It’s been a wildly volatile week on Wall Street — and a wild summer for the finance industry’s interns.
Pay has never been higher for those lucky enough to score a summer position, with some firms taking less than 1% of applicants.
Prestigious banks such as Goldman Sachs or high-octane hedge funds such as Citadel typically pay from $50 to $150 per hour, so some of the summer hires are raking in north of $20,000 per month — often more than first-year analysts make.
And, working conditions have never been so reasonable.
After 35-year-old Bank of America trader Leo Lukenas III died in May following 100-hour workweeks, banks are being ultra-cautious about the hours interns work.
“Banks are nervous about giving the right impression and not working interns too hard — they’re telling teams to be mindful,” one Goldman senior employee told The Post.
“No one is working more than 12 hours [a day],” added a Goldman summer intern.
That’s left plenty of time for partying, with many interns going out four or five nights a week — instead of two or three as in years past.
“Almost everyone” ends up spending hundreds of dollars each weekend on Ubers and drinks, one source at a boutique firm told The Post.
The anonymous banker behind the popular Overheard on Wall Street Instagram account told The Post a particularly wild story.
During orientation, when big firms fly in their interns early and put them up in hotels, one intern supposedly passed out drunk on the hotel shower drain, causing $50,000 in water damage.
“Intern season is my favorite. This time of year is always the most entertaining,” he said of the rowdy months. “Some people are checking things off a bucket list … everyone’s first week they go The Standard and Mr. Purple.”
The Goldman intern noted that there’s a stretch of four or five blocks of bars on the Lower East Side — with La Caverna, Hair of the Dog, Kind Regards — that’s “basically intern row.” (Interns are typically going into their senior year of college and 21-years-old. Those that are younger rely on fake IDs or borrowing IDs from friends, so as not to be left out.)
For interns who haven’t spent time in New York, the price of a cocktail — and paying money to get into a club — can be a shock. Some are “overwhelmed” their first few nights going out, the Goldman intern said.
Favorite spots such as Phebe’s or Fiddlesticks are fairly reasonable, with $16 cocktails and $10 glasses of wine. But some shell out for a more sophisticated experience.
“A lot of the wealthier kids go to The Blond, Little Sister’s or Paul’s” where cocktails are well over $20 and bottle service can cost more than $1,000, another Goldman source added.
In the heat of the moment, some exuberant interns might spring for a table — and not realize the cost.
One consulting intern told The Post he was invited to join a colleague who was getting a table only to be slapped with a Venmo request of nearly $500 the morning after. He declined to pay it.
Still, it’s not the 1980s.
A handful of interns experiment with cocaine or magic mushrooms on a night out — or take Adderall to stay awake well into the morning. But drugs aren’t de rigeur like they were on the Street during the decade of greed, sources told The Post. “It’s not more [drugs] than [at college,” noted the Goldman intern.
While this generation of ambitious young go-getters likes to party, they’re also quite wary of damaging future opportunities.
Sources told The Post that some interns avoid hooking up with one another because they’re so competitive. It’s simpler and easier to find sexual partners elsewhere in the city — or in the company.
The intern from the boutique firm noted that hooking up with a full-time employee is more exciting than a rendezvous with another intern — and full-time employees typically have a better housing setup. (Interns tend to live in NYU dorms or random sublets from Craigslist or Airbnb.)
Ultimately, it’s about having fun but not too much fun.
“No one wants to get called into HR,” said the Goldman intern.
The name of the game, they said, is to “Play it safe, get a return offer and try not to self destruct.”
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