Spring week participant Review

Enjoyed it very much. The week was very well organised, we were always kept busy and the balance between practical activities and presentation/information activities was good.

Overall, I felt valued, especially in the following situations: - group activities, everyone was open, polite and listened to each other. I was definitely able to contribute to accomplishing the tasks we were set during group activities. - during the networking sessions the staff were approachable and were just as interested in my experience as I was in theirs and I liked how they gave me relevant information based on the interests I have expressed. - during the work shadowing my buddy (Louise Smith) kindly answered to absolutely all the questions me and my 'work shadowing companion' had and really made an effort to explain in as much detail as we required different aspects of her job.

Enough. All my questions, both related to the organisational aspect of the week and to the experience of working at JP Morgan were answered in sufficient detail, with care and consideration.

The activities we did definitely reinforced and proved in practice the importance of being open, polite, approachable and creative when working in a group. Since my degree involves a number of group programming projects, I will definitely take the lessons from the programming challenge with me. Another skill will be listening carefully and quickly extracting the essential information, which can then be systematized. During the week I took plenty of notes and while preparing for the interview on the final day, I extracted the key ideas, reviewed the presentations we were given etc. This was really helpful. When you are put in front of a large amount of interesting information, presented in an engaging manner but at a fast pace, taking 'clever' notes in a 'clever' way is really the thing that decided how much you will take out of that presentation.

Well structured, overall. However, I wish we had more (short) activities where we would have to stand up and talk, use/develop our presentation skills. On the last day before the interview we were required to create a presentation within the group and I think many people still found this quite terrifying (I did) even though it was not a long presentation and we were all friends with each other. I think that the program would benefit from an even bigger emphasis on building relationships between participants and the staff. I can suggest more activities that would involve staff members acting as members of the group, not just reviewers or assistants during the group activities. I also liked the way the dynamic activities (like following our buddies & group games) were alternated with the presentation delivered by the staff.

Friendly, relaxed, productive. I am quite a shy person but I did not feel awkward or disengaged at any times. Everyone was approachable, encouraging you to participate, to be simple and honest and all the remarks and questions were taken seriously, answered with consideration.

The amount of effort from the staff was significant. The presentations delivered were of high quality and engaging. The presenters encouraged us to ask questions and often stayed for much longer after the presentation finished to answer all the questions. I felt like I was given honest and informative answers from people who are very engaged with and proficient in their subject of study and field of work. The programming competition and the group game earlier in the week reinforced/help me improve and develop my group working skills. Another skill that I had to constantly put into practice was efficiently communicating with other participants and with staff members in order to make the most of the opportunity to gather first hand information about working at JP Morgan

The work shadowing activity was definitely very useful, however, understandably, due to lack of time we were not able to explore the work of a number of different groups (working in various areas) of the company. I think that the participants would benefit from more flexibility and choice in regard to the area they want to explore during the work shadowing.a

The activities were varied and always involved observing both the professional and personal aspects of working in the company (the work routine during work shadowing + relationships between the employees and what is expected from someone working in a group) meant that we could objectively asses how close does the theoretical ethos of the company match the real philosophy at the workplace.

It was valuable, but I do not think you can decide your career path based on a week's experience. I appreciate that we got a very good introduction into the main areas of technological development of JP Morgan, however I do not think that the presentations (no matter how engaging and informative) can replace the on-site observation of how the respective teams work, which, again, we were not able to afford due to time limitations.

I was reimbursed all my travelling expenses, besides being provided with very good accommodation.

We had networking opportunities every day during the program. I wish, however, that those sessions were even more frequent and lasted for longer, as well as meeting representatives of more teams. I really enjoyed talking with graduate students on the evening of our first day at JPM Spring Week and I appreciate that the graduates were mentoring us during the programming competition. As mentioned before, I would have enjoyed if they got even more involved in our group exercises. I would suggest making teams of student participants + 2-3 graduates/ staff members where we would all work together so we could see how the graduates interact with us and with each other and see what is it like to work in a team with someone from JPM, and not just be assessed or observed by them.

All the social and networking events were well organised. The atmosphere was great. I really enjoyed the study & learn + be more relaxed & have fun balance during the week. I wish that we would have dinner & lunch all together during the week, every day and also maybe have our meals in groups so that we could definitely get the opportunity to know each participant and network between each other, I really enjoyed having lunch with two staff members on our first day of the Spring Week and also the lunch with our buddies and the networking session after the interview on Friday. Again, I only regret not having enough time to have a conversation with all the staff members present at this event.

Everyone I talked to said they are happy with their work-life balance. They mentioned getting involved in volunteering projects : programming for a charity, as well as practicing sports. The staff member I was talking to on my very first day mentioned being involved in an organisation promoting the involvement of women in technology, as well as sports competitions. I heard that staff members also take part in social events e.g. bowling nights etc.

Definitely. It' s not just about technology , not just about finance, not just about the success of an organisation, not just about securing an internship or learning something new. It is all of this together, but it is mostly about people, about learning to communicate with them and getting the most out of the opportunity to be in such a diverse and inspiring environment.