NAF’s Internship Toolkit: Academy Personalization

NAF’s Internship Toolkit: Academy Personalization Or, how to stop your students from asking the same questions over and over and over and…. Marvin I.C. Siegfried, Coordinator, John Dewey High School Marva Forsyth, 2007AOF alumna Nancy Lam, 2007 alumna Laura Fidler, Project Manager, NAF laura@naf.org

Background information:John Dewey High School • The “first” Academy – program started in 1982 • 140 students, 70 seniors, 70 juniors • Located in Brooklyn, NY approximately one hour from midtown Manhattan (where most of our internships are)

Reasons for initiating the handbook • Promote cooperation between the juniors and seniors • Provide useful information to the juniors about their summer internship how to prepare for the internship? what the process would be like? how to travel to their internship? • Supplement NAF’s Online Internship toolkit for New York City • Provide a useful senior project

Preserve their coordinator’s sanity… ……after answering the same question 70 times……

Promote cooperation • use what the seniors had experienced to help prepare the juniors • have the seniors mentor the juniors

Seniors Mentor Juniors • How to prepare for the internship? • what are some requirements? • What the process would be like? • what the interview and application process entailed? • How to travel to their internship • specific subway lines and approximate travel times

Academy Personalization Each Academy’s internships are a bit unique: NYC students are usually placed in the corporate offices or headquarters, rather than in the local broker’s office, bank branch, etc. We felt that a handbook that focused primarily on those jobs would supplement NAF’s online Internship Toolkit www.naf.org

Senior project • Lets students “give back” to the Academy All too often, seniors can become “indifferent” to school during their senior year • College applications • Prom • General ennui • Every senior, including those who did not have an internship, for one reason or another, was required to submit an assignment. • Students who did not have an internship turned in articles on the paperwork necessary for the internship, job interviews including how to dress, etc.

How did we prepare? • Senior Survey of: • what information they wished they had prior to beginning their internship • what they thought was the most important thing they had learned about the internship • specific skills and other information that they thought a student beginning the internship would like to know

Sample survey questions • What skills did you need for your job? • What would you have liked to know about the company and/or the job before you started work? • What advice would you give to the juniors? • What did you do after work? • Where did you go for food? Once we collated the data, we had Nancy Lam decide on the format for the assignment

ACADEMY OF FINANCE INTERNSHIP HANDBOOK ASSIGNMENT sample Congratulations! You have successfully completed your summer internships, and are now seniors in the Academy of Finance. You have a lot to look forward to, Banking and Credit, Financial Planning, applying to college and for scholarships, a college course at Baruch College and most importantly, helping out the juniors so they can have as rewarding a summer experience as you did. To that end, we are going to put together an internship handbook so they will be even better prepared for their internship interviews and jobs than you were last year. Here’s how you’re going to help them. Each senior who completed an internship has to write a brief description of their summer internship. (Brief in this case means two (2) typed pages.) You must include certain information and follow a specific format. You can use much of the information you used in your summer reports. (I have those assignments in my office if you failed to keep a copy.) The format will be as follows: NAME OF THE COMPANY OR CORPORATION ADDRESS PHONE NUMBER WEB ADDRESS A BRIEF PARAGRAPH DESCRIBING WHAT THE COMPANY DOES SPECIFICALLY WHERE YOU WORKED (What division, office, section, etc.) That division’s address (if different from the address above) Your supervisor’s name and phone number Closest subway line(s) to your work location and approximate travel time from Brooklyn A brief paragraph describing what you specifically did during the summer Computer programs or skills needed for that work (Word, Excel, typing, etc.) Hours worked per week (including whether you had to work overtime and were paid for it) Finally, other useful information about the area where you worked, such as: Places to eat Sights to see Places to shop Dress code at work, after the first week or so Etc. Remember, the more information you provide, the better our students will perform at their internships. Any questions please see me in my office. Seniors who did not have an internship will be writing articles on the documents necessary for an internship, how to interview, etc. Everyone will participate. The first draft is due ………

Further preparation • Once all the assignments were turned in, our wonderful editor Marva Forsyth took over and put it all together • We had decided on a general format for each company and job entry • Marva edited it down and made each entry conform • Marva added a feature, “Words of Wisdom”

Sample entry Bear Stearns Securities Corp. Bear Stearns Securities Corp. is currently among the largest global investment band and securities trading and brokerage firms in the world. The company provides services to corporations, institutions, governments and individuals world wide. Academy students worked in the following departments: Client Services. Department: Client Services Address: One Metrotech Center North 6th Floor Brooklyn, NY 11201 Travel: A, C, or F to Jay Street; M or R to Lawrence Street Job Description: -Work is generally from 9 am to 5 pm. -Workers must conduct themselves in a professional manner at all times. -Important skills to have include: Microsoft Word. -General responsibilities include: making copies, working with confidential files: much of the work will be done using programs created especially for the company. -Dress: after the first week business casual is generally accepted. Food and Attractions -Café on the 5th floor: great deals on food. -Fulton Mall is a few blocks away.

Sample Words of Wisdom “[Try to budget yourself.] Just because you’ll have money does not mean you should run out after work to spend it. Resist the temptation to buy those Cartier sunglasses or those True Religion jeans. Window shopping is the best way to budget yourself.” Rebekah Francois “Don't be afraid to ask questions! Everyone is there to help, and they'll welcome you with open arms." Stella Milnes “You are there to learn, they don’t expect you to know everything about the company. You should take advantage and learn from them. When they assign you work to do and when you are finished you shouldn’t just sit there and wait for them to give you work. You should consistently go to them and ask for more work because that proves that you are working and trying to gain experience.” Yen Lau “….be open to [new] things.” Sabine Jean-Jacques

More Sample Words of Wisdom “Double check your work and make sure that things are done perfectly. Make sure to smile and try your best. Also, if you don’t understand any instruction, ask again. Most of all-make sure that you enjoy yourself. Good luck!” Nancy Lam “Don‘t dye your hair strange colors during the internship; wait until it’s over. Ask questions, because messing up can mean you just set yourself back a couple of hours. Get enough sleep, ask for recommendations in the middle of the internship and don’t bite” Karina Galinskaya

Customize • Do what works best for you. • Personalize it for your city or county. • Our handbook had a dedication, which follows on the next slide.

This first edition of our internship handbook is respectfully dedicated to all the victims of September 11, 2001 and especially to Francesco Garfi. Frank was a graduate of the Academy of Finance here at Dewey, class of 1990. After trying pharmacy, Frank returned to finance and was dedicated to working at Cantor Fitzgerald on that terrible day. Our thoughts and prayers go out to him and his family.

John Dewey High School 50 Avenue X Brooklyn, NY 11223 Marvin Siegfried MICS57@aol.com 718-373-6400 x306

NAF’s Internship Toolkit: Academy Personalization