Should My Intern Get a Return Offer?
Edit: To reframe my question, do you now think my intern will be able to get a return offer given everything below and him receiving poor mid-summer feedback, and will that be because of me?
I am a first year investment banking analyst at a BB and working with a summer analyst who is not meeting my expectations for a few reasons:
1. Poor communication. He doesn't communicate his progress on work and misses deadlines. This is the main thing I'm annoyed by because there were nights where I'm waiting to review something from him and he would turn it in late without letting me know in advance
2. Sloppy work. His work has a lot of errors, although its improving as he's now linking correct sources and not hard-coding the wrong cells, so not all hope is lost. However, I am having trouble trusting that his work is error-proof, so I need to dedicate my time checking the little details.
3. Trouble prioritizing work. He is on a lot, but struggles prioritizing what is more important. I've seen him struggle with juggling staffings.
The positives are that he is technically capable, very receptive to feedback, and had a good attitude about asking for ways to improve when he was told he wasn't meeting standards. He did a good job with his intern projects and clearly is trying to get the return offer.
However, I'm not sure how to full trust his work again given all the previous mistakes. Plus, I don't think I will be working with him in the future anyways, so I can't really judge his progress. I also don't really want to work with him in the future either and am annoyed by him. I like working with the other interns more, and they are doing a better job.
Other people on my team have noticed the same thing as me and have been telling me his communication is getting better and he stopped missing deadlines. I can't verify that personally though. However, he is still making mistakes, making it hard to trust his work. In terms of team fit, he's a nice kid, but somewhat socially awkward.
So do you think it's worth me to keep investing time into this person, or is it fair if I write him off as not coming back to the firm?
Yes. If he’s shown some improvement and is receptive to feedback it’s worth keeping him for that.
Remember he’s 6 weeks into the job
Ignore intern I’m a 3rd year asso
He got below standards for his mid summer review, so I’m not sure if he’s even going to get a return as I’m not sure how screwed he is
This is definitely that interns burner account
.
If other interns are doing a better job while working with you (less mistakes, better communication issues), then feel free to rank them higher. But my guy, he's an INTERN. Interns know absolutely nothing. It's on you to teach and be patient. You should never solely rely on an intern's work. It's on an intern to show interest in learning, making progress, and asking questions.
Your social awkward point is moot. Finance people in a room full of non-finance people look borderline autistic. If you enjoy his presence, that should be enough.
Communicate to him/her these concerns. If they are receptive of the feedback and improves, they should be fine
My intern did not meet my expectations, but I still wanna keep him. Don't wanna do more mandatory random coffee chats, acting nice, and wake up at 8 AM for a random superday
‘My intern’? Your title says intern…
Fuck you asshole
I've never seen anyone post something like this You do not need our opinions. If he improves yes as said above, if not then let him learn the hard way, it builds character.
JFC, he’s an intern…
None of them are particularly useful over the summer and all these mistakes are mistakes first year analysts make months into the job. How can you be ready to write off someone like this who is improving ?
Were you molested as a child or did your mom drink when she was pregnant with you? If not, you should seriously evaluate who hurt you growing up.
Nah bro he got a poor mid summer performance for the reasons I stated above. I don’t think he’s going to get the return, but I also don’t know for certain
Maybe because he spent most of his time working for you and you fucked him over…?
Absolutely give him feedback directly but if he is working hard for you, at least support him in his reviews. Holy shit dude. Way to be an asshole
what are things youd like to see from him to change your decision if its the midpoint?
Lol at this post. I promise you, you were just as bad as an intern and probably your first few months on the job.
If you are trying to "fully trust" an intern's work, that is more of a you problem and is an issue with your ability to accept that you are no longer at the very bottom and have to actually review things now than it is the intern's problem. At my bank, we literally received an email right before interns started with instructions and it emphasized like 5 different times that we had to very carefully check everything they do. That should be common sense. I feel bad for whoever works under you in the future.
Hi I’m the intern. Your takes are straight cap since I was bussin updates and deadlines while you were busy being a chopped unc. My work is sigma not sloppy and I juggle staffings no problem. Overall the team vibes with my rizz and loves my low taper fade. You’re a retarded mid for writing me off, stop posting about me before I DM your girl (or guy, I’m not gay but I’d cuck you for the love of the game).
Type shit.
VP said trajectory matters a lot - see how they develop? It’s your call of course, hard to tell without meeting the person and watching them work. Rather hire someone who consistently improves than one than starts well, plateaus then burns out/declines…
stanford prison experiment only dreamed of seeing this level of power derangement from faux social roles. "should my intern get a return" brother you are a first year analyst, you format appendix slides, smile and nod
I love you
OP, you could not be more of a loser If you tried
It's your fault for assuming an intern is going to be doing good enough quality work to where you will not be giving comments or not have anything to correct. That is a very unreasonable expectation and the fault is mostly on you. Prioritizing work is a skill you learn over time, no intern is good at prioritizing simply because they have never done the job before. However, an intern ideally would be improving exponentially as they do most work; so if they still have basic issues in week 8 vs. week 3 or 4; that is more of a red flag. I think communication skills a bit of a cop-out of negative feedback as everyone has different communication styles, but if everyone thinks the intern has bad communication skills, I think it's a red flag.
TLDR: yes, and the bad mid year review is likely because of you. I also ran an internship summer previously and a mid year review is not that relevant for determining returns unless they screwed something up terribly. It's only useful for seeing if interns improve on their feedback.
