What do you expect from an intern?

Wondering what specific skills/things you look for in interns? I’m aware being able to 3FS and DCF model and being relatively technically competent before the internship starts is expected but I’m curious what sort of attitudes/things are specifically looked for. Especially compared to banking where it seems being able to model and generate ideas isn’t really being looked at as critically.

Are you expecting intern pitches to be actionable with solid differentiation/thesis/catalysts throughout the summer or moreso looking at how they improve and learn/ask the right questions with the outlook of where they’ll end up as an analyst? Obviously I’m going to do as well as I can but was curious what the bar for conversion normally is.

for context I’m talking about a multi manager hedge fund summer internship, Citadel, Point72 etc. thank you 

13 Comments
 

Bump. Here’s my two cents: depends on the firm. Have you tried reaching out to previous employees? They’re usually quite helpful.

Someone I spoke to in AM: ‘we look for someone we can mould. You don’t need to know much, but if you show that you’re mouldable (easy to teach, react positively to negative feedback, learn THEIR way) then you will do well.’

 

I have done; it was somewhat opaque but maybe I’m expecting an unreasonably granular answer? I was generally told that you can’t really make the same mistake multiple times and need to pick things up quickly. This is outside of being technically literate before the internship even starts given modelling is a big aspect of it.

pitch quality was smth I was confused about- I was generally told having strong differentiation wasn’t expected from an intern - I take it this means I’m still supposed to think about it and try seek it though 

 

Doing tasks correctly & timely.

It sounds easy but often it’s not. When given a task, make sure you 100% understand what is asked of you & that you know how to do it.

If you don’t ask questions when given assignments, ppl will think you know what to do & can do it correctly. Ask questions! Make sure you understand the assignment!

It goes without saying but numbers should be 100% correct. This sounds obvious but when there are pro-formas & adjustments & different versions of EBITDA. make sure what number you’re referring to.

 
Most Helpful

Few practical things:

  • Intern's job is to save time to analysts as analyst's job is to save time to the PM. Therefore be precise, go to the point when delivering reports/thoughts/else.
  • Ask questions. There is no dumb question, but questions that can be asked to Google should be asked to Google. You want to get mostly opinions and thoughts from analysts/PMs, not solely facts you can find by yourself.
  • Have opinions. That probably comes with your own personality. It takes time to develop confidence in a subject or investment thesis, but try and be confident (without being cocky, you still have a world to explore). If you cannot convince yourself, how are you supposed to convince others? Be open to make mistakes. That's the only way you can thrive in a space where you take decisions without having the full picture.
  • Be available. If someone needs something, support him even when you have no idea how to do it.
  • If during casual conversations your colleagues talk about stocks/ideas, retain that info and follow those names. You might end up flagging important events happening in a space that analysts don't have the time to follow and will be thankful for that.
  • Take it seriously, but enjoy the learning process. You are still suppose to enjoy what you're doing, so take it easy from time to time.
 

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