How to Tell If You Are Getting a Return?

I am currently interning at a bank (IB) and am having a hard time gauging where I stand on a return offer.

For people who have been through the process, are teams generally honest if your chances are not looking good, or will they continue to be encouraging and positive until the final decision is made?

What are the clearest signs that you are likely or unlikely to get a return? I am especially curious about staffing, feedback, senior support, end-of-summer conversations, and whether people start treating you differently.

I understand that headcount can also affect the outcome, but I am mainly trying to figure out how much you can read into what your team says and does during the internship.

7 Comments
 

Yeah I’ll take a stab. I remember my group was up front about how competitive the summer would be and possibly not everyone gets a return. I think the analysts and associates were a bit misleading saying everyone would get a return, in the end that wasn’t true. While some people may say help fellow interns as they are going through the “battle” with you. I’d say look out for yourself, the rest of the summer just keep your head down, and do good work don’t help the other interns. A good indicator of your performance is your mid summer review. If they have little to no bad things to say, you’re gonna get it. If you have some mistakes such as ATD or communication then it’s something to worry about in regards to your return. When you get on the call to determine if you got a FT offer or not, realize truly it is not the end of the world. Sometimes not getting a return makes you a better analyst, more witty, and work harder. 

In the end mid summer review tells a lot and if the analysts talk to you a lot about random stuff they obviously fuck with you. Good luck man, I hope you get the return.

 
Most Helpful

Whatever you do, please do not listen to this person. I ran the internship program for my group at a top BB, and we have not given people return offers because we noticed they were not collaborative with their fellow interns. One of the key skills in IB is being collaborative and a team player in every single group / bank. I think most groups that aren't toxic would do that. 

Mid-summers are mostly to provide feedback; if you have a mid-summer with no negatives that means that your intern staffers dropped the ball. Usually groups will tell you if you are or are not on track, use that as basis not just the feedback you got. FYI: every single intern can improve on attention to detail or communication, just because it didn't get mentioned in your review it doesn't mean you are perfect at it.

 

Ignore the title I’m an intern.

If your mid summer feedback was below expectations because of communication, can you still turn it around? How much do they factor the mid summer feedback in determining return offers? Also how does the return offer process work in general?

 

Depends on bank but that’s often a bad sign - but generally if you show improvement and aren’t at the bottom of your class - can still get a return offer 

 

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