I know at least one other analyst who also wrote poor communication, but I think some of the other people on the team think his communication is fine. I just wrote what I experienced
Yes, think that is just a case of diferent communication styles, but also the intern should be adapting or at least trying to adapt to different communication styles. I think you should have a sit down and explain to him the nuances of time management / prioritization and communcation given you might've effectively screwed him over for your mistakes in his mid-year.
It seems like you work a lot with this intern, so it is very likely the overall negative feedback stemmed from your unreasonable expectations. I am shocked the juniors in your group did not receive further guidance on expectations for interns; it should never be the expectation that an intern produces work that requires no comments from an analyst especially within the first half of the internship.
Three verified professionals in this thread, independently, landed on the same conclusion: the mid-summer review says more about you than him. You're fresh off being the new guy nobody could fully trust either, and instead of sitting with that, you're in the replies re-litigating "he's not getting the return" like that justifies you tanking an intern's career over week 1-5 mistakes. Self-reflect, or just accept you're the asshole in this story.
I’ve got a variant view. Interns will make mistakes, but the bigger problem is communication. There’s really no excuse for consistently missing deadlines, not communicating about workload, and genuinely being annoying / causing upstream problems due to being delayed, especially at a BB when so many competent kids are fighting for that spot.
I agree communication is the bigger red flag over pure technical mistakes, but the fix for that is proactive communication from the analyst/associate too, it's a two-way street, not just an intern problem. Maybe I'm defensive on this because it was my case starting out, before I got someone giving me proactive feedback instead of just silently judging me, a lot of interns go quiet on deadlines because they're scared of being seen as slow, not because they don't care.
And OP said themselves the intern's communication is improving and he's stopped missing deadlines. That alone tells you this kid is trending the right way. Nobody's should be expecting an intern to be perfect with anything, the bar is showing the right attitude and improving on feedback, and by OP's own account, he's doing exactly that. I feel strongly about this one, I came from a non-finance major background and got a shot because someone was patient with me early on, so it's hard not to see a bit of myself in this kid. Worth noting: I ended up top bucket both analyst years and I'm about to start as a senior associate at a top UMM firm after getting directly promoted, so it can work out as long as it's clear the intern is improving.
how did op get a return offer himself, sounds like a nightmare to be around
I could tell this job is your absolute life bro and u think ur the man LOL
stick to the devil you know
Generally speaking, when analysts write negative reviews for an intern, does that usually lead to an awkward relationship? Or do analysts generally not expect the relationship to become awkward and don’t take it personally? Are negative reviews common during midterm reviews?
“I'm not sure how to fully trust his work again given all the previous mistakes.”
LMAO you are a first year analyst. Part of the job of anyone above you is to NEVER trust YOUR work. And you’re putting these standards on an intern.
The duties of a summer analyst is to have a good attitude and show they are coachable with basic skills to do the job. The fact that you’re showing less grace to him than most associates show analysts throughout their 2-3 years is telling.
I never cared about how good their work product was as long as they were improving and had a coachable attitude. Most analysts I’ve worked with throughout my entire career struggled early on - but I guess you must be the superstar first year I’ve only heard legends about.
This analyst is 100% bottom bucket from all the responses to posters far more senior than them. I have tried to be helpful, but feel like they refuse to take feedback. I truly wonder how they got a return offer. The only things that matter for interns is being coachable and having a good attitude, from all these replies: this analyst doesn't have either nor does the analyst have an ability to take accountability for their actions in screwing over this intern for no reason.
Replace the intern with Claude.
If the attitude is there and he’s willing to learn then I think you need to let it go
You keep on talking about good communication and mistakes.
Just curious what 'Bad' communication looks like vs 'Good' communication in your eyes?
Interns must make mistakes. Get out of here, it’s his first real-world deliverables. Finance is not SpaceX, it becomes easier with repetition
Imagine you’re the intern reading this post knowing exactly it’s you they are talking about 😂
To get this straigh... all the people here think interns should automatically get returns even when they do horrible? Mind you, these interns are the ones describing themselves as fast learners, resiliant and finance interested to get these jobs.
Why even hire interns then, when they get offers with bad performance anyways? Just scrap the whole SIP.
Looks as if you did not check your own post for mistakes.
Imagine being an intern knowing your Associate is relying on WSO to decide whether you deserve a return offer.
Finance is an industry where people fail upwards. If your intern is a smart guy most likely in 5-10yrs his career will end up fine. Give him a chance. At the end of the summer, just tell him when he gets a return you did him a favor. Just say hey look, you seem smart / hardworking, these are the things you messed up this summer, I think you have potential so I gave you a good review. When you come back full time just keep this in mind b/c no one can cover for you.
2-10yrs in the future you might need a favor from him on something mundane. If he doesn’t get a return offer you are making a bet his career is finished, if you pull through for him and let him know ppl are grateful when they are young.
It’s shortsighted to not give an intern who is trying their best a return offer. Makes sense if they are intentionally lazy, lying, or etc. I’m 6 yrs removed from banking and I still remember who was nice to me and who wasn’t.
Also, having been there, that summer between Y1 and Y2 is extra stressful b/c you prob have less analysts than normal. Under stress everyone gets more annoyed.
Just some things to think about in playing the long game. 95% of analysts don’t stay in banking forever.
dude you suck lmao someone probably thought the same shit about you as an intern but had the kindness and grace to not ruin a kids senior year over it
genuinely walk into your staffers office swallow your pride and say you made a mistake and would support this kid getting a return. you sound like the worst lol, pls get laid
IMO turn and burn. There are more hungry kids out there that would do a better job…. He was just lucky enough to know to memorize a dcf as a sophomore
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