- Jefferies Financial Group welcomed 176 interns to its virtual summer internship class this year.
- The 10-week, fully-paid program was unlike any other, involving five weeks working with a charity or for a cause of each intern’s choice, followed by five weeks working for the firm.
- “We were already paying our interns so while we were setting up the virtual program, why not encourage them to immerse themselves into a cause of their own choosing while the country is in such a time of great need?” Rich Handler, the firm’s CEO, explained in an email to Business Insider.
- Business Insider got a glimpse inside the way the bank restructured its internships this year, from special classes that Handler led, to specific ways the interns gave back philanthropically.
- As yet, the bank hasn’t fully decided how many of those interns will be offered full-time roles next year, in light of the coronavirus pandemic.
- Are you a young person working on Wall Street? Contact this reporter via email at rhodkin@businessinsider.com, encrypted messaging app Signal (561-247-5758), or direct message on Twitter @reedalexander.
- Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.
If you want to know where Wall Street is headed in the next generation, ask its interns.
That’s what Jefferies Financial Group’s CEO Rich Handler and president Brian Friedman did recently. As part of the culmination of Jefferies’ internship program, graduating summer analysts and associates were asked to write individual essays about how Jefferies could increase diversity and create a culture encouraging career development for young professionals.
And while asking its interns to write the essays is something that Jefferies has done since 2015, this year proved particularly critical as Wall Street continues to grapple with how to diversify its ranks.
Handler and Friedman personally reviewed the pool of essays blindly and, from them, selected four, all of which were written by women. On Monday, Jefferies shared the four essays on its blog, writing that the essays share an “interesting perspective on paths for Jefferies’ future.”
Jefferies’ virtual internship included working with charities
Jefferies typically receives more than 5,000 applications for its annual summer analyst and associate positions; this year, just 176 were selected. The internships, which ran for 10 weeks, concluded at the end of July and were conducted remotely amid the pandemic.
As yet, the bank hasn’t fully decided how many of those interns will be offered full-time roles next year, in light of the coronavirus pandemic.
Traditionally, summer internships at Jefferies run 10 weeks and offer first-hand experience for those looking to pursue careers on Wall Street through “training, seminars, social events and mentoring programs,” according to a job listing.
Coronavirus forced a shift in how things were done this summer. The program consisted of two distinct parts: For the first five weeks, the interns worked with a charity or for a cause that was important to them. For the second five weeks, they worked for the firm, where a push was made to get interns experience on live deals despite the short timeframe. They were compensated by the bank for their entire 10 weeks, however.
In an email to Business Insider, Handler explained the rationale behind introducing a philanthropic component to the virtual internships.
“Many of us at Jefferies devote most of our time to work, our families, and giving back,” Handler said. “For me that balance makes me happiest. I wanted our interns to be able to experience all three as well since it provides some perspective of what their future might be if they work hard and apply themselves.”
“We were already paying our interns,” he added, “so while we were setting up the virtual program, why not encourage them to immerse themselves into a cause of their own choosing while the country is in a time of such great need?”
To enrich interns’ learning experience, the bank also debuted unique opportunities, like classes on subjects about building career relationships and advice for summer analysts’ final year as undergrads, which were taught by Handler himself.
What’s more, the chief executive also hosted a series of taped conversations with public and private-sector leaders for the whole firm, including interns, to watch and listen to.
A who’s who of corporate heavyweights — including names like Blackstone CEO Stephen Schwarzman, Pfizer chairman and CEO Albert Bourla, Ulta Beauty CEO Mary Dillon, and Zoom CEO Eric Yuan — were among the people whom Handler interviewed for the series.
“The classes I taught were about overcoming obstacles, challenges, priorities, relationships, family and culture,” Handler said. “The interviews of the top CEOs not surprisingly covered many of the same themes.”
“The leaders were humble, dedicated to our people, clients and companies, passionate about creating something for themselves and others,” he added. “We invited the interns in because we treat them like full-time Jefferies professionals, even if it is just for the summer.”
Wall Street must prioritize diversity, the interns said
The 10-week program wasn’t just a learning experience for the interns. Jefferies got some valuable feedback through the letters submitted by its interns.
Enhance diversity in finance, especially leadership opportunities for women: That was one recurrent theme that the letters underscored.
Alyssa Mills, an intern in Jefferies’ investment banking division, pointed to data from the US House Committee on Financial Services in her letter, illustrating the banking sector’s ongoing gender disparity in leadership. Women comprise fewer than 30% of executive and senior-level positions at large banks, according to the report.
A previous US Government Accountability Office study found that people of color make up less than 15% of senior-level managers in financial services.
Mills wrote that she was the only female in a group of 100 people when she first joined the Student Investment Association at her school, Michigan State University.
Vrinda Goel, an intern in the corporate division who identified herself as a woman of color, wrote that senior managers at Jefferies didn’t look like her.
“Whether that be female, or [people of color], or both, there is an abyss that I posit must be filled with a more heterogeneous objective in mind,” she wrote.
And investment banking intern Summer Farren seemed to call out one of the tropes of finance industry recruiting: cherry picking candidates exclusively from the best schools.
“Our alma mater does not define us,” wrote Farren, who attends UCLA. “Take a moment to get to know more than where we went to school and what we majored in.”
Interns distributed food, personal protective equipment, and offered mental health support
One requirement Jefferies made of its interns was that they spend five weeks working with a charity or cause of their choice.
Interns’ selections varied. Some advocated for mental health, while others distributed face masks or food to their struggling communities through Meals on Wheels.
Goel wrote that she worked with the American Civil Liberties Union, calling Iowa voters to encourage them to push their lawmakers to abandon a state law that strips felons of the right to vote. Iowa is the only state in the country that has such a law still in effect, according to the ACLU.
It wasn’t standard fare for a summer internship on Wall Street, but such work taught the interns other life lessons. For Anna Peck, an intern in the fixed-income division, a lesson about compassion at work struck close to home.
In her letter, Peck revealed that her mother passed away shortly before she interviewed with Jefferies for the internship in the first place. “The last conversation I had with her was about Jefferies,” she wrote.
She laid her mother to rest and, five days after the memorial service, interviewed with the bank.
“Empathy, empowerment, and human decency have an impact on people whether they are potential interns, employees, or clients,” she wrote, looking back.
“I realized that continuing my journey of self-empowerment to be in this industry, as a capable woman, was (and still is) the best way to honor my mom and her fighting spirit,” she added. “I knew that interning at Jefferies would make my mom proud.”
Handler has turned to social media to provide support during the pandemic
In the backdrop of all this, Handler has tried to be a steadying force throughout the pandemic, using social media to connect with a younger generation of finance professionals.
In one Instagram Q&A session he participated in with Overheard Wall Street, he addressed the recent loss of the firm’s chief financial officer Peg Broadbent, who died from coronavirus-related complications in March at age 56.
“We haven’t fully processed this yet. It is horrible,” Handler wrote at the time. “I’ve always appreciated how fragile everything in life is. This is just yet another reminder.”
In spite of the pain, when asked by one Instagram user if anything positive might come out of this public health crisis, Handler indicated that there may yet be reason to hope.
“I think the most important outcome,” he wrote, “will be the wake up call to every one of us about how important the people in our life truly are.”
Are you a young person working on Wall Street? Contact this reporter via email at rhodkin@businessinsider.com, encrypted messaging app Signal (561-247-5758), or direct message on Twitter @reedalexander.
Read more:
Leave a Reply
Leave a Reply
This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.
