GUEST COMMENT: 5 things to avoid if you're intending to get an offer from your internship

Worked and tried really hard to finally land the dream offer to work at XYZ bank over the summer?

Loved the people and the company culture plus the relocation bonus and would want to spend the rest of your life there working on spreadsheets?

Trying to make a good impression by pulling three consecutive all nighters hoping for that 4 figure golden handshake to make every drop of sweat worth it?

Does that sound like you? Well, don't worry; it is not just you but hundreds of other interns hungry for the precious return offer. So, let's for one second stop thinking about all the little tricks that can help you to land the final offer but consider the things you should definitely avoid doing!

1) Don't ask stupid questions many many many times....

Yes, I know, I know they say that no questions are stupid and you should always be asking. They are not lying; you can ask the most unintelligent questions during your internship since they expect you to be learning from ground zero. But please, only ask those questions once and I mean it - ONCE! By asking the same trivial questions twice shows poor learning skills and ignorance. It would be good for an intern to keep a notebook recording the answers to all the questions asked.

2) Don't forget to double, tripe, quadruple check your work

Let's face it, no matter how prestigious your bank, your desk and your division is, an intern will not be assigned rocket science top level work. Much of the time interns are just assigned simple boring tasks that require great care. Everybody in university spends less than the suggested amount of time checking through their course work, but it is a different game now, you are working! Simple spelling mistakes may very well lead to NO offer!

3) Pulling all nighters when they are not needed (Too MUCH face time)

Face time refers to days where you have no actual work to do but just stay at your desk till late to look good. I know it sounds pathetic but it really does apply to banking (IBD) interns. Keep in mind though, there is a situation called doing too MUCH face time and trust me it doesn't look good! When you have a easy day, it is best for you just to talk to your manager to see whether if there is anything you can help with rather than sit there and do nothing. Pulling unnecessary all nighters may make you look like a hard worker but it can also portray you as a slow learner. BEWARE! You don't want people popping over to your desk at 2am and seeing you are just reading news on the latest Lady Gaga concert.

4) Don't act stupid

Look, you are a grown up now so please no more stupidity! You can and should have a good laugh with your co -workers and a great time going out for a drink. You may laugh hard when someone tells you the tale of a drunken intern punching his associate but please DON'T LET IT BE YOU!

5) Don't forget that you've been lucky

You have to admit it, even if you think that you earned your internship place by 100% real skills, there is a certain element of luck involved. The world doesn't change suddenly because you are an investment banker or a trader now - Luck is needed! Sometimes it may really just be that you are unlucky to be assigned with an associate that don't like you on a personal level. Your co-workers are imperfect human beings and they have the power to not give you an offer because they don't like you (even if you do perfect work!).

So what message am I trying to get across here? It sound like that since luck is so important there is no point for anyone to try hard for anything! Well... not exactly, opportunity is always there for those who are prepared. Work hard and make no mistake, this means you are at least on track to create some of your own luck!

Finally, GOOD LUCK!

The author is a student who successfully extracted an offer from a major investment bank after interning there last year.