TPC interviews placement supervisors J. Scott Miller & J. Scott Miller, Jr.

 

J. Scott Miller is Chief Investment Officer and co-founder, along with his son J. Scott Miller Jr. and Justin Capetola of Blue Bell Private Wealth Management. Mr. Miller is a 2009, 2010, & 2011 Five Star wealth manager, a distinction only awarded to the top 3% of wealth managers in any given geographic region. Mr. Miller has been supervising TPC students for over 25 years.

 

TPC: You've been supervising our students for years, why?

J. Scott Miller (JSM): First of all, like most people, I enjoy helping young motivated students, and surrounding myself with young people helps keep me young. I believe in the internship program so much because of my own internship experience during my junior year of college. I remember how much it contributed to my growth, I felt it gave me a leg up when I graduated. The internship helps students focus on their future by revealing what they like and what they don't like, areas of the business they think they could excel in and areas of the business where, frankly, they find boring or uninteresting...My son and daughter both went to liberal arts colleges, internship allow them to learn how businesses operate in the real world and actually apply what they studied in school. I have had students tell me they learned as much in their internship as they have in college.

 

J. Scott Miller Jr. (JSM Jr.): Over the years interns have added a lot to what we do. It's a mutually beneficial relationship. You get out what you put into something and I think it's the same thing with an internship program.

 

TPC: What do you do in your interviews with our students?

JSM: I try to find out about these students themselves, their family, their major, and their interests. I tell them about the internship. I tell them exactly what they'd be doing, where they'd be sitting. We've put together a training guide, too, and in many cases I have them interview with Scott and Justin and, if I have an intern here, I have them interview with another intern, one-on-one so they can share their experiences.

 

JSM Jr.: When we do these interviews, we try to personalize them, so I don't have a list of questions. I like to find out why the intern is interested in this field, do they have any experience, and what they hope to gain from theirinternship -- it's more of a conversation. After we elaborate more about them, I explain what a Registered Investment Advisor is. I explain how we operate as a business and how we operate as a money manager. Typically I will take them through a presentation that we use for current and prospective clients. This gives them a basic understanding of our strategies and a basic understanding of what they will be doing if they are offered and accept the internship

 

 

TPC: It sounds like you're setting the stakes the first second you meet them.

JSM:  I congratulate them for coming to the program. I explain to them how important internships are. You and I know they could be overseas, they could be in Florence, they could be in London or wherever else. I think the fact that they're coming here and they're working four days a week and they're taking class one day a week, shows their ambition. I tell them that this will probably be the hardest internship that they could get, because they will work and they will have responsibility, but I also promise that they will learn more than they could imagine.

 

TPC: What do you do as an internship supervisor, as a mentor, to make it a successful internship for a student?

JSM Jr.: We have had numerous interns over the years and have become adept at quickly identifying strengths and weaknesses. Typically we begin the internship with tasks that emphasize the intern's strengths. This immediately gives them confidence and a feeling of accomplishment and acceptance it also pays immediate dividends for us and our business. As the internship progresses, and the intern becomes more comfortable, we give tasks that will help improve weaknesses. 

 

Our open office environment immediately makes interns feel as if they are part of the business.  We ensure they are aware and knowledgeable of the strategies that we employ by showing them a presentation containing a sophisticated explanation of what we do. We include them in all strategy meetings and make certain that they understand what we are discussing.

 

Finally we have compiled an intern training guide that has grown and become more refined over the years. On the first day of the internship we take the intern through this guide. On the last day of the internship we allow them to edit the guide, removing outdated information and adding or updating information that they believe to be important. This guide has grown and become more effective each year. We could never expect an intern to remember everything that we throw at them over the first couple of days. The intern training guide is a source that they can quickly reference to answer general questions and continue with their project. 

 

 

TPC: You're in Blue Bell, obviously, and generally it's hard for us to convince students that an internship is worth the long commute. What do you do?

JSM: I can tell you that one of the things that students say to me is how much they learn and how much they appreciate the fact that we spend time together -- we talk about a lot of different subjects and it gives them a chance to ask questions one-on-one in a very relaxed atmosphere. They get to work with other team members; in many cases who are more their age, and I think that's attractive to them. And finally, what is unattractive for many people is attractive for many students: our office is set up like a trading floor, which means we have eight desks in one room. So not only do they hear what I'm saying and I'm talking about, but they hear what everyone else is talking about. That allows them to hear something and write down a question and say, "Well what was that conversation about?" They're involved, physically, and that helps them to feel part of the whole organization.

 

In our business there are no restrictions on growth. In other words, the more you grow, the more you make. If the student can help you in any way shape or form to make your growth easier, then it's a win win situation. The students are learning, but they're also assisting you in what you're doing by just being more efficient and more effective. The students help me by doing research, for example. I think a new supervisor has to be thinking: besides me mentoring the student, what can the student do to make my life better, to make my life easier, to make my business life more successful.

 

TPC: As a mentor, what do you see as your most valuable contribution to a student's internship?

JSM Jr.: At a minimum we are giving them financial knowledge that will be beneficial for their lifetime. We are fee only independent advisors, which I believe allows us to think of money and investing differently than most advisors. This provides our interns with knowledge that I don't think they would learn anywhere else, including investment pitfalls that derail many. Our interns are fully engulfed in our business environment -- a setting most of them have never been introduced to before. They leave with a better idea of where they should be headed professionally, this allows them to select classes that they are more interested in and that will be valuable for their life after college.