Should I put spring weeks on the employment/work experience section of online applications?
Was wondering if I should list them there since they aren't actual employment but it's strong brand name and I signed offer letters etc for them. Would they technically class as "work experience"?
Absolutely - this is market standard from what I've seen.
Obviously be clear about what they are (spring weeks) and not try to mislead, but everyone understands the typical process of spring weeks, internships, and conversion to graduate roles.
By the way, be prepared to answer the question of why you aren't going back to the same institution for an internship.
Thanks. What's a somewhat acceptable answer for that or are they always seen as a red flag? For example some had like a 10-20% conversion so would it be acceptable to say this?
They'll always be a bit of a red flag - but that just means "diligence further", not "unacceptable".
An acceptable answer does depend on you and the feedback you got to an extent, as well as the bank and team (e.g. if you were at a bank well-known to be significantly reducing headcount, your audience might be more charitable).
One story (if it's true) could be that you didnt know much about investment banking so got off to a slow start versus your peers and in the current environment, you think adversely impacted your chances.
Alternatively, you can say a specific but not damning reason, and show that you learnt. For exampleyou didn't realise the importance of networking around at first, particularly in the current market, but have realised just how critical that is, but aside from that you had a great experience and got excited about the industry.
Honestly there must be a WSO thread discussing this. If not you should make one. People will have better suggestions than me.
Thanks a lot. Not trying to make excuses but feels like from mine and my peers experiences this year that spring conversions were quite a bit lower than what they usually are. Not seen a bank which converted over 60% of their spring class this year and the ones I did were in the 15-30% range. They seemed more like glorified ACs rather than an internship.
Yeah I've read a lot from people not converting summer internships but was wondering if its the same red flag considering expectations of a return offer for a summer are better than converting a spring. Would you say its enough of a red flag that they would make my CV worse than just leaving them off?
In my view (and I for sure might not speak for all), include it for sure. Shows you know the industry a bit and have the appetite.
And candidly in the current market, I think people will be forgiving. We all know it's very tough out there. I also think most HR teams who screen the applications (we definitely don't screen them) look favourably in their filters on any kind of past experience.
Thanks a lot. Yeah I thought as much that HR would like them and would lead to more interviews, but on the flip side have heard stories of people getting grilled in the actual interviews about not converting etc. Although on the flip side the ones that I did were at top tier firms so I guess any bank below them in terms of prestige wouldn't take it as badly i.e. similar to when people don't convert summers then trade down a tier of bank for FT
Hey, I was wondering if you give me a bit of insight on this: Could I use my spring week conversion offer for leverage when summer applications open, for example using it as an exploding offer situation to get an interview quicker? I have received a front-office offer, but it's within wealth management. Would this help for IB or ER applications?
I'm not sure what you mean, but you're unlikely to get special treatment just because you have another offer. There are thousands of applicants for most roles and HR have enough scheduling trouble as it is.
Exploding offers and leveraging them can become useful much later in an interview process, but not at the initial application stage.
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