Interested to hear opinions on the use of interns during the search
March 08, 2022
by a searcher from University of Tennessee - Knoxville in Knoxville, TN, USA
I have heard some mixed reviews with regards to using interns during the search. I would love to get some feedback regarding your experience and what value they added to your search. What tasks did you have them perform? What tasks were they capable of performing well, not so well, etc? Thanks in advance for the feedback!
from Northwestern University in Longmeadow, MA, USA
- finding new intermediaries to reach out to (partners do the outreach)
- aggregating intermediary deals into an excel spreadsheet w/ links to CIMs.Saves us lots of time.
- researching very specific asks (ie industries where continued education is mandatory)
- general googling and research to find companies
However, when the task has been more vague or open to interpretation, we have not had success.Examples of what has NOT worked:
- Ideation around new industries
- Outreach to companies (obviously, this should not come from an intern)
- Decisioning around which deals are in line with our thesis
As a caveat, we're working with undergrad underclassman,This is different than an MBA.But regardless, I think best to start with very specific tasks.And force transparency around the hours available!People like to say more time than they have.Doesn't matter if it's 2 hours or 20 hours - you just want the truth b/c that dramatically impacts the work.Good luck.
from Lamar University in Dallas, TX, USA
As mentioned above, if it is unpaid it is important that there is a value-add that is transparent for the interns. This could be training in Excel and PowerPoint, explaining and walking through LBOs and other financial models, hosting guest speakers from your network (MBA class mates in different industries if applicable) and not to get too deep but a sense of involvement and contribution with helping the search as well as an idea of worth and how they will be helping the team.
Although I had a virtual internship, I still keep in touch with other analysts from my class since we developed good comradery and relationships from working on assignments and going through the internship together. Feel free to reach out if any questions.