Capstone Investment Advisors’ Post

If you are new to the profession - and starting a summer internship - you are more tuned into the business press. Two weeks ago, the world saw rate cuts in the US as a 2025 affair. Fast forward to today - and with a bit more data – the world sees at least some cuts in 2024. Feel like conventional wisdom is a puppy chasing a forecasting ball around the yard? Therein lies the advantage of attending our June Macro Summit for Summer Interns. Establish an intellectual framework early in your career. Let the rest of the investment profession chase frisbees.  

Thoughts as we enter the final month of summer: 🤷♀️ Are there grants to help small businesses pay for interns? We would love to start building relationships with universities. 🤷♀️ While internships for credit still exist, we assume the expectation is paid/stipend. Does that expectation change if you're a small business hiring versus a large corporation?

Mentors are essential, especially for those early in their career journey.   With that in mind, Bank of America partners with Urban Alliance to pair high school seniors with mentors and paid internships so they can build their professional network. This blend of early work experience, meaningful connection and exposure to new opportunities helps students successfully navigate the next steps in their career or education.   #NationalMentoringMonth

Reason #3 you should enroll in the Prosperity Science Internship this summer: Global Skills and Cultural Fluency! Develop a holistic skill set, evaluating and recommending solutions for businesses while gaining cultural fluency through exposure to diverse environments. These skills prepare interns for success in global professional settings. Interns enhance their ability to work seamlessly in a globalized world and generate meaningful results. Stay tuned as we countdown the final two reasons you do not want to miss this opportunity.

The key to this is *paid* internships. Unpaid internships are the norm in North America. I've done them twice in my career both of which were critical to my success. The first was in high school at 16 when I did an internship at an Advertising agency which I would then work in full time for the next 4 years as I also went to Uni full time. At 16 I was living at home so my family supported me taking unpaid work as I earned class credit. I did another unpaid internship while I was completing my Masters dissertation at King's College London at We Are Social (still such a soft place in my heart for all my old WASers!) so I could really test out my theories about social media at an agency leading in the space. I was able to do this because I was living with my boyfriend (now husband) and had saved up money from working to take a career break. In both instances I had the financial and emotional support to take on unpaid work. Well done to Octopus Investments and other organisations that realise you cannot create real change and access to opportunities if you are not offering paid internships. #internships2023 #paidinternships #internshipopportunity

Farewell to our bright summer interns! 🎓 Thank you for an amazing season of learning, growth, and fun. As you head back to school, carry the valuable lessons of sales and business with you. We wish you the best of luck in your academic journey and look forward to seeing you shine in your future endeavors! 🚀 #InternshipMemories #BacktoSchool #SalesAndBusiness"

An injection of young, ambitious, diverse talent can give your firm a real shot of vitality and set your firm up for sustained success in the future. Many firms use internship programs to build an intentional talent pipeline that creates opportunities for young financial pros, as well as opportunities for our industry to improve how we mirror the diverse fabric of 21st century society. On today’s Barron's Advisor podcast, I talk to Chloé A. Moore, CFP® and Tracy Hutton, CPA about how BLX is finding and preparing aspiring Black and Latinx talent for internship roles and how Mariner Wealth Advisors structures its intern program to foster the next generation of advisors. Chloé, Tracy, and I discuss: ➡️ How BLX creates its cohorts of interns and connects them to firms like Mariner that want to diversify their talent pools. ➡️ The potential benefits of internships for advisory firms. ➡️ Typical roles and responsibilities that interns may assume during their time at a firm. ➡️ BLX’s success rate for interns receiving full-time job offers. ➡️ Targeting career changers as a block of emerging talent for financial services. ➡️ Training interns and young advisors on soft skills, not just money management. ➡️ Using internships to test potential culture fit and other intangibles. ➡️ Chloé and Tracy’s advice for firms that are thinking about starting a new internship program, and for interns and young advisors looking to land a job. ➡️ Skillsets that Chloé and Tracy believe advisors and firms will need to prioritize in the future. https://lnkd.in/dCDYdtbs

In our MS Information program, students from diverse backgrounds can chart their own course through a flexible curriculum as they pursue their own visions of success. Students have secured internships from companies like Barclays, Volvo, and more. Read about three talented MS Information students in our latest spotlight article: 🔗https://ow.ly/CuKi50Q9sfb

I am so incredibly proud of my team from this summer’s internship who produced this piece on financial literacy for Gen Z written by Gen Z. Please read their research and unique insight into how investment and wealth managers can better educate their generation #finacialliteracy #GenZ 

We have our summer intern already on week two. Every Friday he has to report on the project that he's responsible for. He makes us aware of urgent items and things needing action. We have different people on our team that work with him on different parts of his project. That way he's accountable for his work while getting exposure to working with everyone on our team including Grant La Bounty, Chris Vassilian and Jeannette Cano. That gives him experience from four different points of view. But ultimately, we make sure one person is responsible for his success and so that he knows who he can turn to when thinking about future direction without ambiguity. This will be the second year of working with other industry partners to collaborate on meetings together so that our interns get to meet their interns and make new contacts. How do you manage your summer interns? How do you make the most of the summer for them and for your team all at the same time?