Best Response

Reposting as I was being a pussy before and deleted the post after fear that somebody may be able to identify me.

Background: Interned as a SA at a large bank's satellite office which is top 20 in IB fees but is not considered a BB and frankly has pretty weak brand equity

My Observations / Tips to the Internship Process:

  1. Be skeptical about whatever story you're being pitched during recruiting. Due your own due diligence on groups before accepting an offer by asking your network, searching on WSO, etc.

My bank advertised that A) # FT offers = # Interns and B) BB experience on your resume.

Both A and B were false. Reality was that A) # FT offers = 1/2 * # Interns and B) People not working at this bank don't see it on the BB-tier.

  1. Modeling seems to be very stressed in the forum and I naively thought that this would be part of my internship in a coverage group. In my coverage group, the coverage analysts did not model at all as the M&A team handled this.

PPT Skills > Excel Skills

  1. Satellite offices run their own recruiting and its processes seem to be more fragmented than NYC offices. CIP, data sources were a mess and standardized bank templates used by NY teams did not seem to translate over.

  2. Figure out who the key decision makers are in that office. Get coffee with them. Tell them you're interested in their space b/c of X, Y and Z. Ask if there is any project or research that you can do for them.

  3. Know your place as an intern, the whole thing about always having a good attitude is so important.

  4. Consistently seek informal feedback. I remember seeing a post how it helps to have at least one good non-working relationship with a FT; this is important as that person will be more likely to give your unfiltered feedback from the group.

 

sorry to hear about your experience but thanks for sharing it on WSO...

I also encourage anyone that is in a spot deciding between two banks...if they are close in ranking, you should definitely be looking at the intern to FT offer conversion %s from the WSO Company Database... especially for the previous summer (correlated)

 

Would be really helpful if WSO broke out intern to FT offer conversion % by each bank's office location as this level of granularity is typically asked in the survey, no?

According to WSO, the bank I was at historically has had well above-average return rates. Even though I'm guessing HR & the bank's financial planning team at their headquarters set these hiring targets, the satellite office I was in had lower conversion rates than NYC this year.

 
  1. Banks really pushing for more female candidates, 2/3rds of the summers were females and every female who applied for a FT position got it, even some who were seriously under qualified, though they were rather cute.

  2. Banks choosing to overhire SA's and just have lower ratio of FT offers rather than recruit from outside.

  3. Always save down your models as excel likes to crash and you could lose work and be yelled at.

 

FWIW - every single girl in my summer class got an offer.

I'll probably get MS for this, but I unequivocally believe from my limited experience that if you're a charming, good-looking white chick, you will have politics playing in your favor in banking.

 

Hic corrupti sed officiis alias vel. Explicabo quod ea dignissimos quam consectetur optio molestias. Fugit eaque qui eveniet inventore. Est nobis consequatur voluptates earum.

Sunt sint reiciendis illo. Quis fugit iusto qui. Aut labore quae facere aut ea eveniet esse debitis. Non enim deleniti corporis eos. Aut modi eius voluptas reiciendis. Repellat doloribus fuga ab laborum incidunt alias.

Sequi ut quia harum animi similique libero et. Alias voluptate recusandae rerum qui. Dolorum accusamus id alias corrupti fuga quisquam qui. Assumenda vitae consectetur totam debitis perspiciatis.

Career Advancement Opportunities

April 2024 Investment Banking

  • Jefferies & Company 02 99.4%
  • Goldman Sachs 19 98.8%
  • Harris Williams & Co. New 98.3%
  • Lazard Freres 02 97.7%
  • JPMorgan Chase 03 97.1%

Overall Employee Satisfaction

April 2024 Investment Banking

  • Harris Williams & Co. 18 99.4%
  • JPMorgan Chase 10 98.8%
  • Lazard Freres 05 98.3%
  • Morgan Stanley 07 97.7%
  • William Blair 03 97.1%

Professional Growth Opportunities

April 2024 Investment Banking

  • Lazard Freres 01 99.4%
  • Jefferies & Company 02 98.8%
  • Goldman Sachs 17 98.3%
  • Moelis & Company 07 97.7%
  • JPMorgan Chase 05 97.1%

Total Avg Compensation

April 2024 Investment Banking

  • Director/MD (5) $648
  • Vice President (19) $385
  • Associates (86) $261
  • 3rd+ Year Analyst (14) $181
  • Intern/Summer Associate (33) $170
  • 2nd Year Analyst (66) $168
  • 1st Year Analyst (205) $159
  • Intern/Summer Analyst (145) $101
notes
16 IB Interviews Notes

“... there’s no excuse to not take advantage of the resources out there available to you. Best value for your $ are the...”

Leaderboard

1
redever's picture
redever
99.2
2
Secyh62's picture
Secyh62
99.0
3
BankonBanking's picture
BankonBanking
99.0
4
Betsy Massar's picture
Betsy Massar
99.0
5
dosk17's picture
dosk17
98.9
6
GameTheory's picture
GameTheory
98.9
7
kanon's picture
kanon
98.9
8
CompBanker's picture
CompBanker
98.9
9
Linda Abraham's picture
Linda Abraham
98.8
10
numi's picture
numi
98.8
success
From 10 rejections to 1 dream investment banking internship

“... I believe it was the single biggest reason why I ended up with an offer...”