Wrapping up my Fall internship

I have just come back from the Xmas party organized by the sports company where I have been interning over the last three months. It’s been a lot of fun, a lounge near Times Sq with karaoke and open bar. I have even jumped on the stage and have sung La Bamba along with some other guys. Good fun.

Monday was my last day at the office and, before leaving, I sent one of those emails that you send when you leave a company. You thank everybody for their help and say how well you have been there. I did not make it up, it was not just rubbish, I was telling the truth. During the last three months I have felt really comfortable and the atmosphere and the people have been pretty good. It has not been as painful as when I sent the email at the firm where I worked for four years before coming to NY but I tend to get attached to people and places.

From a pure “professional” perspective the internship has had a little bit of everything. More importantly, I have met great people and have made some good connections that may be useful in the near future. At the same time, I have realized how tough is to break into the sports industry. I have been the very last guy in the chain in my department, I have done some very interesting work but also some shitty work that a 18 year old would do in his summer time.

I have also confirmed, on the field and by talking to people, that sports is not investment banking and that an MBA is rather useless when you enter the sector for the first time. It doesn’t matter if you worked for Goldman closing deals or for McKinsey advising on restructurings. You start from the very bottom. Needless to say, the salary is a completely different universe (although in this case the company I have worked for has a lower than average pay scale).

Let’s put some figures out there. If I got a full time offer at this company I would earn between 40K and 50K bucks. This is NY and I still want to live in downtown Manhattan. I want to go out for dinner and go on a trip from time to time. And I want to be able to pay back my loan. Not feasible with forty grand. On top of that, I would be the last in the chain (well, above interns at least) and should be ready to do work and bear stuff that I already did when I came out of college 7 years ago. It is ok for an internship but full time would be too much.

In sum, I have enjoyed my time, people have valued my work and I have learnt some good stuff but it is almost for sure that I am not coming back after Xmas, although I have been offered such opportunity. After Xmas I have to put in time in thoroughly looking for a job. Looking for a job itself is a tough, tedious and time consuming job. I may eventually intern somewhere else if there is an opportunity to work there full time or if the opportunity itself is too good to be rejected.
I am still gonna make a bet on sports. What I have seen so far has its pros and its cons but, overall, the latter have not discouraged me. It is still an industry where I would like to work. I just need to find the right place. Sports won’t be my only option but that is a different story.

Another stage of the MBA has been completed. Let’s see what’s next.