Summer Intern Review

The culture at the bank ensures that it's a great place to work, both in terms of your relationships with colleagues and fellow interns as well as the general atmosphere around the place. They also keep you very busy, which means that the 10 weeks tend to fly by!

Obviously it is difficult for your colleagues to get you fully involved in the technical aspects of what they are working on. This is only a by product of the limitations that interns have in their knowledge. However, at no point does this feel like a hindrance, as everyone from the MD to the Analyst on your team is always happy to get you involved and keeps a lookout for things which you can help with, which still turns out to be quite a lot! (Enough to keep you in the office until very late at times!)

Colleagues are always willing to answer questions, they know your limitations and are only happy to help. Everyone is very approachable, but you still have to find that balance to make sure you don't ask anything that makes you look silly or ask the same thing too many times. To help with this, you are assigned a buddy who is normally a first year analyst. Normally he/she is someone who has been through the internship process as well, so they know what position you are in and are always a great help throughout the process.

They keep you extremely busy, as is the norm for an investment bank so there are no surprises. Some divisions are more busy than others, but that's just a fact of life and also depends on the number of deals that are going on at the time. As long as you're prepared to work hard, this shouldn't be an issue.

As mentioned earlier, it's difficult to assign too much responsibility to interns given our limitations in terms of knowledge. However, colleagues do their best to get you involved as much as they can and explain exactly what's going on and this is always a big help.

The training is very useful and just working in a proper job makes you realise how difficult it really is. But it also makes you value your spare time, so you tend to become a lot more productive.

Everyone at the bank seems to have a very nice personality, friendly and very approachable. It's a really good place to be and to work, and you'll feel right at home with your colleagues.

The internship itself was very well organised, there was a clear structure and they had a lot of events for interns planned beforehand, and more were added as we went along. There were no cancellations, everyone at the bank seemed very committed to the program and were determined to make sure the interns got the most they could out of it.

A lot. The training in the first week is very helpful, it gives you a grasp of the basic concepts which you will require and apply throughout the process. As well as this, there are regular 'lunch and learn' training sessions specific to which division you are assigned to, so you learn a lot throughout the internship. Most of the learning it must be said happens on the desk, because this is when you can apply what you have learnt to a practical environment and to a real life deal. This is where the analysts and colleagues you are working in are very helpful since they are ever ready to guide you and answer any questions you may have.

The bank tends to take most of its intake for its Graduate program from its interns, so getting on the internship goes a long way to securing a job for when you graduate! As long as you show you are committed, a hard worker and have a good level of attention to detail, the bank will definitely consider you for a full time graduate position.

Yes, and encouragingly this was set up by the bank itself. They organised lots of social events for us, and colleagues not only joined in but seemed to have the best time themselves, always up for a bit of banter.

A slight downside to living in London is that it is expensive, particularly in terms of living costs. But if you look around you can find some great deals and make it work for you! Also, you get paid a lot of money so you never feel under any pressure financially.

It's Central London. Of course the nightlife scene is fantastic.

Lots of events were organised for interns, from bowling to social drinks to dragon boat racing! Other things included softball, boat parties and skydiving. Plenty to keep you busy in whatever free time you might have!