Advice for current internship position
I just started an internship in a corporate finance role at a big 4. However, I dont really have much to do, or if something very asinine. Supervisor tells me that people will come up to you with work but so far nothing has happened. So basically I sit at my desk doing nothing substantial and I'd hope to do something more meaningful in order to boost my CV.
Any advice what to do? I've asked people casually about the projects they are working on in order to hopefully get some role in them but nothing..
If you don't go to team meetings, start going to them. If your team doesn't hold team meetings, find a team that does (which does interesting work) and reach out to someone there to get invited. If you don't know how to get invited, start with the administrative assistant, they will be generally be the most helpful person there and will at least know who to ask, or, at least know who else on the team is helpful enough to help out.
Great, so now you are going to team meetings of buisness units which interest you, kudos. Hardest part comes next - at the first team meeting you go to people are going to wonder who the heck you are, here it gets a little subjective. One approach could be to just say hello I am XYZ the intern I really want to help out. They might assume that you are their intern, so much the better if you really do not have any work to do. Well anyway, somehow let it be known that you are there to help.
Next, stop casually asking people what they are working on, sorry to say it, but unless you have added some value to them in the past they aren't really going to care enough to explain their project to you. Instead, you are going to team meetings where they will be updating a senior level person on their projects. look for SPECIFIC ways that you can help them, or at least form some kind of suggestion. "Oh, you are trying to find the best low cost mutual fund manager in the healthcare industry? Why don't I look through Mornigstar and give you a list based off expense ratios and highlight those with returns in the top 10%. In my last job, I did a lot of this kind of work, so I know I can help out."
Lots of points here, you understood their project without having them need to explain it (ie waste their time), you saw what was a potentially needed step that they would probably dislike doing, you showed that you have an idea of what they are looking for (low expense ratios, high returns) and you said that you have experience doing this in the past (this shouldn't be a flat out lie, but if it really is a simple task, then it shouldn't matter).
Yes, you are going to do asinine tasks. It does not seem like you have proved your worth (hard to do sometimes) to many people yet, or they would be asking you to do work for them. Just get out there and ask pointed questions, follow through with those people, and look for how you can add value to them.
If it hasn't become clear already, I have been in this position before but have followed the steps outlined above and gotten good results.
Also, apologizes for some of my curtness - I obviously don't know the situation, or you, but I have not had my coffee yet.
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