INTERNS! Face time IS important

With interns comfortably in their sixth or seventh week you will probably have become used to the work routine and beginning to feel comfortable with your desks. It is very important not to forget you are on a 10 week interview and are constantly being judged.

With that in mind, the decade long debate as to the importance of 'face time', i.e. being at work for the sake of it just to show your face, is a contentious issue. Many students think that in the modern meritocratic investment banking environment, face time is not relevant, this is false.

'First on in, last one out' is to an extent very important in proving your resilience, determination and hunger to learn to your desk. Having a minimal amount of banking knowledge, you will not be able to contribute much to your team apart from the most basic of tasks, so proving at least you can stomach the hours is essential.

Depending upon which division you are in, but particularly in corporate finance, your job is to complete the grunt work (time-consuming, boring and mundane) tasks that the other members of your desk don't have time to do, and this requires you to always be there when they are.

So if you have nothing to do you need to find work or pretend to be busy. Whatever happens, don't sit at your desk looking idle in the hope someone will take pity on you and send you home.

When I was interning last summer, there were always a few interns who would leave at 6pm on the dot in markets regardless of how busy it was and no matter who was still working when they left.

Needless to say this was picked up on by their colleagues and mentioned to them in their mid-term reviews as a major criticism. If you had an intern who was on a 10 week interview and they consistently left earlier than you, you wouldn't look kindly on this. Think about it.

The author is someone who has been an intern in an investment bank.