Training in New York City

When that long-awaited internship finally arrived it was off to New York for a week of training. Looking back now, I should have taken complete advantage of all the free time I had to explore, hang-out and enjoy evenings after training which usually ended at around 5 pm (a "free evening" doesn't exist once you're assigned your cubicle). Make sure you enjoy these few relaxed days, especially if you're headed-off to Chicago, Houston or the West Coast; New York City has a lot to offer. Here is a brief overview of each day:

Day 1:
The first day of training was the typical "Get to know your firm" day and included filling out I-9s, getting your email account set-up, and the hour-long sexual harassment training (that really ought to take 10 minutes). There's a little bit of basic training on how to log onto your network and maybe some accounting but generally this day is laid back. Make plans to grab a drink with friends and enjoy "living the dream".

Day 2 and 3:
During these two days you will feel like you've been time-warped back into Accounting 101. I haven't taken any accounting courses but the workbook I mentioned last week was nearly sufficient to cover all the material we covered during these two days. Even though this section of training was rather boring, I'm glad I was up to speed on the material because it would've been difficult to keep up had I not been. We also learned about the different databases and resources available to analysts. Listen closely and take good notes because you'll be using these resources on a daily basis.

Day 4:
Day 4 of training was the most valuable day of the entire week. We spent much of the day learning how to "Spread Comps" (something that you'll be doing almost everyday the entire summer). Spreading comps is tedious at first but your skills will improve quickly as you get used to the process. There are trading comps and transaction comps, you'll need to learn both. For those of you who're interested, spreading a comp is the process of dissecting a company's financial statement data into a form that can be compared more accurately on a direct and multiple basis. Here is a link to a WallStreetOasis.com forum that discusses the topic.

Day 5:
On the last day we finished spreading comps and just scratched the surface with Excel, Word and PowerPoint (there might have been another hour somewhere earlier in the week with training in these applications but there wasn't much). Previous experience in Excel is important because there isn't much training (DealMaven modeling training will help). As summer analysts at a bulge bracket investment bank you'll be getting Blackberries. We didn't get ours until after training so don't expect one until training is over.

I have one regret about my training week in New York; I wish I would've gotten to know the other summer analysts from different groups and offices better. Considering that it was only 5 days and the majority of our time was spent sitting in training lectures, it would've been hard to make 112 new best friends. However, it would've been insightful to hear about other intern's experiences in different groups and locations throughout the summer. I recommend you reach out and get to know a summer analyst from each of the offices and periodically keep in touch.

Please leave comments, questions and feedback. Stay tuned for the next post as I write about my experiences as a Summer Analyst on the West Coast.