Equity Research Summer Associate/ First Year Associate

First applied to Jefferies in March (about a year and some change before the internship started). Didn't really hear anything until I started networking with an MD in April/May, after a few zooms with him and phone calls with some VPs, finally was offered a first round in mid June. FYI everyone was super nice and extremely helpful, I knew right away I was going to enjoy working here if I made it all the way through.

First round was rather smooth. It was a zoom with the assistant head of research. Super nice guy, and actually runs the internship program. We went over my resume: education + internships. How I got into finance and where I was planning to go with it. He asked me why I was interested in research and why Jefferies specifically. Soon we got more finance based, we talked about y views on the market, how I typically look at stocks, current news. He asked me to give a stock pitch. I gave a pitch that last a couple minutes: price target, ROI, company background, thesis, all the fun stuff. Following he asked me some basic questions that let me open up more about what I researched for my pitch like valuation, accounting stuff, modeling, etc. It seemed like most of the technical questions he was planning on asking he did during the Q&A after the pitch. I remember I mentioned I used a DCF and he proceeded with something to the effect of "Wanna just walk me through it really quick?" he asked a couple more technicals afterwards, he told me I got them right but we didn't spend much time on it. Then I asked him a few questions about him and his background, and just talked about things going on with us at the time. We said our goodbyes and I sent him a follow up about an hour later. I've heard from colleagues that if you aren't ready to pitch a specific stock, then you can get by with telling your views on the markets and where you would generally put your money.

I waited about a week before hearing anything. Eventually, I got an email asking my availability for the following week for a zoom with the head of research. I should mention I also got tons of prep help from the same people I networked with. Everyone I talked to in the build up was willing to pick up the phone again to give me interview help.

The second and final round went similarly well, just a little more daunting. He is really intimidating at first, but is a super nice and very helpful once you get past the interviewer/interviewee dynamic. Same thing, again, started off talking about my background, classes, internships, clubs, etc. I'd say it was a little deeper than the behavioral of the first round. He was asking a bit like what my goals were, how far did I want to go, what my investing views were like. Not really harder but did require some more/deeper thought. Again, he asked me to give a stock pitch; I gave the same one as the first round. I'd say the Q&A was a bit more difficult, he asked me more about how they shaped up against their competitors and how likely investors were to realize my thesis points. He then asked me some technicals. In addition to finance, I was into coding and tech, so he asked me first to rate myself 1-10 in accounting. I said I was around a 7 so he gave me a rather difficult accounting question which I got maybe about 3/4s right. He then asked me to rate myself in coding, now shaken, I said about 3-4. He promptly replied with "Well, I don't know coding so I can't really ask you any questions." Then I started to ask him questions and we ended up talking about the Euro 2020 cup for a little bit before logging off. We said good bye and I emailed him my thank you and question corrections. He actually responded in like 2 mins, which was the first ever time I actually got a reply to a thank you email.

I waited about another week before I finally got the call where they offered me the job. After returning the contract they did a good job keeping in touch. All the interns got weekly emails showing us some of the top research being published, and once a month we had a zoom with all the other incoming interns. A couple months before the internship, they asked us what sectors we were interested in and they matched us with fitting teams. And they did the same thing the next year for when we were coming in full time.

From what I heard, they've added another round. So the first round will be a 2 on 1 with 2 associates interning the intern candidate, then to the assistant HOR then the HOR. It's mostly behavioral, really looking to see if you would be a good fit and if you're interested in the job, but not really testing your financial knowledge.

Overall, it's a very smooth and well guided process. It's not one of those hot seat situations where they're looking for you to mess up. If you really want to be there and you are a good fit, they will find a place for you.