How to screen CVs? (London)
I am screening CVs for a summer intern position at a small buy side firm in London. I am solely responsible for the initial recruitment (screening + first round interview) as HR are clueless and seniors are too busy, but I am not that knowledgeable about what makes a good CV in the UK.
1.) If someone has done a spring internship at a BB/EB - how competitive are these? What exactly is done in such an internship?
2.) Finance societies - how competitive are these? One guy has mentioned that this student fund has quite a low admission rate, for example. Do you have to answer technical questions to gain admission to such a society, or do people just let in their mates?
3.) Realistically could a first or second year undergrad with a strong CV, from say UCL or LSE, pass a financial modelling test? Or would it be better to focus on students further along in their studies
4.) For those who have screened CVs before - how exactly do you decide? They look very similar to me honestly
Any advice appreciated!
Bump
Have experience screening intern CVs for buyside shops as a junior in London.
Spring Internships are competitive to get into but do not impart any real financial modelling abilities. On these internships students do teambuilding-esque activities combined with learning more about the firms and what is involved in IB / S&T / PE roles. Usually they culminate in some form of team-based presentation focused on a specific sector that is usually a pseudo-random allocation. For instance the team will be asked "Should X and Y merge?" where 1 / 2 people on the team will run a simple DCF and merger model but the other 3 will be doing other workstreams like strategy, background, and formatting.
Finance societies are a very mixed bag and usually add a point of interest for me when screening, particularly for leadership positions in the major finance societies which can be quite competitive. Not aware of all of the top tier societies but usually the big ones have an active LinkedIn presence where they publish relevant research reports. You can easily check the quality of their work on there. Imho I find other top tier extracurriculars more valuable than finance societies (national level sport / debate / speech / drama) but nice to see the proven interest (particularly if their coverage sector in the society is aligned to my team).
I think the proportion of UCL and LSE first and second years that think they could pass a financial modelling test is probably higher than the actual number that could. Typically the more technical of the first and second years are capable of running a simple 10-year DCF with a terminal value multiple and discounted to PV. Some can also run a very simple LBO, but if you're looking for an intern to really understand the key drivers of a financial model or the nuances of a complex business model or investment thesis then it's probably a little outside their grasp (big generalisation but broadly this is my experience with them).
When I screen I look at (general order of preference):
If the answer is 'yes' to number one then I will pretty much always arrange a call provided that they have at least some level of reasonable answers to the remainder of the questions. If I get past number three with no 'yeses' I move on. Most of the decent candidates have a 'yes' for at least number three so I use the answers to four onwards to differentiate between them.
Happy to elaborate further via DM.
Thanks for this. Do you prefer it when candidates condense their numerous spring weeks into one line on the CV? (I.e. Barclays / citi / Evercore / lazard, spring intern, vs. listed separately)
Actually a tough question. My personal preference is to have them separate (within reason).
In a world where you had Springs at LAZ / BARC / EVR and received offers from LAZ and EVR I would list them from most recent at the top and moving down with two bullets for each in the following way:
Spring Intern (received 2022 Investment Banking Summer Analyst offer) (April 2021)
Lazard
Spring Intern (received and accepted 2022 Investment Banking Summer Analyst offer) (April 2021)
Evercore
Spring Intern (March 2021)
Barclays
I get that this a pretty hardo move and some people on here might not like it but this is my preference. Unless you have many Springs with some at banks and some at say BP or Aviva (good but not materially relevant). I would pick your favourite three and then at the bottom of your professional experience section add an 'Other Experiences' section with a single bullet saying something along the lines of "participated in a further X Spring Internships in 2021 including at a, b, and c".
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