I've heard most IBs do a capstone type project for their interns and they present it to the team / senior bankers at the end of the summer. How important are these in determining a return offer?
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At my bank (which I won't disclose but which is, I'd say, fairly representative - not a boutique shop or anything) it's important, but not everything.
HR will typically ask for a review of interns across a few metrics, one of which is the project. Ultimately, if an intern was outstanding across the other metrics, but sunk the project, then the other metrics will pull through. That said, most interns can't be outstanding (by definition - we need to rank one way or another), and so the typical intern who really didn't grasp the project might be pulled down by that. In this industry, everyone tends to be highly performing, and most people tend to be nice when writing reviews; recruitment commitees / HR will often be looking for reasons not to give an offer than to give one, and any metric that stands out clearly will be noticed.
Also keep in mind that performance in the project will bias people's judgment for the other metrics. People tend to give opinions (generally in life) based on things that are easy to recall. If your LBO model in your presentation had clear flaws and showed a lack of understanding, then the reviewer will probably remember that when they write up the section of their review around technicals.
I thought usually the junior team makes the decision to hire? Like they all get in a room and discuss the interns, not HR.
Yep that's right, but the junior team are more submitting a "recommendation", and will be asked for offers, declines, or maybes. In banks with many teams, HR (usually with the staffers) will make the final decisions in a group discussion / committee (imagine Industrials has 5 interns and they're all so-so, but M&A had 5 superstar interns)
I see. So like assuming a group like M&A in your example has only 4 spots available in their FT class, but all 5 were exceptional interns, HR might coordinate an offer for them to join the industrials team?
Also, at your bank does the project hold about equal weight as compared to other factors (such as fit, work over the summer, attitude) or less / more?
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