Anyways, the sender is a college student with whom I connected back in Fall 2013 when I had a speaking engagement at his university. He just completed his Sophomore year and, at the time of this email exchange, he had just recently secured a summer internship with a large global organization, which is HUGE. This kid is such a go-getter that he was already thinking ahead to how to set himself up for a summer internship in 2016 and he wanted my advice on how to best do so.
Check out the email below to see the advice that I had for him…
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GL wrote:
Hi Marquis,
I really enjoyed seeing you last week.
I really like what you said on trying to gain some business analytics experience. I’ll be looking at the job decriptions for [upcoming summer internship employer] to see if any options have some analytics work.
In terms of Spring recruiting season, I wanted to approach it as any other recruiting season but with an internship offer in-hand. Do you have any advice regarding how I should go into Spring in terms of getting a consulting internship the summer after next while selling that I have a Finance internship for this upcoming summer? Thanks for your help.
Best,
GL
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My response:
Hey GL,
It was really nice to catch up with you and the fellas last week. Thanks for being willing to hop on the train and come into downtown Chicago for our meeting.
Congratulations again on scoring a Finance internship with [his summer employer]. Based on what I’ve heard, I know that it’s a great company and I have a feeling that you’ll get some kickass experience there. Hopefully, they’ll put you into a group that you’ll find interesting because that will make the gig feel like fun instead of a grinding job.
Interesting idea about going into the Spring recruiting cycle with the goal of securing an internship later on. Let me know if I’m understanding what you want to do. So, you want to go to company information sessions this coming Spring in order to tee yourself up as a candidate for an internship after your Junior year…Is that right? And your question to me is how to best do that, right? Just want to confirm because my comments below are based on to me understanding you correctly.
Here are some thoughts:
- This Spring is a great opportunity for you to learn about your target firms in a low-stakes situation because you already have an internship for the coming summer. This means that you can use this as an opportunity to take notes, ask questions, and gain insights without having to worry about prepping for interviews a few days later, which will take off much of the pressure. Since you won’t be interviewing, you should be able to attend a bunch of info sessions and you can use this as a way to quickly gather info about the firms to determine whether you’d want to work there. Anything that you can do to pare down the companies in your consideration set will help you to better focus your attention for next year’s recruiting cycle.
- When attending the info sessions, sit back and let the kids who are actually there trying to get jobs in the near-term ask questions in the larger group sessions. You don’t want to be stealing air-time from those kids when you know that you wouldn’t be applying until next school year…that would basically be a bad move on your part. Also, when the main presentations end and students are interacting with the consultants to ask questions, I’d recommend that you sort of play the background and listen out for any insights that will give you a better sense for what it is like to apply for and work at the company. You can ask questions if you have good ones, but I’d see this as more of a fact-finding mission where your facts will come from what you hear. Don’t be the kid who monopolizes the consultants’ time when you’re still a year way from submitting an application.
- At the information sessions, make sure that you introduce yourself to the recruiters and explain your situation. Tell them that you’re a Sophomore with a Finance internship for the summer and let them know that you’re attending the session to learn more about the company in preparation to apply next year. Ask them for advice on the types of experiences that you should seek out during your time at [summer internship employer] and how to best communicate those experiences to their firms. Be sure to get their business cards and follow up with an email immediately after the sessions. In your emails, remind them of who you are by referencing your conversations and include a copy of your resume to give them a current view of your background prior to the Siemens experience.
- If you haven’t done this already, buy a good consulting case preparation book and start the process of teaching yourself how to understand case interviews. My favorite case book was “Case in Point” by Marc Consentino. Consentino does a great job of explaining how cases work and the types of information that you’ll need in order to find a solution for them. At this point, you know that you want to make a run at consulting firms for your next internship, so this will be the first step toward making the interview process seem like second nature.
Take care and have a nice evening.
Marquis
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