JUNE 2024

What You Need To Know As A Summer Intern

BUILD RELATIONSHIPS WITH THE FULL-TIME TEAM. The most important part of internships (and business) is building relationships. While you are working hard to please everyone, never forget that it is the human connection that matters the most. The people who are self-aware, empathetic, strong communicators, enjoyable to be around AND are highly competent are the ones that build the strongest relationships. The full-time people at the firm are all human beings too. Everyone has multiple priorities, constant pressures and complications, strengths and weaknesses, talents and insecurities and good and bad days. Learning how to navigate these realities in the real world (outside of school) is one of the most important parts of the internship. Don’t be intimidated by anyone at the company as we are all real people doing the best we can on a daily basis. Figure out how to get yourself into our world and lives but do it smartly and with maturity.
BUILD RELATIONSHIPS WITH OTHER INTERNS – NOT ZERO SUM. The bonds you build with your fellow interns are an incredible part of your summer internship. Never view any of these people as your competitors because life is not “zero sum.” Every one of you can be winners at the end of the summer or none of you can. These talented peers may become your future co-workers, clients, business partners, friends and trusted confidants. Every seasoned veteran remembers our own “insecurities” and “cluelessness” when we first started. Be certain that when the people reflect back and say they “knew you back when,” they will always remember you as helpful, kind, inquisitive, competent, team oriented and most importantly, a person they could trust.
THE ENVIRONMENT IS ALWAYS DIFFERENT. Every summer is different and that means every summer intern class has different opportunities and challenges. Two summers ago, the financing environment was defined by nonstop action throughout the capital markets, which created a “fire hose” of experience and learning opportunities. Last year, the volatility made it challenging, if not impossible, for decent capital formation. This summer, the early indications are that the markets will be open, but not too frothy, which should make for a constructive environment for deal activity. You can learn a great deal in all types of markets – paying attention to the general environment and understanding how it affects activity will be great experience to have as you prepare for the future. None of us operate in a vacuum and the only constant you can count on for your career is that cycles will come and go. The sooner you understand this and appreciate it, the more effective you will be at anticipating and navigating the next turn of circumstances.
LEARN THE ENTIRE FIRM. No matter what department, product, geography or industry vertical you are interning within, make the time to learn something about all other areas of the firm. You can do this by reading, networking internally with others who work full-time in different areas and by making friends with interns outside your area of focus. As long as you are highly sensitive about confidential information, you can share learned knowledge from your area of expertise as interns from other areas do the same with you. There are many different aspects to an investment bank, and you might find a different one suits you better. Even if you are in the perfect spot already, knowing the other aspects of the company will always make you better at your job and it is fun and useful to understand how all the pieces really fit together.
ACT LIKE THIS IS YOUR CAREER CHOICE. If you act immediately in your internship like this is definitely your full-time career, you will have a much better experience. You will take the time to invest in real relationships, understand concepts and strategies because you will feel the need to rely on them for decades and you will care about the firm because you will consider it your home. It’s all about attitude. Even if you end up only doing this job for 10 weeks or a couple of years, you will be better off because your initial mindset was right, and you gave it your all. Also, you might be doing this for decades so you might as well adopt the right attitude right from day one.
UNDERSTAND THE ASSIGNMENT FIRST. You will save yourself an enormous amount of time/effort and dramatically increase the odds of a successful outcome if you spend extra time upfront learning exactly what you are being asked to accomplish. When being asked to do something, it is not the time to be shy or afraid that your questions will be perceived as weakness. It will take awhile to learn the “lingo” and virtually all of us “full-time” people speak at lightning speed and we incorrectly assume we are being crystal clear. Slowing us down until you understand what you need to do, if done right, will be viewed as a sign of your maturity and poise. It could also mean the difference between seeing your friends at dinner after a job well done or pulling an unnecessary “all-nighter” to deliver the wrong analysis in the morning.
APPRECIATE TIME WITH CLIENTS. Clients are our lifeblood. They are why we have careers and without them, our company has no reason to exist. Our goal is to give each of you as many chances as possible to be exposed to our clients. This is also one of the best ways to learn. Seeing how we treat our clients and learning from the types of questions and concerns they have before making an important decision is incredibly valuable to understanding if this is a long-term career for you. As such, treat our clients with respect and confidentiality and soak up every experience you are fortunate enough to enjoy. We always respect our clients and never take them for granted. Watch and learn.
