Incoming S&T SA Prep/Advice

Hey, congrats on the offer. I did an internship a couple of summers back on the credit floor, as well as working there full-time now. Desks will greatly vary in what they trade/what work they do/what they expect of interns, but I can throw a few pointers out:

1) The entire summer is a long networking event. Since you don't have any licenses to talk, chat, or meet with clients (i.e., 90% of the work), interns are judged on the next best thing -- how they talk, chat, or meet with the people on the desk. Yes, you might have other small things to do, like writing morning reports to the traders, or helping out with a certain project that requires a lot of research legwork, but that pales in comparison to the actual conversations you have with the people on the team. With that in mind, people will quickly figure out if you are not only a person who is interested in learning about the product/market, but also someone who has the EQ required to do the FT job well.

What can you do to practice? Not a lot. You should have a good idea if you're a social person or not. If you consider yourself among the latter, try to put yourself in situations where you're constantly forced to meet people for the first time. Sit in class at a completely different spot and try to make friends with everyone there. Knock on someone's door on your dorm floor and ask if they wanna get lunch. If you're sitting there thinking this sounds super awkward, you're right...it is. That's why it's better to practice in a consequence-free environment than by screwing it up where the entire desk is listening. 

2) At the end of a rotation, you should have talked to everyone on your desk more or less (you never know who decided to take their MBL when you rotate). This means that you should've learned the basics of the product(s) they trade/sell, how their specific market operates, and the ebb and flow of the desk. To test this, intern heads for that desk will likely assign you a project/pitch/presentation to show that you weren't just nodding your head for nothing during these chats. This may include Excel (like you mentioned), but it most likely relies more on the existing information/relationships you built with traders. Let me give you an example (I'm completely making up these names and numbers):

Please pitch a trade on the following bonds: GOOG 2045 Secureds (4.875), WMT 2034 Secureds (3.5), and LLY 2037 Unsecureds (5.375).

Pretty nebulous, right? How do you pitch bonds, let alone three in completely different industries? You'd start with looking at your BBG, seeing all the research there is, and where they trade in comparison to index spreads, but ultimately, you have no idea about a specific trade. Good -- you're not supposed to. The interns who built good relationships with the various traders and listened to what they had to say now have an excuse to have a quick follow-up conversation with them about the project. Confused about the GOOG cap structure? "Oh, I remember the trader who covers these names said that something about the long-end being overvalued. Let me shoot her a message and see if she has five minutes to give me feedback." Not only will this strengthen your pitch, but it will also give them evidence you're learning, curious, and now have a vested interest in your presentation.

Excel is good to know, but by no means as essential as it is in IB. Granted, some projects will include an aspect of this for sure, but the part I just explained is way more important.

What can you do to practice? Again, not a lot. I'd recommend just staying up-to-date with overall news of the economy, Fed, and how that generally can affect FI markets. This will save a portion of the steep learning curve during the internship, which can then be focused on more niche things surrounding the desk.

3) This is more of an underlying tip, but make sure you talk to people outside of your desk as well. Now, I'm not saying first day ignore your entire desk and go off talking with other teams. But, I will say that pigeonholing yourself to a singular desk is not an inherently smart idea. They may already have another intern in mind, or simply have realized that they can't accept anyone FT anymore. Or maybe you realize halfway through the rotation that the product is just not for you -- and that's okay. However, it's way easier to CONTINUE conversations with a desk you are interested in rather than to START them halfway through the internship. 

What can you do to practice? Nothing...I hope you're seeing a trend here. There's little to nothing to prepare for an internship like this, given the sheer amount of information you learn on the desk. We don't expect you to know anything coming in, so keep that in mind. If you do have a little knowledge from previous conversations or resources, great, but just remember that the desk will know exponentially more, so don't come off as a smart-ass.

TLDR: Make new friends, keep up with the overall markets, and be conscious of the simple things once you get there (be curious but humble, do the easy work right, and be respectful to everyone [including fellow interns]).