Summer Analyst Review

I thoroughly enjoyed my time at the firm, and thought that the internship was a great experience. I learnt a lot, both in terms of the technicalities of the job and in terms of the culture of the firm. I worked with a very supportive team, and received helpful feedback over the course of my internship regarding my progress. Overall, I would highly recommend the internship.

I really felt like I was part of the team, and my colleagues worked really hard to make me feel included and valued. I was treated just like everyone else in the team which meant that whilst I was given a lot of responsibility and the team had high expectations, there were also benefits such as being able to attend meetings, working directly on projects for clients, and feeling like I was actually adding value to the team.

I had two formal feedback sessions with my supervisor, who collected reviews on my performance from anyone and everyone that I worked with at the firm. This was very useful in providing me with structured feedback from a range of people, and the mid-term review was especially helpful as the supervisor helped me to set progress targets which I was then able to focus on for the second half of the programme. In terms of any other feedback, for example from people I directly worked with, I sought it out myself, although the senior members of my team were great at organising coffee meetings with me, where I could informally chat with them about my progress but also more generally about career goals and interests.

It varied from week to week, but for the majority of the time, I was very busy. However, I applied for this internship with the understanding that it is quite a demanding programme, and the hours were likely to long, so I wasn't particularly surprised when we had busy weeks with long days. Even when I was busy, the work was, for the most part, very interesting, which meant that the days usually flew by.

The level of responsibility I was given definitely increased throughout the course of my internship, but I feel that I was given a great deal of responsibility which meant that I was always being stretched and learning as much as possible. Especially in the second half of the internship, I took on a much greater role in projects. For example, in my last few weeks, I was working directly with one of the most senior people on my team, and was responsible for drawing up all the relevant documents and presentations for that project.

Although the internship does not directly relate to my studies (the internship was in banking, and I study History at university), I definitely feel that the skills I developed on the programme will directly assist me in my career, and have also boosted my confidence and interpersonal skills. In terms of my career path, I think that the programme was a highly valuable experience, and I will be able to draw directly on the training I received there in the future.

Generally, the atmosphere was very welcoming. The area I was in can be quite a high pressure environment, so obviously there were moments when it was stressful and tense, but overall I feel that the office atmosphere was very inclusive, friendly and supportive, and I never felt bored or unwelcome. It was a great atmosphere to work in, thanks to all the members of the team.

The actual programme was well organised and we received lots of training, feedback and support from our team-members, and we were very much included by our teams. I felt that the ten weeks that I was there were well designed to help me learn a lot, both about the job and the company as a whole. The only part that was not so well organised was the actual on-boarding process before I arrived at the firm, and it was not particularly straight-forward, and we had to contact different departments for each step of the way. However, that small difficulty did not overshadow the actual internship programme, and the programme itself was great.

At the start of the placement, we received seven days training, which was a helpful start to the programme. It covered the basics of accounting and key processes that we would need to understand for the job, in an attempt to get everyone to a similar standard before we started. However, I feel that I received my most valuable training and development on the job, from my team members. They were always more than willing to sit down with me and explain things, and even provided "teach-in" sessions to explain certain areas that were either more challenging, or particularly interesting. The team made a significant effort to ensure that I was able to make the most out of the ten weeks, and even the most senior members of my team took the time to explain things to me and help develop my learning.

I received an offer from the firm at the end of my placement, and after my ten weeks of experience at the firm, this opportunity is very appealing. The experience was very positive, in terms of my learning and development, and career progression, and the level of support the interns received meant that many of us were received job offers at the end of the programme. The internship is a particularly good programme for personal development and and for creating opportunities for a job offer at the end.

Because the interns on this programme were spread across three different floors, it wasn't quite as easy as I expected to catch up with the friends I had made at the training week. However, I soon made friends with the other interns on my team, and the broader team were great at encouraging us all to interact and socialise. There were three other interns on my team, and our colleagues made an effort to include us in all the Analyst social events, so we were very much included in the team. However, socialising with the other interns in different teams was slightly harder due to differing work schedules and working on different floors.

As the internship was in London, the cost of living and socialising was high. However, we did receive good financial support from the firm to support ourselves over the course of the internship, and this seemed to balance out the high costs of living and socialising in London. Also, the long hours meant that socialising during the week was not a common occurrence, and so socialising costs were not as high as they could be in another placement or internship.

The area around the office building was very vibrant; there were lots of bars and restaurants in the area, so the areas was relatively good for nightlife. However, the long hours that the job requires meant that, at least during the week, opportunities for nightlife, such as going for drinks after work, or going out for a late dinner, were limited, and had to be reserved for weekends.

We did have some opportunities to get involved in other activities. For example, mid-way through the internship we had a Corporate Responsibility day where we volunteered for local charities, and spent the day helping the local communities. There were also several clubs and societies, particularly sports societies, such as a football team and a running club which we were all encouraged to join, and there is even an annual running race against other firms, which we were all encouraged to participate in. Generally, the long hours, however, did mean that we had relatively limited time for these extra-activities, but they were definitely available for people that wanted to take part.