2023 interns are getting a front row seat to brutal layoffs
It’s internship season in banking. It’s also, unfortunately, firing season.
A number of banks are currently in the process of downsizing. Morgan Stanley announced plans to cut 3,000 people last month. Goldman Sachs is trimming the same number. And the Credit Suisse – UBS merger will lead to potentially tens of thousands of job losses.
It’s not just the big banks, though. Elite boutique Perella Weinberg Partners (PWP) is cutting around 7% of its headcount, it is believed, although that only comes to around 50 people. So is Lazard.
In some cases, the cuts have been happening in full view of summer interns. With the incredibly competitive investment bank recruiting process, and the weight placed on internships, it’s an additional stress. PWP's interns arrived last Monday in the US but aren't coming until June 26th in London.
Where the interns haven't turned up yet (eg. Rothschild), cuts are seemingly being made ahead of their arrival so that interns don't have to bear witness to one of the harsh realities of banking life.
Interns aren't ever laid off during the internship, but they may very occasionally be cut for other reasons. In his popular advice on how to succeed in internships earlier this month, Jefferies CEO Rich Handler warned earlier this month that in extremely rare and isolated cases, interns are unable to adapt to an adult working environment and do not complete their internships as a result.
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