Investment Banking Spring Week Intern Review

I definitely enjoyed the Spring Week, due to the very busy schedule we had. Furthermore, by doing a mock case study in groups, we got a taste as to how Investment Banking feels from the work perspective. The case study was definitely challenging, but very helpful for my understanding. Even though it was self-contained (meaning there was no external resource we could call upon other than the booklet they gave us), I still learnt a lot.

I did feel valued during my time at JP Morgan, with their culture being very people focused. Being able to present to Executive Directors and Managing Directors demonstrated the amount of trust the company put in our capabilities.

In terms of guidance, it was very much a get your own answers approach. Even though we did have project mentors, who were analysts, for our task, the hectic schedule didn't give any time for us to familiarise ourselves with the technicals and I think we were expected to do so ourselves. This made it challenging at times to follow everything, but obviously everyone at the firm was happy to answer any questions we had.

I think I have learnt a lot over the week. My capabilities for working in a team have grown, as I got to encounter a wide range of people from different backgrounds and managed to adapt to their working style. I also feel a lot more exposed to the financial world as a whole and would be more comfortable in a corporate setting. It also has benefitted my work ethic, with our group often staying until 10/11pm to complete our project.

It was structured very well, with all of us getting an in depth itinerary at the start of the week. However, due to the very tight schedule, there was not a lot of time for breaks on some days, which wasn't so good. But on the whole, I was always well-informed about what we were doing next.

Atmosphere was great. I really enjoyed meeting so many different people from around the world. Surprisingly, Oxbridge students were not heavily featured in the lineup of students, which I think was a definite positive. JP Morgan clearly recruit based on the needs of their clients, so reflect that in their recruitment process. Everyone from HR to MDs and my fellow colleagues were genuine and I didn't feel out of place at any point in time.

Not a great deal, as we were only there for a week. However, in terms of helping us understand the firm, they made sure we got an in-depth idea of the different products within IB.

The late nights with my group replicated the long hours in IB to an extent but nowhere near as intense or as late. I would definitely need to go on the Summer Internship to get a real taste for what it's like.

Very helpful. The culture of JP Morgan was stressed numerous times and was sort of a running theme.

The content was good, as it exposed me to the different parts of IB often with examples. However, I would say I'm still unsure whether I would be cut out for IB, especially with the work/life balance tending to be non-existent

All travel was reimbursed.

Yes. They put on effectively a networking session each day, which really helped me get a grasp of the kind of people JP Morgan hire. However, there were always too many students to a employee, meaning you couldn't network meaningfully. Therefore, the only employee I met up by myself with over the week was my interviewer.

There were quite a lot. Each night there were social events that we could go to, which took place at restaurants and bars.

Yes, through speaking to employees I found out about their sports teams, who apparently compete with other companies such as Deloitte and PWC.

Definitely. The people really make JP Morgan a great company to be a part of and the culture is one that seems to be very uncommon amongst most top banks (Goldman...).