With just under 2 months to go for the start of most summer IB internships, what are some of the best pieces of advice you can give to a SA looking for that return offer? For a little bit of added context, I am not an excel/modeling guru and do feel a bit underprepared. Thanks in advance.
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Work hard and don’t make the same mistake twice. No one expects much from an SA- as long as you’re clearly trying your best and learning as you go, nothing else matters. Also be a normal likeable person, that’s really all it takes
Came here to say exactly this.
1. Seriously, do everything in your power to not make the same mistake twice. Any time I would make a mistake as an intern I would add it to my list of mistakes and double check every deliverable for those mistakes. Proving you learn from your mistakes is critical.
2. Try to connect with the analysts you work with as much as possible. Ideally you can create a strong bond and view them as a friend or mentor, or maybe even both.
3. Always make an effort. Are you going to leave early? Ask every analyst and associate you work with if there is anything you can do to help. Make sure all your work is done and done well before ever leaving early.
4. Learn all the excel shortcuts you can before you get started. If you master these, learn the PPT ones. Alt + JD + A + A +T and so forth for PPT save you a lot of time. Wish I did have to learn those as I built out my first few CIMs during my first real IBD internship.
I’ll be a SA also this summer, if I have a Mac does it make sense to learn excel shortcuts on Mac even though the computer I use at the firm will probably be windows?
Nope, dont worry about learning the shortcuts on Mac, youll never use one for work. Plus they are very restrictive in their "shortcut" offerings
gotcha. How would you recommend that I prepare regarding shortcuts then?
Dont learn Excel shortcuts you won't be touching any models anyway and at best will be spreading comps but probably analyst can do that in 10 minutes while you taking 2 hours to do everything so he will probably do it.
More painstaking parts are changing colors and editing logos or shifting timelines that are manually set up. Learn PPT shortcuts first by creating a similar PPT deliverable (Goldman 13's PPT is actually pretty good exercise here to mimic or just any pitchbook tbh) and try making that mostly using short cuts (i.e. scarcely use mouse for alignment, creating text boxes and shapes should be all shortcuts, etc)
But tbh most important part is not making the same mistake
Edit: Sorry didn't actually answer your question. You can use school's computer or run a virtual machine and do it there. No need for a high end stuff, just enough to run excel/PPT
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Would echo the above. Showing initiative and a desire to want to learn / get involved on deals (without overdoing it and accepting that your ability to meaningfully contribute as an SA is limited) will go a long way too.
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