Personal Contributions

Entering the second to last week of my internship, I decided that the most appropriate topic for this weeks’ blog would be my personal contributions to the group. Given that I am merely an intern and that markets and finance are one of the most highly regulated industries in the world, its been hard to find tangible ways to add value to the various teams.

The main way I have contributed to the team is by sending out a morning and afternoon note to the various desks. This is essentially a snapshot of the day head as well as a summary of the day before. My hope is to give some color and make the process of getting up to speed a little simpler. In my notes I include index movements, earnings report dates and results, any major news, and a timeline of fed/gov. decisions that could impact markets. 

The other way I have added value to the group is offering my perspective on how things should be formatted. Given that I have more time than anyone working on the desk full time, I’ve been able to help make things more visually appealing before we put them in front of our clients. My observation has been that the nicer and cleaner a project or report looks, the better it will be received. Leadership at Richmond taught me that leadership comes in various forms and shapes, and that in one case you may be a leader and the next a follower. In this instance, I am more than happy to be a follower as my supervisors have been incredibly insightful and have made sure that I truly learn as much as possible regardless of the virtual setting.

Overall, it’s been a great experience full of plenty of learning experiences. The company and the various employees have been great leaders that make you want to learn and do the best you can. The next opportunity that I would like to secure for myself is the opportunity to really work on a true and real project – which I was actually just given so I am hopeful that it will turn out well.