Unlocking Opportunities: The Benefits of Off-Cycle Internships
The landscape of investment banking recruitment is continuously evolving, making it imperative for aspiring professionals to explore every avenue for gaining experience and securing a competitive edge. In this context, off-cycle internships have emerged as a valuable opportunity for those seeking to break into the industry.
Understanding Off-Cycle Internships
An off-cycle internship refers to a position offered outside the traditional summer recruiting cycle. These internships typically last three to six months and are available during the fall, winter, spring, or even post-graduation. Unlike structured summer programs, off-cycle internships offer flexibility and can be tailored to suit different career stages and goals.
The Value Proposition of Off-Cycle Internships
Off-cycle internships in investment banking can be just as valuable as typical summer internships and can help you gain skills and experience that you can leverage into different full-time or summer analyst/associate positions.
Breaking into Investment Banking
Off-cycle internships are a great way for career switchers and recent grads to break into investment banking. Any hiring that takes place outside of the normal recruiting process is called off-cycle hiring. Investment banks hire the majority of new analysts and associates through a regular annual recruiting schedule, but occasionally some firms have the need to staff up outside that schedule. For example - if you are looking to get into investment banking after having worked in sales and trading internship - taking a fall semester internship to do financial modeling with an investment bank will help you gain valuable experience that you can talk about for interviews.
Overcoming Academic or Regional Challenges
Students from non-target schools or those with lower grades can utilize this opportunity to prove they are capable of the industry.
Read also: Comprehensive Student Guide
Gaining Practical Experience
Internships are a great way to connect classroom knowledge to real-world experience. Learning is one thing, but taking those skills into the workforce and applying them is a great way to explore different career paths and specializations that suit individual interests. The most important element of internships is the integration of classroom knowledge and theory with practical application and skills. Student interns gain this experience in either professional or community settings.
Real Projects and Tangible Impact
Whichever part of the business you’re placed with, you can expect to work on real projects, supporting live deals and having a tangible impact on your team’s achievements day to day. Because we typically manage a greater deal volume than other firms, and our teams are smaller, your input is especially important.
Skill Development and Increased Marketability
Having an internship gives you experience in the career field you want to pursue. Not only does this give individuals an edge over other candidates when applying for jobs, but it also prepares them for what to expect in their field and increases confidence in their work. Having an internship benefits you in the working environment, and it also builds your professional network. There is a 1 in 16 chance of securing a job by connecting with people, so networking is critical. Internships provide a great environment to meet professionals in the career field you want to pursue, as well as other interns who have similar interests.
Networking Opportunities
Networking is the cornerstone of off-cycle recruiting.
Professionalism and Soft Skills
Internships can provide students with the soft skills needed in the workplace and in leadership positions. Skills, such as communication, leadership, problem-solving, and teamwork can all be learned through an internship and utilized beyond that experience.
Read also: The Learning Cycle Explained
Understanding Workplace Dynamics
Depending on your major, you may read about how organizations thrive and function in textbooks, hear from guest speakers who talk about organizational structures or dive into case studies about workplace culture, but nothing compares to living the actual experience. Internships help students learn all about workplace culture, employee relations, and leadership structure, which should help them on board in their first professional job with more ease than if they haven’t had professional experience.
Resume Building
Most organizations and jobs that you apply to the following graduation want employees to have some sort of professional experience, even for entry-level jobs. If you are a finalist for a position and haven’t had an internship experience but the other finalist has, you may lose out on a job opportunity, so make sure you at least have one internship on your resume before leaving college to give you a leg up on the competition.
Professional Feedback and Mentorship
Not only will you be helping out the organization you intern with, but they’ll help you out too. While professors and teachers will prepare you for the theoretical side of your field and hands-on projects, internships provide opportunities for receiving feedback from someone who works in your desired field daily.
Learning from Others
It might seem common sense - you’re interning to learn skills, after all - but don’t forget to purposefully observe others in their job role to learn the ins and outs of different positions. Consider asking your supervisor if you can shadow them for a day, along with other people in your department. Ask to sit in on departmentwide meetings as well. Act like a sponge and soak up all the information you can during your internship - it will benefit you in the long run.
Discovering Career Preferences
While everyone probably wants to walk away from an internship feeling excited and passionate about the experience, there’s a silver lining to be found if you didn’t enjoy the job: you’ll know what you don’t like. According to an article from monster.com, “figuring out what type of job you don’t want while you’re interning can help prevent you from accepting an ill-fitting job when you graduate.”
