What interns think the job is vs what it actually is

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by a searcher from University of Mysore
in Seattle, WA, USA

1yr ago

What interns think the job is vs what it actually is

I get about 2-3 emails a week with younger (juniors, sophomore students) from a finance or business background asking me for intern positions. I would love to work with them and get them on board. I like the interaction and coaching.

There is however an expectation mismatch.

90% of what they expect they will do is less than 10% of the time. For example - financial research, equity analysis, deal discussions.

The remaining 90% is boring grunt work - web research, list building, email outreach (cold emailing), updating CRM, first call meetings which go nowhere.

I would love for it to be different, but realistically if you are early in the PE / Search world, most of the work needed by the team is the grunt work.

I would love to get other people's opinion on how they help interns have a better experience.

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reply by a searcher 1yr ago
from Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts in California, USA

Thank you for sharing your valuable insights on managing interns! I appreciate how you've structured the internship to provide diverse experiences through role rotation and foster healthy competition through team dynamics.

reply by a searcher 1yr ago
from Xavier University in Dallas, TX, USA

Having interns do mostly grunt work - especially if unpaid - did not feel like I was setting them up for success. I opted instead to position my interns to perform preliminary acquisition analysis. I fed them semi-qualified leads and provided examples of expected entry-level analysis (to the effect of, "Is this worth pursuing further?"). It did not take long to identify the interns willing to put in the work and provide reasonably thoughtful analysis, on which I would perform a deep-dive. Subsequently, they left the internship having performed an apprentice-level analysis on a finite quantity of acquisition targets of varied sizes and industries.