SECRET DIARY OF A MARKETS INTERN: Headcount is looking surprisingly positive this year
I spent Monday working on a couple of ad hoc projects for the desk, although these were rather mundane they gave me something to do. One of them was just updating mailing lists, another was just formatting a spreadsheet, but I was pleased to have something easy after the pressure my other project last week! I also completed some of the work for my group presentation, which we were planning on putting together at the end of the week.
This week was one of the quietest since I’d been at the bank, and volumes across every asset class were thin at best. Almost a third of the people on the floor seemed to be on holiday, and the people left were pretty much holiday as well, with so little to do. At times like this you wonder how the smaller banks keep the lights on.
Bearing in mind that there were only three weeks left to make an impression, I decided to write up a few research reports and email them round to get my name on everyone’s minds. The idea behind this is that the traders don’t have time to read much of what the bank publishes each day, so if I can read through it and summarize it in a few bullet points then I can hope to ‘add value’. This went pretty well, and after I wrote up a particularly long macro piece from the strategy team I got a few responses from people saying thanks, which made it worthwhile.
With such a quiet week I got to spend a lot of time with people, without having to book appointments as I’d done before. I spent Thursday and Friday pretty much just watching the cricket. Obviously being on a trading desk I had to bet with people on anything and everything, but I’m kind of getting used to that now. I managed to get lucky and ended up flat, largely thanks to a bet with another intern who was completely clueless about cricket.
Interestingly, a few people have moved desks this week, or at least spent a few days elsewhere. I had a pretty good chat with my boss on Thursday, and while he didn’t give much away I’ve decided to stick with my desk. HR have said that headcount should be good this year, and if anyone decent isn’t offered a job they will try and find somewhere else for them, so I’m just going to trust the system. The only other desk I liked I messed up with pretty bad the other week, so there isn’t really an alternative anyway.
On Friday we put our project together, it didn’t look great but I wanted to go back to the cricket, so we decided to come in on Sunday and finish it off. Another Sunday in the office; oh well, there’s only two weeks left!
