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Friday 29 June 2012

How To Convert Your Internship Into a Job Offer

We are in summer internship period, so in collaboration with Kate Jillings from BusinessBecause, we have written this post to give you some tips on how to convert an internship into a job offer.
We interviewed a senior recruiter at a leading investment bank and a top MBA grad who interned and then landed a consulting job in order to find the top 5 points you need to focus on this summer:
The overall message is that you should get to know the business really well. In a big firm you need to quickly figure out which teams have permanent headcount and target them. It’s also important to have a strong story about you and what’s led you to this point in your career.

Recruiter View Capital Markets Division

With hundreds of interns passing through the Capital Markets division every year, with a particular spike in the summer, only a handful are be able to secure permanent roles.
The internship “funnel” has become the only route to get a job in many investment banks nowadays - desks are much more likely to hire previous interns than risk an untested person.
The main tips for converting an internship into a job are:
  1. Impress as many senior people as possible. Cast your net wide: your immediate boss might not be in a position to hire you, but someone else could be.
  2. Network with HR to find out which parts of the company are likely to have hiring budget/ headcount when you finish your internship.
  3. Attach yourself to 'key' ongoing projects so the firm won't want to let you go at the end of your internship. This is preferable to working on a stand-alone or 'one-off' project that no one will care about at the end of the summer.
  4. Make yourself indispensable. Genuinely pick up workload from other people, roll your sleeves up and get yourself into a position of co-ordinating and managing projects. As in point 3., the company will prefer to keep you than find a replacement if you’re already trained-up.
  5. Make yourself desirable. Line up other opportunities (preferably with competitors) to give yourself a stronger negotiating position at the end of your internship.

The consulting intern view

DI impressed the MD and other Directors at the first interview with my story. Storytelling is a very powerful tool and that worked for me as my story is quite interesting.
After that mainly used my strengths to impress them during the internship, in particular things like: professionalism, reliability, a proactive approach, willingness to be involved in everything and to suggest ideas – which weren’t necessarily all good! My quantitative and analytical skills also helped me.
Nevertheless, in addition to the above, I was very open about my weaknesses and shortcomings. These were mainly lack of knowledge about the specialist area in which the business operates, impatience, perfectionism (which takes time), and a home situation which requires me to be flexible with my time - my mother requires quite a bit of care due to an illness.
The last part actually worked to my advantage as the Directors really valued the fact that I take care of my family. For them it showed that I am very loyal.
As you can see these are quite personal experiences. If I would need to point to anything general it would be quite simple: be honest, respectful, reliable, professional, proactive, interested in the business you are in and show that you strongly consider others before yourself.
To sum up, you are already in a good position since you found a good internship. But now it’s money time – stay focused, make sure everyone know what you want to achieve and follow the step to meet it. After all, once you secure a full time offer – then it’s only party-time till you graduate!

Kate Jillings is the Managing Director of BusinessBecause.com, a professional network for the business school world. On BusinessBecause you’ll find useful information about MBA jobs, MBA Rankings and fresh daily editorial including the Why MBA series Inside View interviews with employers who are hiring MBAs right now!

Thursday 21 June 2012

How To Get The Most Out Of Your Flat Posting

In an effort to find out what makes a flat posting most attractive, we took a look at Flat-Clubs Top 200 flat postings, which had at least 5000 views and received the highest number of messages in relation to views. Not surprisingly, most of them had the following features in common:
  • A central location
  • Attractive pictures
  • A well written description
  • A good price / value for money
  • Host is a member of at least 1 club
  • Except for the location of your flat, you can improve ALL of these aspects to get the most out of your flat posting pictures.

    Pictures

    Charming pictures are your Number 1 Success Factor! Don’t underestimate it! We recommend taking pictures of every room in the flat, including the bathroom, kitchen and the view from your window or balcony. You might want to include photos of your garden or the outside of your building. Make sure that your flat is clean and tidy before you take them. Open doors and window curtains to get some natural light! If you need help or don’t have a camera, just contact me and I’ll be happy to send you our FREE photography service

Description

Write a personal, welcoming and informative description! Include all relevant information about the flat and your area and why it appeals to visitors and tourists. 2-3 short paragraphs are ideal. Don’t overwhelm the reader by elaborating too much on details and technicalities. Perhaps get a native speaker to help you with your English. Correct English sounds more professional and makes you appear trustworthy.

Price

To calculate a fair price, we recommend using the rent you pay for your flat as a basis (or the equivalent market rate). Include all expenses such as utilities, internet etc. and add a small upcharge of 10-30% (up to 50% during the summer and high demand seasons). The better the deal, the higher your chances of renting it out. Don’t be tempted to overprice it! Charging a reasonable, fair price will ensure that you find a trustworthy guest who will appreciate your flat and leave it in good condition.

Club Membership

The more clubs you join, the more you will be trusted. In order to become a member of a club or to see the list of available clubs, go to “My Account” and click on “Join Clubs”. If you study at a university or work at a company that is not listed, contact me to see if we can create a new club.
If there are no relevant clubs for you, don’t worry! Our research has shown that a detailed personal profile, including a picture and some personal information can yield the same results as a club membership. Let potential guests get to know you and share a little bit about yourself! This is especially important for room postings and will ensure that you will find someone suitable for your flat.