interns, the newest low man on the totem pole. No longer are the first year analysts the ones given the mind-numbing tasks like making company profiles or finding the names of the CEOs for the top 100 companies. Nope, no longer will the first year analyst be staying at work until 3am to wait for books to be printed. The interns are here! The interns are here!

These college juniors are willing to work their little butts off for 10 weeks to join the elite class of investment bankers. They all know that interviewing for jobs in the fall is an arduous, time-consuming task, so they would rather lockup a job after the summer. During these times when even first year analysts are being fired, interns surely know how difficult it is to score a sweet gig like being an investment banker. Need someone to hand deliver a presentation to Long Island? Intern boy is your man. Second year analysts are either physically gone or gone in spirit come summer time so there is plenty of work to be had by these interns. It might not be the most exciting work, but if they pretend to enjoy it and try to learn from the wise first year analysts they may find themselves a nice gift under their Christmas tree at the end of their internships.

I avoided this daunted task of being an investment banking intern for fear of hating the job so much and settling for some low paying job. This led to a brutal senior fall interviewing with 50 different firms and kissing a$$ every day for two months just to land a job. My advice is help the analysts with their work and try to soak up some knowledge while doing quite a bit of mindless work. The key is to not get taken advantage of, but at the same time don’t refuse to do something because you think it is beneath you. You may have gone to Wharton and know how to do a financial model like the back of your hand, but being an intern is like being in the minors or being a bench warmer. You have to earn your spot in the big leagues, so be patient and do what you can to position yourself for a top review and a job offer. Good luck young grasshoppers!