As a fresh-faced Gen Z job seeker, securing a spot at one of the big Wall Street banks is one hurdle, but making it through the grueling work is another. Luckily, they have now have a cheat-sheet for success; Jefferies CEO Rich Handler laid out his best tips for the young apprentices joining the firm.
“If you act immediately in your internship like this is 100% your full-time career, you will optimize your experience,” Handler stressed in a 2025 letter to young apprentices joining the firm. “It’s all about attitude.”
The Jefferies leader shared words of advice (and warnings) to the cohort of summer interns who joined the highly selective program.
In 2024, the $8.21 billion financial group only admitted 338 young professionals from a pool of more than 25,000 applicants. The 1.35% acceptance rate means landing the entry-level gig is even harder than getting into Ivy League universities. Last year, the business had 365 summer interns on payroll.
As top-notch Gen Z apprentices cut their teeth on Wall Street, Handler wants to ensure they’re prepped for the big time. The Jefferies CEO detailed 20 tidbits of advice and insight into the internship, from handling ego to maintaining work-life balance. And the tips will come in handy when young banking apprentices first step into high-intensity roles on shaky legs.
Key takeaways: connection is key, act accordingly, and be career-conscious
Handlers’ need-to-knows span across a whole range of issues that young adults entering the corporate world are bound to run into. It’s hard for the professional newbies to fully understand the work, recognize what they want from their careers, balance their ambition with humility, and achieve work-life harmony. The CEO’s wisdom could help guide Gen Zers through the tumult.
Handler discussed the importance of connection several times; interns should bond with their teams, network across the firm, and appreciate their clients. And when Jefferies’ apprentices start their roles, they should pay it forward and help other students land an opportunity next year.
However, they shouldn’t be fooled into thinking Wall Street is one big fraternity. Employers have routinely struggled with young employees; six out of 10 bosses had already fired some of their Gen Z workers fresh out of college, according to a 2024 report, due to a lack of motivation, professionalism, and communication skills. And Handler instructed the young professionals to act accordingly, and take the job seriously—they’re on Wall Street now. It’s essential that they bring maturity to the gig, be humble, ask questions, and act with integrity.
“Welcome to the real world,” Handler wrote. “This is not college. We are not a fraternity or sorority. You are an adult and we will treat you like one.”
Some large financial institutions have come under fire for overworking their junior staffers, although the tides are slowly changing. Despite the 100-hour workweeks some young bankers still suffer through, Handler stressed the importance of having a life. He urged the interns to create boundaries, and plan fun after the programs ends and before school begins again. And refreshingly, the CEO said that if the banking sector isn’t for you, it’s good to ponder your career and make a change.
Jefferies CEO’s top 20 tips for summer interns
Here is a brief run-down of Handler’s top 20 tips for Jefferies’ 2025 summer interns.
- Build relationships with the full-time team: “The most important part of internships (and business) is building relationships. While you are working hard to please everyone, never forget that it is the human connection that matters the most.”
- Build relationships with other interns—not zero sum: “The bonds you build with your fellow interns are an incredible part of your summer internship. Never view any of these people as your competitors because life is not ‘zero sum.’ Every one of you can be winners with full-time offers at the end of the summer or none of you can.”
- The environment is always different: “Every summer is different and that means every summer intern class has different opportunities and challenges…You never know what the environment will bring, but there are opportunities and things to learn regardless of the macro factors.”
- Learn the entire firm: “You can do this by reading, networking internally with others who work full-time in different areas and by making friends with interns outside your area of focus…There are many different aspects to an investment bank, and you might find a different one suits you better.”
- Act like this is your career choice: “If you act immediately in your internship like this is 100% your full-time career, you will optimize your experience. You will take the time to invest in real relationships, understand concepts and strategies because you will feel the need to rely on them for decades…It’s all about attitude.”
- Understand the assignment first: “You will save yourself an enormous amount of time/effort and dramatically increase the odds of a successful outcome if you spend extra time upfront learning exactly what you are being asked to accomplish.”
- Appreciate time with clients: “Clients are our lifeblood. They are why we have careers and without them, our company has no reason to exist. Our goal is to give each of you as many chances as possible to be exposed to our clients. This is also one of the best ways to learn.”
- Stay current: “Staying informed, concerned and involved with helping make the world a better place has many benefits.”
- Is this for you? “While striving to be the best you can be, also spend the summer assessing if you can see yourself truly enjoying a career in the industry, firm, division and role of your summer job. Get to know the people around you…try to listen and really understand their enjoyment, frustrations, challenges and opportunities.”
- Choose integrity: “Our industry is littered with once prominent professionals with extraordinarily promising careers who were brought to tears and ruin due to lapses in ethical principles. Consider this summer to be the final warning about how fragile everything in life truly is, especially reputations.”
- Think: “You can get completely caught up in ‘doing’ and end up being so narrowly focused that you neglect one of the most important priorities these programs afford: ‘thinking.’”
- Have a life: “A summer internship in finance can be one of the most intense work periods of your career…You need to do your best to draw the line in the sand this summer and decide now that you will maintain some reasonable degree of balance in your life.”
- Ask questions: “You will have a million questions. There are no stupid ones. Ask away but be mindful of what is going on when you ask.”
- The math is real: “Force yourself to come to grips with the reality that all of these zeros at the end of everything you are working on are real. These are big numbers with dollar signs in front of them…P.S. Don’t make yourself neurotic or nuts, but always check your work before submitting it. Maybe check it twice.”
- Have fun: “This summer will be a waste if you don’t have fun and enjoy yourself. Enjoy the people you meet and don’t be intimidated by anyone. Don’t take yourself or any of the people in our industry too seriously.”
- Pay it forward: “The day you start your internship is the day you can start helping others at your respective schools who are interested in finance get their jobs for the summer of 2026.”
- Lead with humility and confidence: “There is a very fine line between confidence and arrogance…Humble people let their accomplishments speak for themselves versus cleverly advertising them.”
- Be mature: “Welcome to the real world. This is not college. We are not a fraternity or sorority. You are an adult and we will treat you like one.”
- Plan for the end of summer: “Plan now for a short trip after the internship and before school starts. There are very few times in life when you can truly have zero guilt about rewarding yourself with some time away.”
- Have perspective: “If you decide you really don’t like this summer job or if you decide you love it, but circumstances result in not achieving a full-time offer, neither is the end of the world.”
A version of this story was published on Fortune.com on June 4, 2025.
