Did nothing during my internship - how to represent this on resume?

I've had 2 boutique IB internships, one during the semester soph year and one during soph summer. I'm getting ready for junior SA recruiting and wanted to work on some final edits for my resume. My second IB internship was really great, and I got to work on a lot of deals that I highlighted on my resume. My first one though sucked and I didn't get any actual deal exposure. The MD would basically email me spreadsheets to format or have me research random stuff on Bloomberg/Factiva. I never even know what I was researching for. Any ideas on how I can represent this on my resume? I'm only dedicating 2 bullets to it and I never even get asked about it, but I don't want it to seem as if I did nothing.

12 Comments
 

Isn't it late for SA?

[quote]The HBS guys have MAD SWAGGER. They frequently wear their class jackets to boston bars, strutting and acting like they own the joint. They just ooze success, confidence, swagger, basically attributes of alpha males.[/quote]
 
SonnyZHIsn't it late for SA?

Cant comment on the US system, but many of the schemes in London are open and some arent open yet, it varies from firm to firm.

Although I have just noted that the OP goes California so have no clue about how recruiting timetable works in the US.

Blue Horseshoe loves Anacott Steel
 
SonnyZHIsn't it late for SA?

No summer analyst OCR cycles have really begun yet. If you're non-target and you haven't started your efforts, then I'd imagine that you're late to the game.

"There are three ways to make a living in this business: be first, be smarter, or cheat."
 
Sandhurst
SonnyZHIsn't it late for SA?

No summer analyst OCR cycles have really begun yet. If you're non-target and you haven't started your efforts, then I'd imagine that you're late to the game.

When you mention "efforts," what are you actually referring to? Online applications? Networking? Interview prep? When would you advise that a non-target have all applications submitted?

 

I was in the same boat with one of my internships. I had something to effect of the following: - Researched and performed initial diligence on prospective clients that were strategic targets of our clients with a particular focus on ___ industries - Prepared pitch material including financial modeling, power point presentations, and market analysis via Bloomberg

If you really didnt do a lot, keep it short. If it comes up in an interview, just speak with familiarity of a particular industry or deal you focused on

 
Best Response

Your experience sounds pretty typical for any first year analyst a month or so into their job at a boutique / mm type firm. Honestly anyone screening resumes would expect that type of experience since you were only there for 8 weeks. Everyone, EVERYONE, embellishes on their resume; it's all about how you back up your embellishment / articulate your experience intelligently that separates the strong candidates from the mediocre ones.

Just be prepared to back up everything you put on your resume. For example, if you put that you worked on trading comps, a typical question you might come across would be: What types of metrics get looked at on trading comps in x industry? Do NTM EV / Rev and EV / EBITDA multiples increase or decrease compared to LTM EV / Rev & EV / EBITDA?

Although you might think your experience wasn't that strong, the reality of the situation is that you're in powerpoint > 50% of your time in banking especially as a first year. As long as you picked up an eye for formatting, got decent with powerpoint shortcuts you'll be value-add to any firm--just speak on your time at your internship intelligently and you'll be 100% fine.

 

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