Preparing for an IB internship

You don't need macros, just know your shortcuts

Honestly the biggest thing for securing a FT offer is to work hard and have a good attitude. That being said, it's definitely helpful to come in with decent knowledge of excel/ppt so you aren't wasting a ton of time trying to figure out how to format things, etc. To that end, shortcuts are generally much more useful to learn first than macros.

There are some cases when macros are obviously helpful, but shortcuts/generally knowing how do do things is far more important, especially as an intern. Plus, its possible that the FT analysts already have macros they can share with you if there is a really manual task that is often requested.

In short, focus your preparation on understanding concepts and familiarizing yourself with excel/ppt

How did you go about looking for off-cycle internships? (assuming you don't go to Dartmouth)

Also, what level banker did you call? MDs/VPs/Associate? What was your opening line? Did you email them first and call if you never heard back or go straight for the cold call?

Does anyone else have any advice. Thanks a lot.

Grimloge:

Hey guys,I'm starting my internship in a little over a month within IBD at BB, and I need some advice.How many dress shirts should I have?What colors should I have?How many ties should I have?How many suits should I have?What color suits should I have?What should I wear on casual Fridays?Thanks in advance!

How on earth did you get an internship not having this kind of thing figured out?

1. One for every day of the week, plus an extra for when you spill coffee. Yes I'm aware you don't necessarily need to wash them every time.

2. Powder blue and white

3. Up to you. 3-5 should do it. ONLY wear Red, Blue, or Yellow. No stripes. To some people other colors are considered to be too bold ( "you haven't earned that yet", actual quote) and stripes make you look "green" because stripes are traditionally associated with school colors. Plain colors or conservative patterns only.

4. Go to Men's Wearhouse and get the deal for 3 suits. All that matters is that they fit well and don't look like you bought them at the dollar store. Wearing an expensive suit as an intern will probably be viewed as pretentious.

5. Charcoal and Navy only.

6. Ask someone. You'll start on Monday which gives you plenty of time to settle in and figure it out. Odds are this will be covered in the packet you get on your first day.

Bump

You just said that you know you won't be building a model in your internship, yet you're asking whether or not you should spend money on modeling classes? After you said you learned it for free?

Go enjoy your winter break, you'll be fine with whatever you've done so far.

enjoy the rest of the year...no need to prepare!!

I wouldn't bother too much with industry reserach unless you are in a very specific industry, where you can reasonably identify the companies you would be covering. Knowing the basics of the industry and reading a primer or two should be plenty of background. Unless you are in a restructuring group, you wouldn't be expected to know much around transaction structures.

Working in PowerPoint in Excel is usually the best way to prepare.

Also interested on this topic. If anyone has insight on whether being more prepared for the SA stint and having the skills that allow you to be on more complex projects early makes you more likely to be given a FT offer, that'd be great.

Couple of pieces of advice: 1. As an SA start small and work your way up. Hard to prep for how bankers want things on the job, so crush the really small tasks first (finding these numbers, adding logos to those charts), and then work your way up. Under promise and over deliver. The worst thing you can do as an SA is come to me, tell me you want to build a model we have to do for me, and then you make a bunch of mistakes and me have to go through and fix it. A better way to go about things is to appear to be curious -- to ask me if you can sit while I model this out if you are free, and then I can explain things along the way, and you can figure out that you grow PP&E on the balance sheet using the formula change in PP&E = CapEx - Depreciation, rather than doing the model by yourself, keeping PP&E constant and wondering why your balance sheet doesn't balance. In banking, perception often becomes reality. You have the opportunity to shape your reality into a positive one by being positive, understanding your strengths and weaknesses, and going from there. Bankers often use analysis they develop to support their recommendations to clients. Use the right decisions to make the case to the people you're working with that you're going to be a great FT analyst if they hire you. I may be saying the same thing over again but every year there are people who ignore this and suffer as a result, so hopefully I'm providing a useful public service announcement.

2. You should spend your time enjoying yourself in college in these months. Obviously if you feel really really rusty with the stuff you studied in interviews it can't hurt to read some valuation books etc or maybe read a sheet of excel shortcuts if you know what version of Office your bank uses, but other than that you shouldn't really prepare.

3. Attitude, work ethic, good communication, and asking the right questions when you are confused or wrong are all keys to getting FT offers from summers. Why?

a) If you do these things, generally your work will be better. Banking is not rocket science -- once you do things enough you'll get a feel for it. If your work is better, then people will think you are more competent.

b) Even if you were a star summer and did 2 previous summers at top-of-the-line banking groups or something, demonstrating to senior bankers that you have the right attitude to enjoy the business, communicate effectively with CEOs of clients and senior bankers and last for at least two years will a key piece of getting a full time offer. If you have a bad attitude about the business, that's the best way to adversely impact your chances of getting a FT offer, even if you're excellent technically. The FT stint is a marathon, and senior bankers want to find analysts that have the stomach to be in it for the long haul. The best way to tell if you can last for 104 weeks and stay positive through it is to see if you can make it 10 weeks and stay positive through that.

