Are S&T interns actually useful?
Incoming Sales & Trading intern and I'm looking for some advice/insights. I want to know what a typical day looks like on the desk. I understand that the work can be pretty mixed, but are interns ever given structured projects, or is it mostly helping out in different ways?
For those who have done S&T internships before, what tasks did you work on the most? Were any assignments meaningful to you? Since interns can't talk to clients or execute trades, what are ways to add value during the summer besides networking?
If you're FT and work with any interns, what kind of tasks do you usually give them? Any advice for standing out, pitching trade ideas, learning, or making the most of the internship? Any thoughts or stories would be really helpful. Thanks!
S&T internships are unique in that interns often face challenges in directly contributing to the desk due to restrictions like not being able to trade or interact with clients. However, there are still meaningful ways to add value and make the most of the experience. Here's what you need to know:
Typical Day and Tasks
How to Add Value
Advice for Standing Out
Key Takeaways
While the tangible work you do as an S&T intern might not always feel impactful, the real value lies in learning, networking, and demonstrating your potential. By being proactive, curious, and prepared, you can leave a strong impression and make the most of your internship.
Sources: How to be a good S&T Intern, Q&A: Sales And Trading Internship, Do's and Dont's as a Trading Intern, Working Abroad in Investment Banking, Sales and Trading - A Comprehensive Guide
No
thank you for your insight
well to be a bit more serious here...I would advise to
I would only expect those 2 from snt intern, but what managers expect might be a bit different.
One of our interns is tasked with making tableau dashboards and etc. Or helps with some research tasks. Not at a BB, so maybe easier for this type of work to be assigned out though
"Any advice for standing out, pitching trade ideas, learning...."
I don't think we'd want trading ideas from our intern who put $35k on the chiefs and daily gambles on 0tde. In terms of standing out, would just see if you can help in any way
Very dependant on the firm and country,in Canada for example, interns are actually given a lot of responsibility, booking trades, talking with clients and getting trades done, creating algorithms that generate alpha, and depending on the desk take on positions with risk( I’ve seen interns with trades of 30k dv01). Meanwhile at BB this is not the case, from what I have seen it is alot more based on shadowing the sales and trading people and trying to develop that relationship
Just wrapping up a Canadian Big 5 S&T internship and definitely agree with this. A surprising amount of responsibility is given to interns.
What desk were you? Same experience on my end, got given the opportunity to actually trade in the market either insane amounts of risk
I think you have a good mindset.
Understand that as a s&t intern, you add zero value to the sales or trading process. But you can be beneficial to the team by:
1. Not causing headaches as you learn
2. Remove annoying things
Doing both with good energy (not creepy over the top like that guy in industry who OD’ed), and being a generally likeable person who can read the room is core.
Then it depends on the desk / what you’re actually doing - more points if you come with a humble attitude wanting to learn, but with the hallmarks of “getting it”. For some desks this is trade ideas, for others it’s ability to summarise news flow from overnight, for others it’s a program that makes some of the trading or sales operations smoother etc,
That’s honestly about it.
Great questions: The most notable interns are those who pose insightful queries, make straightforward trade suggestions, and demonstrate genuine interest in the dynamics of the desk.
They are useless, it's just a giant interview. Nobody needs interns, we just give them things to do to judge their skills.
when you're giving them these tasks, are you trying to judge baseline skillsets or are you judging skills that they should be developing over their summer? What are some of those skills that would be useful to develop early on/before starting the internship?
Excellent initiative, being inquisitive, posing insightful queries, and figuring out how to reduce desk time through automation or research are the best ways to stand out.
Short answer: No
Long answer:
This is basically a highly paid networking internship. The best interns are usually those who are able to balance well between showing genuine interests for the markets, and not acting like an insufferable smart aleck that thinks he/she knows everything by gambling on crypto/0dte options.
If you are given a structured project to work on, usually the best feedback is given to those interns whom are able to source data/resources from the people around the trading floor (sales, traders, research and structurers) to hunt for opinions and feedback on their progress on the project, rather than being desk bound all day long and not speaking to a single soul on the desk . Now this sounds easy but it is not easy to execute that without coming across as an annoying bug - hence EQ matters A LOT for your internship.
There is usually no structure for your internship, and you have to proactively hunt for work. Don’t be that intern that says/thinks “Hmm i’m not going to speak to /shadow that analyst/associate since he/she does not have any hiring power”. Feedback from everyone MATTERS A LOT. One “No” matters a lot more than tne “yes”.
this might be a dumb question but do you simply just ask to shadow someone? Is that the norm? And also is it typically for the day or an hour or until they tell you to do something else?
Back in the days I would walk straight up to a trader/sales (during quiet market times, lunch time especially) briefly introduce myself and ask them when would it be a good time for me to shadow them. Now some may find this approach a bit aggressive, hence execution is key, so the safer approach for most would be to drop them a teams chat instead but personally i would prefer a more personal touch to this.
During my S&T internship, I mostly helped with market updates, data pulls, and research. Some desks gave small projects. Best way to stand out: be proactive, ask smart questions, and stay sharp on market moves.
thanks for the insight - were these market updates are a proactive thing that you took initiative to do and would send them to people on the team or was it known that the interns would organize a market update? Was it like a quick email or more of a report that was built out?
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