Intern season is in full bloom, and I've been working with my share of interns this summer. Here are some thoughts thus far on what has separated the wheat from the chaffe.
1) We have this one kid who isn't even working for our desk (yet) asking for work. He knows he's rotating to our desk in the second half of the summer, so he's getting a head start on what we trade and what projects we might have him work on. By doing this he has shown an excellent work ethic, ability to gather information (who knows how he found out where his next rotation is) and some interesting time management. He says his current group is often too busy to give him work, so he can start looking at stuff we do. He has, at once, demonstrated that he goes looking for work and that he has the ability to see when not to bother people too much. Good stuff, kid. I would advise, however, to be careful with pulling moves like this too much because if the group he's currently working for hears too much of this, that could be bad news.
2) Another kid, not on my desk, has been known to take a walk on the job. He has, unfortunately, been placed in a seat that is across the room from his group (bad seating arrangement, but you have to make do when seats are in precious demand). Taking advantage of his situation, he has decided to spend a lot of time away from the desk, running errands, eating lunch, going for strolls, meeting with friends, etc. He thinks nobody knows because his group sits so far from him. Dumb kid shouldn't be surprised when he doesn't get an offer. People talk.
3) There's a girl who asks a lot of questions. That's generally very commendable. Less commendable when she hovers a lot during busy times. I think I've mentioned this in a different post, but I heard a couple market makers getting pretty annoyed by her.
4) One guy actually tried to correct a market maker in his price. That's pretty stupid. Needless to say, he was wrong. In fact, this guy is generally overly cocky and pisses people off by trying to tell them what they should do. Not a good idea. Even though cockyness is pretty common on the floor, correcting people who've been doing this stuff for years is a bad idea. Also a great way not to get a job.
That's all for now. Lots of negatives, only one good. Well, as I keep quoting, "the internship is yours to screw up."
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2 comments:
This is an old post but I would like to comment upon. This is my 3rd year interning at the same company, different division. I must say its hard making a good impression, the hardest part of an internship is asking for work and determining "if people are too busy." One hand you can bother them, the other you'll look like a fool for not asking enough questions. So the best skill an intern could have is being aggressive yet determining the body language of your coworkers enough to know if your bothering them. I've also accepted that I am shit on the heirarchy, literally. I am the doo doo that comes out of the analyst's ass.
After three continuous summers of being the doo doo I have become better at it and I think I may be urine now (not as bad, but still close to shit).
-Zack
Thank you for beingg you
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