Summer Internships Offer an On-Ramp for Talent

Internships are a cornerstone of finance careers, offering students a way to get technical training and hands-on job experience, access mentorship and make industry connections.

This summer, however, saw a decline in the number of available internships, according to Bloomberg Businessweek, which reported a 7% drop in internship listings on Handshake, a job search platform for college students. Bloomberg attributed the trend to cutbacks in entry-level hiring and the resources required to support internship programs.

Regardless, some middle-market firms are doubling down on internships as a source of talent and as a way to introduce students to new career paths.

Monomoy Capital Partners is among them. Since launching its internship program in 2021, the private equity firm has welcomed four interns—two rising college seniors and two rising juniors—each summer for its 10-week program.

Interns go through the same onboarding experience as a full-time Monomoy hire, including meeting with senior leaders to learn about the firm and its approach to investing. During the program, they receive training on communications and technical skills, work on a deal, visit a portfolio company and attend a board meeting, among other activities.

Richa Kumar, a rising senior at the University of Pennsylvania majoring in finance and entrepreneurship, started her summer internship at Monomoy with the goal of developing her technical skills as well as an investor mindset. “Being able to really sit in on these live deals and see from start to finish how the people above me are thinking about these companies, the things that stand out to them, and just picking up on recurring themes” are aspects of the internship that have been particularly valuable, she says.

Kumar previously interned at an early-stage investment firm, and she notes that the experience at Monomoy offered exposure to a private equity work environment. “While I was a bit hesitant about finance going into this experience, because it is largely different than venture capital and the culture in that realm, I definitely am excited to pursue a path in private equity and in the financial services industry more generally,” she says. “Monomoy has definitely played a huge role in that thought process.”

A Pipeline of Talent

One of Monomoy’s goals in designing its internship program was to establish a robust, analyst-focused agenda, giving the firm a foundation to access a broad talent pool. “Our approach invites the highest-achieving and most diverse group of students to be considered for our program, and better yet, engages students early enough in the process that Monomoy can compete with investment banks and other firms that traditionally recruit right out of undergrad,” says Emily Kane, Monomoy’s managing director of talent.

The firm has hired several former interns full-time. One of the first interns from the inaugural class was just promoted to associate after two years of the analyst program, according to Kane. Two current Monomoy analysts came from the second intern class, and two other former interns will join the firm in the coming months.

Capitala Group also views its internship program as a pipeline for talent. Each summer, the private equity and private credit provider brings on two or three interns, typically sophomores and rising juniors, says Capitala Vice President Alex Pruitt.

The internship includes initial training and exposure to the firm’s relationship with its portfolio companies, evaluating new investments and sitting in on calls with investment banks, and transaction modeling. That all culminates in a final case study, where the interns apply what they’ve learned from the summer.

A goal of Capitala’s 10-week program is to prepare students for investment banking internships, Pruitt says. “We try to give them as much experience as possible during their sophomore summer so that they’re well prepared the following summer in investment banking, and ultimately, for the first job as an analyst in investment banking.”

The hope is that after several years working elsewhere, former interns will return to Capitala. Pruitt estimates that four of Capitala’s current employees were once interns, including himself.

Opening Doors

Some firms expressly aim to promote diversity and inclusion through their internship programs.

After Chihiro Bacon applied to an internship at Granite Creek Capital Partners, the Chicago-based investment firm connected her with the Small Business Investing Scholars Program, which Avante Capital Partners launched in 2019 to promote gender, racial and ethnic diversity within private equity. The program brings together participants virtually several times a week, Bacon says, where they hear from industry leaders and learn about private equity and the Small Business Administration.

Meanwhile, as an intern on the investment track at Granite Creek, Bacon participates in staff meetings and interacts with portfolio companies and prospective investments. Peter Lehman, partner and co-founder of Granite Creek, describes his firm’s “open book” approach to the internship program, in which students gain exposure to every level of the business.

RF Investment Partners has similarly prioritized diversity in its internship program. Now in its fourth year, the firm’s program is designed for women and students of color entering their junior or senior year of college.

You can use the summer to better experience and understand the day-to-day workings of a private investment firm, our investment strategy and approach, and ultimately decide if this career path is of interest to you.

Tyler Katz

RF Investment Partners

The program aims to expose students to the private investment world who may not otherwise have considered it as a career path. “Our goal was to put a hand out and say, ‘This is an opportunity for you as well. You can use the summer to better experience and understand the day-to-day workings of a private investment firm, our investment strategy and approach, and ultimately decide if this career path is of interest to you,’” says Tyler Katz, a director with RF who helps manage the internship program. “Students have told us that after their experience at RF, they decided to pursue a career in private investment after initially being undecided.”

Parting Words

As summer internships wrap up, members of Young ACG groups looked back at their own time as interns to offer advice for students in their programs’ final days.

David Gorsline, a vice president at The Lenox Group and a member of ACG Atlanta’s Emerging Leaders network, recommends identifying individuals in the organization who have extended support or mentorship and to learn about their career trajectories. “You want to gravitate toward those people that have raised their hand, and really put yourself in their shoes to figure out what made them want to do this for a career. What lessons have they learned along the way, and if they could do it again, how would they do it?” he says.

Blake Goddard, a director at Synovus Specialty Finance and another member of the Atlanta Emerging Leaders network, recalls spending time during his own internship years ago to network with people both within and outside his division, to understand what they do and how they got to where they are today. “Just be a sponge and learn as much as you can from other people, because I think those skills are equally if not more important in the long term, versus the traditional hard skills,” offers Goddard.

Jacob Cole, an analyst at Kirtland Capital Partners and a member of ACG Cleveland’s Young ACG group, urges students not to feel overwhelmed by networking. “I would argue it’s definitely very important, but I wouldn’t want people to overstress about it,” he says. “Finding just a few solid people to talk to and then just keeping up those relationships is I think more valuable than the number of people you talk to.”

Cole’s No. 1 suggestion for maximizing time in an internship is to be a fly on the wall and sit in on as many calls and meetings as possible. “When you start off in any career, you’re going to be doing things that don’t necessarily require the most amount of brain power, because you’re not ready to do it yet,” he says.  Shadowing others as an intern can help clarify the goal of where you ultimately want to get to professionally. He adds: “I think that motivates you to learn as much as you can throughout your career, to reach that point.”

Katie Maloney is Vice President of ACG Media.

Middle Market Growth is produced by the Association for Corporate Growth. To learn more about the organization and how to become a member, visit www.acg.org.