4. Have fun! Go to the events -- socialize with your class. See if you actually like banking. Ask yourself if you really enjoy the business. Because if you don't or don't see the value in it, there are many other rewarding things you can do with your life. Figure out what's right for you.

Great stuff above. I found the most important thing is attention to detail!

Here is what I would suggest:

Don't worry about the excel / PPT. Chances are, your bank will have some Macro that you've never heard of and will be starting from ground zero anyways.

Network HARD with the groups you want in for your SA. Network with other banks. Send e-mails to contacts that helped you along the way (and to those that did not help you) and to let them know what you are going to be doing.

Good luck to your summer stint!

Have you even been placed into a group yet? I know at this point I hadn't even found my group for sure yet.

drink excessively every chance you get now to make up for the lack of going out / fun during your internship

also because if you are blacked out 24/7 you will have more friends - factual statement

sharkmonkey, I think what you're doing is fine unless the bank told you to prep some other way. Will there be a training program? If so, that will cover virtually everything that you need to know.

I'm an intern right now. Just read the news and make sure you're up-to-date. Going over some basic accounting will help too. The work's not that hard but it's very process-specific and therefore, unique to each bank and group. Most of the learning curve is just adapting to what each group likes to do, how it likes to do it, etc. Hopefully that makes sense.

Good luck!

You'll be asked to do rather basic things first and once you've gained their trust, then they'll give you more meaningful work and help you through the process of completing it. Because there is no training program, there is not much that they expect you to know.

I’d suggest browsing Macabacus template models (operational, DCF, etc). Have a look at the website’s explanations, and also try to recreate them. It’s really useful for learning excel — including their shortcuts — as well as the theory behind them.

The stuff you were supposed to know when going through the interview process.

What's your beta?

Learn the technical stuff that you know you already dont know. You will likely get taught alot of what is needed during your training period but brush up on concepts, excel etc.

Valuation and modeling plus a lot of Excel.

Don't worry on the finance front. Plenty of people enter banking without strong finance backgrounds (myself included). The big banks all know this and are good at ramping you up slowly. Most of the intern work starts off pretty menial anyways.

Some basic dos and donts:

1. Always be professional and treat people with respect even when you think no one's watching / you shouldn't have to.
2. Do a good job on the stupid stuff. It' s a test to see if you can handle real work, and it will save your analyst time.
3. Always print your work and check the paper before handing it in... you'll be amazed at the mistakes you find.
4. It's not a competition, be a team player and make friends with the other summers and analysts ... but don't be the overly annoying summer who's always trying to grab coffee when your analysts are busy
5. Be efficient with your time... know whether or not your bank provides a research team that you can use; use LogoIntern and BamSEC; be accurate, but don't waste time.
6. Secretaries and printing teams have WAY more power than you think. Be overly polite and courteous.
7. Be humble and willing to work hard.

Anyone else...?

I see why they select non-finance students. You're a solid writer, as well as the above self-proclaimed non-finance poster above. Congrats, dude.

juni0rm1stmaker, babymonkey357's list is pretty good. Read the Succeeding on the Job thread in the WSO Hall of Fame for the IB forum. Now, read them again. Basically, if you act like a decent human being and never make the same mistake twice while showing some level of competency, you should get a return offer.

One important thing to note is to never make the same mistake twice. Notice how I did not say "do not make mistakes". You are expected to make mistakes, which is why an analyst will be watching you like a hawk and checking your work. But, never make the same mistake twice. If you do, it will be perceived as incompetence and that you don't care enough to fix it. Something that helped me (and something that I still do) is keeping a notebook where I list every single mistake that I make (e.g. not proofreading emails, using the wrong color blue, not opening up attached documents before hitting send, etc.). Then, set yourself a calendar reminder once a week to review all the mistakes you made during that week and come up with a solution to never making that mistake again (hint: F7 and printing everything out to proofread will be your most listed solutions).

If you have some free time before starting your internship, I suggest doing some reading (don't waste time on modeling classes or anything....your bank will put you through that on their time and dime). One book that I would highly suggest is The Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right by Atul Gawande (your school library probably has it, as will most public libraries). I would also suggest checking out ESPN daily (especially if you're not into sports), as well as Seeking Alpha's Wall Street Breakfast. You will most likely never be asked for your opinion on anything, but try to have one so that if asked, you don't sound uneducated.