no internship this summer? here's your move.

Recruiting season never really stops, it just changes shape. Spring weeks are wrapping, summer interns are settling in, and the firms are already quietly opening doors for 2027. If you're watching from the outside wondering when to start, the honest answer is: now. The students who get ahead aren't smarter, they're just earlier.

3 Roles Worth Your Time

• D.E. Shaw, Trader/Analyst Intern, London (Summer 2027) One of the most selective quant-adjacent internships out there. If you want exposure to systematic trading and a genuinely analytical interview process, this is a strong one to have on your list early.
• BlackRock, 2027 Summer Internship Programme, EMEA The world's largest asset manager opening its EMEA summer programme. Broad rotation exposure across investment and platform teams, a strong option if you're still deciding which corner of finance fits you.
• Blackstone, Real Estate Debt Strategies Summer Analyst, London Private investments and capital markets exposure inside one of the most prestigious alternatives platforms globally. Real estate credit is a sharp niche worth understanding before you apply.

The Playbook: No Internship This Summer? Here's What to Do

Not having a summer internship on your CV is not the disqualifying gap most students assume it is, but it does mean you need to work harder to fill that space with evidence of the same underlying skills firms are screening for. Here's exactly how to do it.

Lead with what you actually did with your time. If you worked a part-time job, ran a project, did intensive coursework, or took on a personal challenge, that's your Work Experience section now. A retail job framed correctly, managing stock, hitting sales targets, handling difficult customers under pressure, demonstrates commercial awareness and resilience just as legitimately as a finance internship bullet point.

Build a virtual internship into your CV. Forage's virtual experience programmes with Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan, Citi, and others are free, take a few hours, and give you a genuine credential line: "Goldman Sachs Virtual Investment Banking Programme, Forage." This is the single highest-leverage thing you can add if your summer was otherwise unstructured.

Turn academic projects into Selected Project Experience. If you built a financial model, ran a stock pitch, or completed a dissertation with quantitative rigour, write it up exactly like a deal bullet: what you analysed, what methodology you used, what you concluded.

Lean harder into extracurriculars. If your summer was light on formal work, your investment society role, case competition result, or any leadership position carries more weight in your CV's narrative. Don't apologise for it, present it as evidence of initiative.

Address it head-on in interviews if asked. If an interviewer asks what you did over the summer, never sound defensive. "I used the summer to self-study financial modelling through Wall Street Prep and complete two Forage programmes, because I wanted that foundation before applying this cycle" is a confident, proactive answer that often lands better than a generic internship that didn't teach you much.

The honest truth: assessors care far more about what you can demonstrate than the title on your CV. A focused, well-framed summer of self-directed preparation can outscore an unremarkable internship every time.

What the MDs Are Talking About

• JPMorgan's succession plan is finally taking shape, and insiders say this time it's real Jamie Dimon is expected to stay as CEO for up to three more years before moving to executive chairman, with newly named co-presidents Troy Rohrbaugh and Doug Petno the frontrunners to succeed him. Worth knowing if you're interviewing anywhere near JPMorgan, this is the story every senior banker is discussing right now.
• Ford rehires human engineers after AI fails to match quality checks A reminder that automation isn't a straight line. Ford has brought human engineers back into roles it had handed to AI tools, after the AI-driven output failed to meet quality standards. A useful data point if you're asked in an interview how AI is reshaping industries, the honest answer is unevenly, and not always in the direction people expect.
• Homes harder to sell as high mortgage rates frustrate buyers The UK housing market is cooling further as elevated mortgage rates keep buyers on the sidelines. Relevant context for anyone interviewing in retail banking, mortgage lending, or real estate finance, expect questions on consumer credit conditions to come up this cycle.

That's the edge for this week. Three roles worth applying to, one habit worth building, and one CV gap worth fixing before your next application goes out.

If something in here helped, forward it to a friend who's applying this cycle. If you've got a HireVue, assessment centre, or deadline coming up, just hit reply and tell me which firm, I read every reply.

Good luck out there.

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