How to prepare for your internship with one month to go!
Ok, folks. So one month to go, one month until the 10 week sprint to the final offer. Everyone one of you must be asking yourselves what you can do in the final 30 days to improve your chances. Of course, reading up on financial news and familiarise yourself with Excel and VBA is certainly useful, but there are actually some seemingly trivial things you can do!
1) Start NETWORKING!
People often ignore the power and importance of networking before the internship starts. One month to go is plenty of time for you to have coffee with one or two people from the group you will be working in. Remember, once the internship starts, every other intern in your group would be very eager to make an impression hence less likely for you to stand out. However, now with 1 month to go, it is much easier for you to get a head start.
It doesn't have to be an MD you trying to network with. Honestly, it is a lot more effective for a summer intern to network with analyst and associates in the team since they will be the ones that assign and check your work. However, if you feel you had a wonderful chat with the MD in your group, having coffee with him would be a great way to prepare for the internship!
2) Get reading!
Most students up until now have been very busy with exam preparation and have minimal time to read the FT or Wall Street Journal. With 1 month to go, it is about time for you to pick up the paper again and start familiarise yourself with current events. If you are still in the middle of exams, 15 minutes a day browsing through FT should serve as an excellent way to relax (provided you are actually interested in finance and are entering the industry for other things than MONEY).
Other than the FT, it is also essential for you to start brushing up on your financial knowledge specific to your interning division. For example, you should refresh your memories on bond and derivative pricing if you are interning in trading and read up on merger models and recent deals if you are interning in banking.
3) The rest!
Well, you might think that everything will be fine if you just know your stuff and work hard. You are right, offer will come that way! However, do remember to sort out all the other things before your internship starts.
By now, most of you would have sorted out accommodation for the summer. If not, you should really aim to sort it out as soon as possible. Living in close proximity to the location of your company is very important especially if you are interning in Markets where a 6:30 am start is required. 2 hours travelling everyday to work is not ideal when you only get about 5 hours to sleep!
Clothing! Yes, dressing yourself up professionally so you will not stand out in a bad way. There are many places in London that you can shop nice suits and shirts without breaking the bank. Makes sure you sort out any clothing problems before you start, because you won't have much spare time to shop during the summer.
I am sure there are plenty other things that you should be before the crazy 10 week starts, but the above is at least somewhere to start. Remember also, spend a bit more time with your girl/boy friends, they will complain about your working hours when the summer comes!
The author interned with a major investment bank last year - and was offered a place at the end of it.
