Intern @William Blair Chicago - Wardrobe?
Gurus of the financial world,
I am a senior at a high school in the suburbs of Chicago right now and have a chance at interning at William Blair this coming summer (2017). As you may have guessed, I will be commuting back and forth rather than having an apartment for obvious reasons.
Does anyone have advice for what to have in my wardrobe by the summer, or what the dress code is like @WB? This is what I'm thinking will work.
-2 suits, navy and grey
-5 or 6 dress shirts, either white or light blue
-Black dress shoes (oxfords? captoes? brogues?)
-Brown dress shoes (oxfords necessary? No loafers?)
-Handful of solid or simple-patterned ties.
Anything else?
Thank you!
They keep snatching them earlier and earlier...
Don't know about WB, but worked at a boutique last summer, and had a similar wardrobe to what you proposed.
Navy suit - check.
Grey suit - check, but keep it on the conservative side.
Brooks Brothers is great for both. You don't need to drop megabucks on a suit, but it needs to be decent and fit well.
6-8 dress shirts. Start with 6, so you can have a shirt every day you're likely to be in the office and do dry cleaning once a week. Personally, I like to go with more white than light blue, but, either are fine. Start with all barrel cuff, since that is standard at most places, and be ready to add 1-2 french cuffs to your wardrobe if needed, as some offices are big on them (not sure about WB Chicago). Also, avoid shirt pockets. They can be a lightning rod for office banter.
Black dress shoes - check. I would avoid brogues - a bit flashy for an intern. http://www.toboot.com/shoes/Aidan/Black (My go to black shoes)
Brown dress shoes - check. Loafers are questionable, but maybe passable if they're really nice. Oxfords are always a safe bet. http://www.toboot.com/shoes/Medford/Cognac (My go to brown shoes)
Similar deal with ties to shirts. The standard is solid/simple pattern ties, BUT, some places are big on silly ties too. Start with ~5 simple ties, and be ready to add a few more goofy ones if that is how the culture ends up. I think straight solid ties can look a bit amateurish. For my 'solid' ties, I have a few ties with simple/subtle patterns that look close enough to solid, but have a bit more depth. For example: http://www.brooksbrothers.com/Solid-Non-Solid-Tie/MA02222,default,pd.ht… or http://www.brooksbrothers.com/mens/ties/0210,default,sc.html?pmin=1&sta… . Same with stripes if possible. Always good to have a conservative striped tie, but day to day, a bit of spice can make a good impression : https://us.burberry.com/classic-cut-check-silk-tie-p40065961 .
I would add in: Cufflinks (if the office is into those, which they may or may not be). Socks. Start with conservative black/dark navy plain. Be ready to whip out the pink polka dots if the office is big on it.
Good luck with WB.
You're an intern with two pairs of shoes that cost $400 each?
Got them on sale for $250 each. A bit on the expensive side, but apparently shoes matter, so I went for it.
What boutique has an intern wearing french cuffs and/or cufflinks the fuck
An incredibly posh* one, where almost every person went to the same target school, and it was a thing to wear the school's cufflinks (and sometimes other cufflinks) to work, even at the analyst level.
*The kind of posh where analysts are family friends with heads of state / have facebook photos of them with major politicians at family BBQs.
Wow. How'd you go from some preftigious place like that to an RE boutique?
Monk shoes? Cufflinks? Dotted socks? He's going to be the most junior intern in the entire fucking building.
WB is midwestern, so please for the love of god, don't show up with cufflinks. Two suits, standard dress shirts, black/brown caps, and some conservative ties are really all you need. I know it's general, but you'll have a better idea (and can ask) what you need if you land the offer.
This is terrible advice.
Depending on group dress code differs. Which office? Tends to be biz casual (suit no tie) for the most part. Feel free to PM me.
Edit - how the hell did you get WB for a pre-college internship lol
My guess is family connection to either senior management or a huge client. It'd be interesting to know what role this was for.
Honestly man, you better save up your paper route money because from what I've heard WB only hires pre-college interns who have rich dads so you'd better play the part. You need to roll into work first day in a suit that at least ran you 4k with a Hermes tie and Ferragamo loafers to match. 5-6 dress shirts would be acceptable if this was a 5-6 day internship, but if it's longer you'd better stock up because I've seen kids get cut for rewearing dress shirts and if you get cut this early you'll be marked for the rest of your finance career (you think Lloyd Blankfein fucked up his WB pre college internship? Guess again.)
Also make sure you talk a lot about all the fancy shit your Dad owns so that WB knows they made the right choice. Talk about all your Michigan beach houses, how you were behind home plate for every Cubs world series game, how big your Naperville McMansion is. Make sure your employer knows that there will definitely be some juicy fees down the road courtesy of Papa in exchange for your internship.
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