Summer Intern Review

The intern programme was exceptionally well organised with plenty of different activities going on throughout each week. I was kept very busy throughout the 9 weeks and there were very few moments where I found that I had nothing to be getting on with. Overall the process was very challenging and very rewarding with great opportunities to continually learn.

Clearly the employees that we worked alongside were busy people. Despite this I genuinely felt like they made a great effort to make time to answer any questions I had as well as making themselves available for me to shadow. They also put trust in me to carry out a number of important tasks throughout the programme even if it meant them spending some time guiding me in the right direction.

For each rotation we were allocated line manager(s) who gave us feedback at the end of most weeks. On top of this we each had a "mentor" and a "buddy" who we could also ask questions/ seek advice from. The buddy system was something that I found particularly useful as it provided a great point of contact to ask what I would consider "silly questions" without having to be worried about being assessed.

The internship was deliberately filled with lots of different activities including a trading game and group stock pitches. Whilst this meant that we were very busy, it did also mean that I learnt a huge amount throughout the 9 weeks. Clearly the amount of tasks we were given meant that prioritising tasks and managing workload was very important over the 9 weeks.

We had to take on responsibility for all of our group stock pitches, presentations, trading game ideas and desk projects. On top of this throughout the process I found that people often found tasks that they needed some help with that allowed us to take on extra responsibility. Often carrying out one task for a person would lead to them giving you more projects/ tasks to work on in the future.

What I have learnt has guided some of the topics I have chosen to focus on in my final year of study. The personal skills such as time management and prioritisation of tasks is something that will be very useful in the future. Being exposed to working in a large company environment is also something that will prove invaluable in the future.

The general atmosphere was very good with almost everybody proving easy to approach regardless of their position in the company. There was generally a very friendly atmosphere which was evidently conducive to people working well alongside each other. The relaxed atmosphere definitely helped the interns to integrate into the desks that they worked on.

The general organisation of the programme was extremely good with a number of different activities organised throughout the 9 weeks. This included both business specific teach ins as well as talks from people such as Victoria Pendleton which were very insightful. The training week generally ran very smoothly and the interns were aware of who to contact should they need any assistance along the way.

The first week was a week of training. This was a mix of personal development training and more business specific training. This put us in a much better position to be entering the trading floor for the first time. There were also a number of teach ins throughout the programme as well as ongoing activities such as the trading game which helped to ensure we were continually learning throughout the 9 weeks.

The summer intern programme is clearly one of the main avenues which UBS looks to hire graduates from.

The atmosphere was very good.

Standard for London.

Very good

There were a number of social events organised by UBS including cocktail making. Clearly outside of work there was a vast amount to do in London more generally.