STAY CURRENT. The world is on fire right now. There are major geopolitical conflicts, social unrest, hostages, protests, elections and disharmony. It is easy to want to find an excuse to ignore all the pain in the world and it is reasonable to decide that fully immersing oneself in an intense internship is the perfect excuse to zone out all of these issues. The hard truth is that there are no easy solutions to any of these problems. Staying informed, concerned and involved with helping make the world a better place has many benefits. First, an informed professional is always a better professional as there are primary and secondary effects that one needs to be aware of in our financial world from all of the uncertainty. Second, paying attention to the realities of the world help put in perspective how fortunate each one of us truly are for countless reasons. It is our privilege and responsibility to help those most in need. Fulfilling this obligation takes proactively staying aware and involved and acting with care, compassion and empathy.
IS THIS FOR YOU? Yes, you need to focus your energy on earning a full-time job at the firm you are interning with. You are all ambitious “type A” people or you wouldn’t be in your current seats so there is no need to debate anyone’s intensity level. However, while striving to be the best you can be, also spend the summer assessing if you can see yourself truly enjoying a career in the industry, firm, division and role of your summer job. Get to know the people around you at various career levels to get an understanding of what the next 10+ years of your lives could look like. Try to listen and really understand their enjoyment, frustrations, challenges and opportunities. Don’t get sucked into jumping onto the “finance treadmill” because you are now part of the “crowd” and that is the direction the “crowd” is sprinting towards today. This is a great summer to decide what you want to do when you graduate. It is also a great summer to decide what you don’t want to do. As long as you are honest with yourself, both are valuable conclusions.
CHOOSE INTEGRITY. This summer should be the final step in your lifelong plan to embrace the concept that honesty, integrity and reputation will be three foundational pillars of who you are as a person and how you will act throughout your entire career. Right at this moment, every single summer intern has their reputation intact. It is easy to take this for granted and feel invincible because you just assume it will “always be this way.” It will “always be this way” only for those who make a conscious and proactive decision to surround themselves with other good people, stand and speak loudly when they see bad actors or wrongful behavior, deliver unwanted news in an honest and timely manner and always take responsibility and ownership for their actions. For those who start cutting their first corner and (God help them) get away with it, watch out. Our industry is littered with once prominent professionals with extraordinarily promising careers who were brought to tears and ruin due to lapses in ethical principles. Consider this summer to be the final warning about how fragile everything in life truly is, especially reputations.
THINK. Summer interns have to do a lot. So much so that you can get completely caught up in “doing” and end up being so narrowly focused that you neglect one of the most important priorities these programs afford: “thinking.” Whether you are producing spreadsheets, pitch books, research analysis or whatever… When the specific assignments are done, shame on you if you don’t allow yourself to truly learn and internalize what you just did. Yes, it’s great to be prolific in your work and make every deadline with time to spare. That is a job done “well.” If you want to do a “great” job, sit back and ask yourself (or at the right time ask the people you work with): “Why did I do this analysis? What was the conclusion? How will this be used by a client? Is there something I could have done that would have made the conclusion more productive? How should this best be delivered to the client? What decisions will this cause the client to determine? What should I anticipate will be the next step? How can I help my team most add value?” Suddenly you aren’t just “doing,” but you are “thinking.” To really learn, you must “do” AND you must “think” or it could be like you are happy you are way ahead in a race, but you have no idea where the finish line is. Welcome to the real world of finance.
HAVE A LIFE. A summer internship in finance can be one of the most intense work periods of your career. Everything is new, peer pressure is at a max, proving yourself every second seems like the only way and failure is not an option. You need to do your best to draw the line in the sand this summer and decide now that you will maintain some reasonable degree of balance in your life. If you can do it now, you will set the right foundation for the rest of your career. This means getting some exercise daily, eating well, sleeping, staying in touch with family and friends, maintaining personal interests and having a life. There are certainly times when every one of us have to work extraordinarily hard. That happens in a client-focused business. But there are also times when you can get your work done and get out of the office, as long as you do not waste a bunch of time. Hanging out to show unnecessary “face time” or feeling pride about your “martyr complex” is vastly overrated. Feeling guilt or projecting guilt on others who leave when they can is a stupid personal choice. Take ownership of your mental and physical health and speak up if you need help. We will view this as a sign of strength and not weakness.
