Intern Profile: John Kneafsey

Interned at JP Morgan Chase in NYC

About John

• Major: Business Admin
• Hometown: Basking Ridge, NJ
• Graduation Date: May 2015

Internship Q&A

Tell us about your internship.

I was a Summer Analyst at JP Morgan Chase in New York City. I worked in the Private Bank which is a part of JP Morgan Asset Management. 

The JP Morgan Private Bank provides high net worth clients ($5mm+) with investment management, credit and trust & estate planning.

I was responsible for preparing client presentations, analyzing securities and prospecting for new clients. 

Is this your first internship? 

No. This is my 4^th internship.

Why did you decide to do an internship?

Within the finance industry (and especially on Wall Street), the vast majority of hiring is done out of internship programs. Therefore, I made it an absolute priority to put myself in a position to land a summer internship at a top tier firm like JP Morgan. 

How did you find this particular internship?

Jpmorgan.com

Do you have any recommendations for other students?

Make internships a top priority. I was the only person out of the 220 interns (chosen from a pool of 5000+ applicants) to come from a school that did not have on campus recruiting from JP Morgan. The ONLY reason I was given an opportunity to even interview was because I had three relevant internship experiences on my resume. 

I cannot stress this enough, an applicant with a good GPA and relevant internship experience will be chosen over an applicant with a near perfect GPA and no internship experience 9 times out of 10.

What did you learn about yourself by doing an internship?

I learned that I am capable of handling far more responsibility than I previously thought. I was responsible for compiling investment analysis for clients who are worth upwards of $1 billion. A single mistake on one of my reports could have permanently damaged or terminated the client relationship. Working with one client’s portfolio would have been stressful, but I was required to work on several different client presentations at a time, with each of them having unique needs.

Did you have an 'aha' moment during your internship?

Every single day was an “aha” moment for me. I learned more about the markets this summer than I have learned in years of schooling and reading on my own.

How did the internship impact your career goals?  Have they changed? 

After my internship, I was offered a full time job after graduation. I have accepted it and will be returning to the same office that I interned in next summer. I am extremely grateful for the opportunity. This is my dream job and it is something that I have been working towards for several years.

How has the internship made a difference in your life, personal goals?

I am beyond thrilled to have a job lined up after graduation. A few years ago, I dreamed about having a job like this. Making my dream come true is probably my greatest accomplishment to date. 

Describe a typical day at your internship (or the most exciting day). 

7:00am – 7:30am: Arrive at office, catch up on emails, read Wall Street Journal

7:30am – 8:00am: Attend Investment Strategy Meeting. A meeting with investment professionals within the bank where they discuss opportunistic trades across multiple asset classes.

8:00am – 8:30am: Listen in on JPMC Global Asset Management Morning Call. This was a conference call that is listened to every single morning by Asset Management employees. A typical call will feature an update about market activity from the previous day, a discussion about possible M&A deals taking place, an update regarding the bank’s economic outlook on the US/EMEA/Latin America, highlight opportunistic trade ideas and much more. 

8:30am – 8:45am: Pick up client presentation from the printing center for a 9:00am client meeting. 

8:45am – 11:00am: Drop off presentation books to senior banker just before he heads to his meeting. Work on various client presentations/portfolio analysis/help with various smaller tasks. 

11:00am – 12:00pm: Attend intern-only presentation and Q&A by JPMC’s CEO, Jamie Dimon. 

12:00pm – 1:00pm: Attend Market Drill.  Market Drills are 1 hour long sessions held in a large auditorium where various senior bankers cold call on individual interns and ask them market-related questions. Examples can include: Where is the Euro Stoxx 50 trading at today? Where is the JULI Spread? Why is palladium trading where it is? Failure to answer questions accurately would demonstrate a lack of passion and interest in the markets and the job itself. 

1:00pm – 1:30pm: Pick up lunch and eat while working at desk.

1:30pm – 4:30pm: Work on various projects including drafting a Request for Proposal for a major college endowment fund and analyzing expense ratios for a client. 

4:30pm – 6:00pm: Attend a Private Bank-wide meeting. This meeting featured legendary Hedge Fund Manager, John Paulson. Mr. Paulson discussed his fund’s recent shortcomings following last year’s double digit returns.  

6:00pm – 6:15pm: Pitched an investment strategy centered around the US Energy revival to a senior investor on my team. This was a weekly “assessment” that was part of my internship program. I would receive feedback and suggestions on how to improve on a weekly basis.

6:15pm – 9:00pm: Work on various projects and tasks.

9:00pm – 11:00pm: Prepare for a mock client meeting that would be taking place the following day. This was another one of my “assessments.” 

11:00pm: Head home for the day.