Summer Intern Review

Personally I have many business-related/career activities opportunities/activities ongoing outside of the company during the period of the internship, so that did distort my perception of the Internship to a certain extent. I definitely enjoyed the induction week and all the training provided around the internship. The guest speakers throughout the internship were high profile and important figures giving yourself a sense that UBS actually does value you as an internship. In regards to the work itself I was given an interesting software to work with throughout the internship that did provide me some excitement. On the other hand it was too slow-paced for me ( requesting access, waiting around for this, that, etc.) and involved chasing people for work (funnily enough) which quite easily de-motivated me, especially the former (half-awake at some points throughout the internship).

My colleagues did try to pay attention to me, trying to find out facts about myself in order for me to feel more comfortable within the working environment. However like in any corporate culture you come here to work not socialize plus with Brexit and earnings under pressure in a low growth environment this does reflect in the attitude displayed by fellow employees - everyone is a bit shaky for their job. Nevertheless there is still great value/appreciation for you as an intern.

I came in at a very very busy period, my line manager was leading a very critical project for UBS at the time so did not have much time to spare for an Intern. He still did manage to find time for me which I do appreciate so overall here I had a good experience. luckily I had a Associate look after me during that period and she really did help out and was friendly. nothing negative to mention about my LMs at all. Great people.

Now this varies. There were periods I had literally nothing to do, I tried to find tasks for myself to complete but to no success. Even though it can be nice from time to time to sit around and relax a bit but that then misses the point of the Internship and it kind of make the day become longer and psychologically burdening. However there were times I would be booked in back-to-back for meetings barely able to catch a breath which was preferable in my case. Unfortunately for a Bank there were too many periods of time were no work was available/on hand.

During the placement I was given quite a lot of responsibility for a intern (when I did actually work). Some of the work I was doing at the time was shown directly to upper management (Managing Directors) that is quite a privilege and indicates the work done was not just for the sake of it. They tried to avoid giving me any tasks involving basic admin (you know bringing coffee etc. stereotypical intern tasks)... I think I had to only photocopy for someone once. In general everything I did would have been later used by my team to assist with the project at hand

Difficult to assess. But so far it has given me a lot of skills/perception that will definitely stay with me throughout my life. it involves mainly soft skills/simple skills. office behavior, communicating, expectations, reading in between the lines. In terms of 'hard' skills the couple of different software's I discovered will definitely come in handy for any future job I undertake.

The atmosphere was swinging throughout my placement the closer it gets to the finish the more intense as the project comes to a close as deadlines at UBS need to be kept and this may involve overtime during the weekday and weekends. this may sometimes cause a bit of friction which reflects in the atmosphere however in the general everyone tries to remain relaxed and keeps on pushing. Very respectful work ethic.

The organization was very high quality in the majority. Everything was on time very interesting and eventful throughout. Rarely where there any times when the organizing team slipped up and even if there was some kind of problem they would swiftly and successfully solve it. Very Responsive throughout the internship.

The remuneration package you receive for not being fully trained is very large considering your age. They demand a lot of you which in return provides you with a steep learning curve (this varies among the different Lines Of Business). The extracurricular activities are very developed and wide ranging and spread out over the whole internship. Make the most of it you can.

In terms of remuneration you earn way above the national average (but that also depends on your Line of Business as some areas seem to have heavily stagnated in recent years being just hovering above the national average. So in general money won't be a big worry. However you have to consider that employment opportunities may not be the best due to quite heavy cost pressures on the business in the last few years due to regulation.

Yes. It was good.

Despite a great remuneration package London is a very expensive city. 1/3 of your salary will go on accommodation expenses which may not be so luxurious as you think it might be despite the high price (those silly planning laws...). Also in addition to the housing try and avoid eating out as much as you can (if you have the space and time to make food at home. otherwise make full use of the street markets around LS and the Gold Lane office. It's a lot more food for a much cheaper price.

London. What else do you need to know? (well if you can afford it)

Yes there are many I did some volunteering throughout the internship. There are many socials whether company-organized, internship-organized or team-organized. You can have a lot of fun and find out about UBS and its employees from a more personal point of view. Try and attend all the events you can they are really enjoyable and usually free of charge (Tabs are great)