ASK QUESTIONS. You will have a million questions. There are no stupid ones. Ask away but be mindful of what is going on when you ask. If you are in a real time experience with a potential transaction going on around you or clients are involved, the time to ask the question is usually a bit later. Use common sense and be aware. And please listen to the answers as people quickly tire of answering the same questions repeatedly. 😊
THE MATH IS REAL. Force yourself to come to grips with the reality that all of these zeros at the end of everything you are working on are real. These are big numbers. You are working on deals that involve huge dollar amounts for the firm’s clients. Be accurate because a number followed by many zeros multiplied by even the tiniest of fractions can result in a significantly wrong answer and a big “real world” problem. Further, realize what you are working on is much more than numbers. The math represents your firm’s ability to help clients solve their most critical issues as well as seize their most exciting opportunities. Behind all the dollars are management teams and investors who are living, breathing human beings who are responsible for a lot of other real people. People’s lives are directly affected by the analysis we do, the advice we provide and the execution we all deliver. Companies can make acquisitions that will determine the direction of their future. Investors will put money to work that will affect their stakeholders who are real retirees, pension holders, endowments or just hardworking individuals. The point here is to realize this summer that one of the most exciting aspects of what you are doing is that you are truly impacting outcomes that are important to real people. Be accurate and take pride in doing something important. P.S. Don’t make yourself neurotic or nuts, but always check your work before submitting it. Maybe check it twice.
HAVE FUN. This summer will be a waste if you don’t have fun and enjoy yourself. Enjoy the people you meet and don’t be intimidated by anyone. Don’t take yourself or any of the people in our industry too seriously. Every one of us has our own insecurities and truth be told, we are all just doing our best every day by “winging it.” You might be too focused on covering up your own inadequacies to recognize that none of us really have all the answers, but it is the truth. There is no rule that you need to check your personality or individuality at the door when you join finance. In fact, the people who do best in the long term are the ones that naturally enjoy people and let their personality and authenticity shine. Your personality is one of the main reasons you were hired, so do not lose it. Don’t go loony here but be yourself and have at least a little fun every day and don’t forget to smile and laugh. Your co-workers will appreciate it.
PAY IT FORWARD. The day you start your internship is the day you can start helping others at your respective schools who are interested in finance get their jobs for the summer of 2025. It’s easy to think that you are a “baby” in finance and have nothing to offer in terms of mentorship or assistance to others, but that is wrong. You got here through hard work, focus and most likely, others assisting you along the way. Time to pay it forward and do the same for the classmates behind you. They are not additional competition but your potential future allies and friends. Start working with your college’s career development programs and begin planning on how you can be of assistance to your underclassmen. You will have even more great advice and perspective to offer them after the summer when back on campus, but the time to get started is today.
LEAD WITH HUMILITY AND CONFIDENCE. There is a very fine line between confidence and arrogance. You are all successful, “type A” over-achievers, otherwise you would not be here this summer. It is possible to be self-assured and present yourself well with professional confidence, but this must be done with the right dose of humility. Humble people admit what they don’t know and are eager to learn. Humble people let their accomplishments speak for themselves versus cleverly advertising them. Humble people admit when they are wrong, ask for help when needed and listen even better than they speak. Most of the successful and confident people in our industry lead with humility. Humble people create bonds of trust with a lot of other people, which at the end of the day is the major driver of their success.
BE MATURE. Welcome to the real world. This is not college. We are not a fraternity or sorority. You are an adult and we will treat you like one. There have been extremely rare and isolated incidents of interns not fully accepting this transition. They did not complete their internship. Such a shame, but they only have themselves to blame.
PLAN FOR THE END OF SUMMER. Plan now for a short trip after the internship and before school starts. There are very few times in life (they will get increasingly rare) when you can truly have zero guilt about rewarding yourself with some time away to zone out, unplug, unwind, reflect and just have fun. You will have worked really hard this summer and will have more than a little cash leftover (maybe for the first time in your life). It doesn’t have to be extravagant. Treat yourself well and do something with friends or family. Then go back to school with a recharged battery and get ready to start all over! Grades and extra curriculars matter your senior year and winners never coast.
HAVE PERSPECTIVE. If you decide you really don’t like this summer job or if you decide you love it, but circumstances result in not achieving a full-time offer, neither is the end of the world. As long as you give it your all it is ok to come to the conclusion that this just isn’t the right career path for you. You will have learned valuable skills and crossed something off your list of possible careers. That is progress. Not getting a full-time offer but knowing you want to be in this or a related industry is also OK. There are many reasons why a match might not be made, and it is not a reflection on your career potential. It is more important to be honest with yourself and learn from the experience. Sometimes the mismatch was in your control, and sometimes in life (with all of us), it may not be in your control. Having youth, smarts, personality, experience, health, family, friends and ambition will go a long way. Have confidence in yourself that if things do not work out, it is probably our loss and not yours. Things happen for a reason.

RICH HANDLER
CEO, Jefferies Financial Group
1.212.284.2555
[email protected]
@handlerrich Twitter | Instagram
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