The Advice Given To A Summer Intern at: JP Morgan Chase

Hey guys! This is actually my first time blogging for terpAMA!  I’m Kirsten and I want to tell you a little about my internship.  So to start off, I applied for my internship through HireSmith, a job search site through the Smith School (it really does work).  My title is an Operations Analyst Development Intern.  I work in the Treasury and Securities Services line of business.  More specifically, I work in Securities Lending and even more specifically I work in Account Management.  Essentially, I update the lender and borrower accounts in various lending systems.  To everyone there, this is considered “BAU” (Business As Usual), or the day-to-day activities.  Then, I have a couple of projects that I am working on for various groups inside the firm.  For example, I am

an honorary member of the Employee Action

Committee and I will be making a website for

the “EAC” this summer with another intern.

Now, what I really want to talk about is the advice that every summer intern is given.  I feel as if each person is repeating the same mantra, but what does it really mean?  For me, I constantly hear the refrain: Ask Questions, Think About How To Make Things Better (Process Improvement), Network, Do More Than Your Asked etc.  I was given the opportunity this morning to ask someone in senior management what exactly they were looking for.  I shared that as someone who is not particularly computer savvy (AKA did not do well in Info Systems), how was I supposed to improve processes?  She shared that when I look at what I do every day, to look at the process from start to finish and think about each step and if there is a quicker way to do them, or if they even need to be done at all.  Then, she shared that one of the most important things for an intern to do is try their hardest.  Another senior manager shared that they wanted their interns to give positive energy to their teams and not bring them down – which seems like a pretty easy way to positively contribute.  Overall, the advice that is given to summer interns sometimes seems cliche.  However, if we really take the time to think about what the advice means for us, hopefully we will be able to use it to our advantage.