Summer Intern Season

Summer interns are back again, but this time they've entered the market at a rather interesting time. Normally summertime is a relatively quiet season. We welcome summer interns because we have more time than usual to teach new hires the ropes. Summer is marked with outdoor bar trips, early fridays for trips to the hamptons, and MDs taking vacation to spend time with their children who are off school.

Not so much this year.

Well, we may still have the outdoor bars and a couple early fridays to unwind in the hamptons, but you can be sure that this summer will be a lot more hectic than the usual summer. The market in turmoil, summer interns may find the associates at their firm have less time to teach. The decreased headcount across firms may mean that fewer associates are available to share their time, especially as the ones that are left pick up the responsibilities of those who left. So how is an intern to navigate thier internship when there seems to be so little time for them?

Persistence is key, as always. Perhaps more than ever though, staying late and getting in early may really get you ahead this season. I know I find the most time to teach young associates and help with projects after hours. After I'm done with my work around 6pm, I'm likely to help analysts, techies and interns better understand their projects between 6pm and 8pm. Don't try to make people stay late to help you, but many people will be glad to stick around. When it comes down to it, your learning will eventually translate into their doing less work. So an intelligent associate will train you to be able to take some of the workload asap.

Be sure to try to listen into calls, take notes of things you don't understand throughout the day, and stay involved. Just because everyone seems too busy to talk to you doesn't give you the freedom to surf the internet, take two hour lunch breaks or chat with friends. People will still notice. Even taking up mundane tasks from people like getting the group coffee, running to get lunch, or making copies will show people you want to be involved. No these aren't the most glamorous jobs, but they'll keep you in the loop whilst visiting facebook will just show that you're not that motivated.

This summer is probably going to be one of the toughest summer intern seasons in recent memory. Finance companies are firing, not hiring, so it is that much more important that interns make themselves stand out. That being said, when associates are likely to ignore most of the interns, it may be easiest for the "go-getter" to stand out.

Good luck.