Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management is committed to promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion so that all employees can reach their full potential. We believe that investment firms with diverse life experiences, perspectives, capabilities, and talents produce the best outcomes for their clients and create a compelling culture that attracts and retains the most talented employees.

Although we have hosted summer interns in the past, our 2020 summer internship was our first formal program that we developed with the main objective of selecting promising diverse talent to introduce them to our industry as a potential career. Our internship included an overview of the asset management industry, financial statement analysis and forecast modeling, and the development of presentation skills.

We hosted an intensive learning experience for interns selected based on their academic achievement, demonstrated interest in finance, integrity, and intellectual curiosity.

Our internship is broken into three main learning components:

The basics: We tailor an online learning experience to each intern including accounting, Excel, and the basics of financial modeling. Each intern receives access to personalized, curated online courses vetted by our Research Associate group. In addition, our investment analysts teach modules on accounting, valuation, competitive advantage, and quantifying potential investment outcomes, and we host select outside speakers to deepen our interns’ knowledge of finance, accounting, and investments.

Their industry: During their first week, they meet their Research Associate mentor and select the stock they will research. We provide industry primers for the interns’ industries, so that they can better understand the drivers of the businesses and the competitive position of the company they will research. They are also invited to meet with industry experts and sell side analysts to gain an understanding of the issues facing their industry, as well as doing additional research and reading on their industry.

Their company: In their second or third week, we have the interns begin building a financial model. With the help of their mentor, they build a simplified three-statement model. The interns then write a short company report with a company description, an investment thesis, an analysis of the industry, and investment merits and risks. The internship culminates with a short presentation of their investment idea to a select group of our investment professionals.

We hosted a high-quality experience that will encourage our interns to pursue a career in finance thus building a diversity pipeline for our industry. We have run our program for two summers and have received overwhelmingly positive feedback and support from our employees, guest speakers, and the intern participants themselves. The interns’ input has directly helped to shape and improve the program each year.

Sheri Yamasaki