This Taking Stock is addressed to interns. Kindly forward to a college intern who is working at your organization.
Dear Summer Interns:
STA serves individuals in the financial services industry and that includes you now. It’s mid-August, and your internships will soon be coming to an end. For many of you this was your first experience working in financial services. We hope the opportunity afforded you the ability to gain knowledge through real-world experiences, and form relationships with fellow interns and colleagues. As you leave the work environment and return to a collegiate one, your next challenge will be to stay connected to these people, and to our industry.
In this edition of Taking Stock we offer a few time-tested tips on how to stay connected while back at school. First, we invite you to become a Student in Finance Member of STA. Membership is free and upon approval, you’ll become part of a network of more 25,000 industry professionals that STA touches through our affiliate organizations in the U.S. and Canada. Details on how to become a Student in Finance member are below. Meanwhile, enjoy the read on staying connected by staying in touch and staying informed.
Stay in Touch
Undoubtedly, the last words you’ll hear from your summer boss and co-workers will be “stay in touch, and try to keep up on what you learned this summer.” This request is naturally interpreted differently by the respected parties. To the your boss and co-workers, it means send a few SHORT emails and if you really want to stand out, stop into the office when you’re home over the December break. Not too difficult. To you, the intern, you may hear something else, which then triggers a long list of questions. Should I create a new friend group on Snapchat with all of the people I worked with this summer? Do I need to open a Twitter/LinkedIn account and tweet/post business stories to demonstrate that I’m staying abreast of industry trends? Should I start following my boss on Instagram? What about texting my boss, should I do that? The short answer to all of these questions is, no. Staying in touch does not have to be complicated. A few checking in-type emails is fine and when in doubt, err on the conservative side.
Stay Informed
It’s impossible to stay connected in a meaningful way if you’re not staying informed on industry trends.While more challenging than staying in touch, taking a similar, keep-it-simple strategy will get you what you need. A lot’s happened this summer: Facebook scandal; virtual currencies; blockchain; Elon Musk; Turkey, and all things Trump related. You were able to track these wide range of issues and more because your internship was priority #1. Your summer boss and co-workers understand that your studies will take precedence after you leave and that tracking monthly employment figures ranks somewhere below doing laundry. An effective and more realistic strategy is to identify the issues or topics you want to stay informed on and then find the means to do so. By narrowing the universe of issues, you’ve simplified the task, which is a better first step than trying to read The Wall Street Journal cover to cover every day.
Become an STA Student in Finance Member
As mentioned earlier, we hope that you consider becoming an STA Student in Finance member. Becoming a student member is FREE and the process to apply for membership takes less than two minutes.
Simply click here to access the the Student in Finance Membership form. Complete all the fields in the form, and press Sign Up. It’s that easy!
We’ll get back to you after we’ve reviewed your information. More details on STA’s SIF Membership can be found here.
On behalf of all STA Members, thank you for choosing to be a part of this exciting and dynamic industry, and we wish you the best of luck in obtaining a full-time position upon graduation.
Archived Articles of Interest
To the Class of 2017: Loyalty, be open to feeling it.
“…life stories told with honesty and in detail provide the robust data young 20 something year-olds need when formulating decisions in their life and career. Hearing about actual mistakes, failures and home-runs resonate more deeply…” Full article here
Protecting our student interns
“As we are all aware, obtaining an internship in the financial services industry is a highly competitive process…In almost any industry when strong demand is coupled with uninformed buyers, the potential for those buyers to be exploited rises.” Full article here
Advice to Interns: Own the Lunch Print
“Regardless of whether you decide to own the lunch print or not, showing enthusiasm and hustle in all you do will close any gap between you and those brighter.” Full article here