Summer Intern Review

Friendly people and a great atmosphere in the office which made it an exciting place to work in

In my first rotation particularly, I felt like I was one of the team within a few days, and they trusted me with important projects and work early on, but were always happy to help along the way

Always willing to help and explain things I didn't understand, I never felt like a burden at all

Completely varied one day to the other. In my first rotation, I had my own project, so I did as much work as I wanted to each day, knowing my end goal and deadline. In my second rotation, I had days where I did nothing, to days where I didn't stop. The inconsistency there was a bit frustrating, but it's part of the learning experience, and it meant I had time to go to other desks and find out what they did on quiet days

Lots on my first desk - I was given a project which i had to structure and work out on my own, which was to be reviewed by the MD of the area since it was to help analyse which companies were loss-leading with us, and whether they were still financially still worth holding. Not as much on my second desk, but there was less work to do there

In my studies, I think the main thing I will take away is my new excel skills. The other financial skills will be incredibly important later in jobs, but not so much for my degree. There were also incredibly important soft skills that I learnt, like how to communicate with people I had never met before, how to get something done from someone who didn't really have time for interns, and how to be professional in that working environment

Lively and friendly and open on my first desk - a little more reserved on the second, but this may have been because the atmosphere of the corporate finance/sector floor was more serious

So good - I knew about everything I needed to on time, the application process was straightforward, and HR were so good in always replying to queries quickly

We had a week at the beginning of the internship dedicated to training in the different types of instruments we might need to use when it came to being on the desk. But this was also an on-going training process, as we had training sessions with Blomberg, Factset, Factiva, Mergermarket and lots of other financial applications throughout the internship

No one really knows right now as there have obviously been a lot of cutbacks recently in the industry, but we have always been told that if you work hard, and are someone who other people want to work with, then you will get a job. And RBS are keen to invest in new employees

All of the interns got along with each other really well - there was no one at all that was left out of anything. We had social events put on by RBS every week, but also socialised ourselves every friday, and any day we got off early really!

Way more expensive than uni, but the salary covered it completely, and with some to spare

Immediately around the area, there were lots of good bars and a few good clubs too, but was so easy to travel anywhere we wanted to go in London anyway, so distance wasn't a problem

We participated in the Prince's Trust challenge, where in teams we raised money for charity. And I also got involved in some of the smaller sporting events that went on between desks in my first rotation, including 5-a-side football