Spring Intern Review

The spring week at RBS was five days long as opposed to some shorter ones at other banks. It was very enjoyable and opened my eyes into the various divisions within an investment bank. I would say that the main selling point of this spring week as opposed to others was that there was a chance for desk rotations.

I don’t think banks in general pay for spring weeks, but they did put all of the interns in shared apartments with a £15 daily budget for dinner, which was reasonably generous. However, the distance between the shared apartments and the bank was quite far to walk but a bit short for taking the underground.

This was a spring week which only lasted five days for the entire programme. As such, guidance and support are very rarely required for this type of programme, so I would be lying if I said that I received both a lot of guidance and support. HR however were very helpful and always happy to answer questions.

Not really much in terms of personal development. It was a spring week and so there was only one day of training. The other days were made up of presentations from members of various divisions within the bank, including: Sales, Trading, Capital Markets, IBD, Operations and Technology. Work shadowing was also included.

The insight week definitely helped me to gain a better understanding of the company. Prior to the insight week, I did not really know any big differences between the major divisions within an investment bank, only really that the two main front office roles were either based in Markets or Banking. I now know some more information about each division and their day to day life.

The insight week seemed to paint a very rosy picture of the company culture, with the culture being tied in as one of the main selling points of joining the bank. This was reiterated throughout the week with both HR and different speakers from different divisions of the bank recommending the culture. However, things seemed a little different when work shadowing occurred, and the culture on the trading floor was not so good.

I think that the insight week really helped me to decide that I wanted to go into banking. It confirmed my initial thoughts about the industry, in other words, it is an industry in which one can gain a deep understanding of technical knowledge quickly, with a steep learning curve and intelligent colleagues to do this with. There is also always the benefit of high pay.

Accommodation and food were paid for. There was no actual salary for the insight week as the interns were not actually working. However, we did get very high quality apartments to stay in, with a very respectable daily food budget. Accommodation was arranged by the bank, but food and travel had to be reimbursed.

To put it simply, yes. There were several opportunities to network with other employees within the firm. During every presentation, there were respective employees from those divisions, but there were also several drinks and lunch events in which networking was welcomed by the firm, with employees seeming very willing to give out business cards.

There was nothing outstanding about each of these events, but one cannot complain about free food and drink! These were generally hosted within the bank and generally in a conference room of some sort. However, there were other events such as the Corporate Social Responsibility event which everyone was involved in.

Yes, this was something which was asked about in the general question and answer sessions. I was actually surprised at the number of societies available to employees. I think that I would definitely like to join the football club at the bank. Mini tournaments are held between five a side teams within the bank.

Of course. It is important to remember that this is only an insight week. As such, it does not set in concrete which career path a person should take. The clue is in the name, it only helps to give more insight into the area of banking itself. And even if you decide not to go for banking in the end, then at least you will know at the end of the insight week that it is not suitable for you.