Read also: Plant Growth Explained
Potential for Full-Time Employment
From our perspective, the summer internship programme is an excellent way for us to spot talent. It all depends on your abilities and how you apply yourself over the course of the summer, but, for the right person, the offer of a permanent position with Houlihan Lokey is very much achievable. Approximately 18% of employers offer interns full-time jobs
Strategies for Securing an Off-Cycle Internship
Landing an off-cycle internship can be challenging, but with the right approach, aspiring investment bankers can significantly increase their chances of success.
Target Smaller/Boutique Firms
Smaller boutique firms are more likely to have an off-cycle internship program. These firms are often looking for help during hot markets and busy times. Consider firms like William Blair, Moelis, and PJT Partners.
Network, Network, Network
Getting in at smaller firms with off-cycle internship hiring is often more dependent on networking than on the regular hiring process. Off-cycle positions that come open are often required on demand, they have shorter recruiting periods. Already being on people’s radar screens is important.
Online Job Boards and Alerts
I recommend setting up google alerts. I would recommend checking often. Timing is everything.
Tailor Your Application
To highlight relevant skills, tailor your resume and cover letter to suit the opportunity. Highlight your experience in financial modeling, market analysis, and deal execution.
Prepare for Interviews
Off-cycle interview processes are often faster and less technical but require strong storytelling and communication skills.
Firms Offering Off-Cycle Internships
Several firms offer off-cycle investment banking internships, providing valuable opportunities for aspiring professionals.
- Crosstree Capital (Tampa, FL): A leading, specialty boutique investment banking firm with an exclusive focus on the life sciences and healthcare industries.
- Nfluence Partners (San Francisco, CA): A boutique Investment Bank built to handle complex Mergers & Acquisitions and Capital Formation advisory services for TMT transactions.
- JP Morgan (Europe, Asia Pacific): Investment banking teams partner with corporate clients to achieve their strategic goals.
- Alantra (Boston, MA): Our long-term internships are aimed at students in their penultimate year of university and recent graduates.
- Bentley Associates (New York, NY): We have built the leading global tech boutique focused on the mid- and micro-cap M&A and growth financing markets.
- Oberon Securities (New York, NY): We seek to add to our team highly experienced senior investment banking professionals who source and execute transactions with middle market companies.
- Genz & Associates, LLC: Established in 2011, Genz & Associates is a leading buy-side mergers and acquisitions advisory firm based in Manhattan Beach, CA.
- Maxim Group (New York, NY)
- Stone Pier Capital Advisors (Pittsburgh, PA)
- CITIC Securities Company (New York, NY): CITIC Securities is the largest securities company in China, with businesses covering investment banking, brokerage, securities trading and asset management.
The Houlihan Lokey Summer Internship Program
While technically a summer program, the structure and benefits highlighted in the description of Houlihan Lokey's internship offer valuable insights into the potential experience of an off-cycle internship.
The 10-week program takes place at our London office and operates across a number of key business areas. The summer internship programme begins with a comprehensive, one-week training programme. From there, the training continues on the job. In return for your contribution, you can expect to receive continuous support and encouragement as well as excellent learning and development opportunities.
The program is not a one-size-fits-all programme. The nature of your role and the work you do will depend on your own interests, motivations, and how you apply yourself.
Houlihan Lokey looks for highly motivated individuals with a strong academic track record who are on course to achieve a 2:1 degree or equivalent.
Beyond the Internship: Work-Life Balance and Company Culture
At Houlihan Lokey we understand that it’s important for our Financial Analysts and Associates to have time outside of work to unwind, socialize, and pursue hobbies and interests. We are a company of hard workers, but we are also sociable and outgoing, and we enjoy one another’s company away from work. As a Houlihan Lokey employee, you’ll get to know your new colleagues during the evenings and weekends. In addition to sharing meals, there will be opportunities to meet people firm-wide, through taking part in charity events and numerous other activities and events.
Internship and Applied Learning Statistics
In the 2019-2020 academic year, 105,010 matriculate students participated in 26,127 applied learning course sections. 40% of SUNY programs have an applied learning component. Students who have done an internship are 15% less likely to be unemployed in the first years after college and earn 6% more than students who did not
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