GUEST COMMENT: Just a reminder that summer internships are incredibly important in investment banking and some suggestions of what to do if you haven’t got one

I don’t work in HR, but anecdotally I understand there are a lot of people out there who wanted internships in banks and didn’t secure one. Last year's graduate class wasn't big, and this year banks have reduced their graduate recruitment by around 6%. 

I’m therefore guessing that a lot of people are asking:

1)  Why are internships so important?

2)  What is doing one at a top bank really like?

3)  What you can do instead, if you haven't got one?

The answer to the first question is obvious. Banks and other City firms would rather hire candidates who they have had an opportunity to get to know, monitor and evaluate over a period of weeks or months than risk making a wrong decision based on the notoriously inaccurate process of interviews and psychometric testing.

The hard bit is getting through the internship application and interview process. Once you start your placement, the job is yours for the losing. You’ve narrowed the odds down from one in hundreds or even thousands, to one in tens. Typically the average internship group is thirty candidates with five to ten graduate vacancies available at the end of it all. All things considered, those are pretty good odds.

That said a summer spent as a guest of one of the large Bulge Bracket investment banks can be likened to a boot camp. People familiar with Stanley Kubrick’s film “Full Metal Jacket” will know what this means: you’ll be up at the crack of dawn, working long hours till late at night, and dealing with people with very short fuses. Getting shouted at is an occupational risk.

If you can’t handle getting the occasional balling out, I hear UNICEF runs a fun unpaid summer programme.

There are only three things to bear in mind as an intern:

1)  Be professional in dress code, actions and words. You can be expected to be under constant observation by your colleagues. Do not ever let your guard down. So-called after work “networking events” are the best examples of this warning. Avoid the temptation to indulge in free booze. It has been put there for a very specific reason.

2) Ensure that you are likeable in the eyes of your colleagues.

3) Do your work well and on time.

Less straightforward is how you can make up for the lack of an internship on your CV. I’ve heard of people setting up mini-enterprises from scratch over the summer holidays, which demonstrates business skills and initiative. Banks love both of these things.

Anything from a mobile app to a street food stall will work. The main thing is to have outcomes that you can put on your CV and talk about in job interviews.

One other piece of advice is to try to set up some networking meetings over the holiday period. Pay attention to how the bankers you meet dress and act, the clothes they wear and the language they use. This will help you to get under the skin of investment bankers, which is something interns have had plenty of opportunity to do during their placements. Remember – bankers are tribal. They hire people like them.

The author works in Private Equity and started work in investment banking