Summer Intern Review

I enjoyed my internship extremely, due to culture at UBS and the dynamics and support system my team provide. My team always make time to teach/give advice regardless of their hectic schedule. The personal objectives system allows interns to state their learning objectives prior to the internship, allowing our goals or improvement targets to be reached. This enable us to contribute to UBS yet at the same time build our skills, definitely shows that UBS prioritizes employee's growth and development. The internship was a great experience also because of the stimulating aspect of the job/tasks. The job scope is dynamic and challenging. The time sensitive element of the job brings excitement to the tasks/projects being carried out. As one whose goals are to participate in altruistic activities, the opportunities at UBS to volunteer deemed extremely attractive. I was delighted to have participated in various secondary school volunteering sessions at Bridge Academy, organised by UBS. Another part I really enjoyed about the internship was that I was assigned a team to managed, and this is probably the first time (after 7 internships) that I have the opportunity to demonstrate management and leadership skills, handling a team of employees. It was overall, a fruitful, challenging, exciting and enjoyable internship so far.

On day 2, I was assigned a project to analyse the productivity and practicality of a reporting system. I was trusted by my colleagues to solve a problem which I did not quite understand, and that high level of confidence and faith to put me accountable for such an important project shows how much my colleagues valued my brief participation in their team. Furthermore, during morning meetings (known as huddle sessions), I was always asked for opinions on various issues that were discussed. All in all, my contributions to various projects made me felt that I was valued by my colleagues, greatly.

My manager told me on Day 1, never to be afraid to approach regardless of how busy he looks on the desk. 'Ask away, boldly and I like it when you approach whenever you want.', he said. I was surprised by the amount of 1:1 sessions I have with my managers and supervisors. Personally a student who had completed 7 internships in various banks, consulting firms, engineering companies, I am greatly surprised by the amount of care, attention and support given to an intern, in comparison to my other experiences. After striving for opportunities to speak with senior management team, I was even given a 1:1 slot lasting an hour to speak with an Executive Director, upon demonstrating my passion to learning his specialization. UBS is really a place where guidance and support is emphasized.

I would choose to replace busy with 'being fruitful and productive' on a daily basis. As the type of intern who choose to maximise my free time, I work shadow or go for 1:1 sessions (networking sessions), even volunteering for community affairs maybe 1 hour a day. The remaining 7 or more hours are spent working on my projects (really exciting projects), daily tasks, and daily analysis. My mornings are spent managing a team (yes I get to managed a team as an intern), liaising, reporting progress. Just an hour before 12pm, I will be working on my projects, presentations and analysis. Work shadowing sessions within and outside my team will take place in noon time, and there are always division specific speaker series presentation featuring senior level executives to attend on Wednesday afternoons.

Just the right amount to make sure I did not have to stay late to complete assigned tasks, yet enough to ensure I am learning and contributing the most. Perfectly adjusted by line managers, and constantly monitored to ensure that I am growing, improving yet not overwhelmed. It is down to the support system and care that enabled the right amount of responsibility was given, that allows me to substantially contribute to the team and UBS, yet not taking away my evenings so that I can have my free time for dinner plans, and work shadowing opportunities outside immediate team.

I was just thinking about the right words to use, to describe it when my eye caught the star rating labels which I am to choose from 1 to 10. (10=skills for life). Literally, I developed skills for life. Aside from turning into an Excel expert on day 5 (ask me any shortcuts, or come on, let's play with some macros!), I have learned skills that can improve my relationship with friends, teammates, or family. (shocking, eh?) This simple contrasting examples can allow you to extrapolate on the many other skills/training in between I developed. The culture at UBS allows me to learn how to be a better me, to be a woman of integrity, to collaborate with people, and to challenge the many status quo we witness. In September I will go back to university with new perspective to the world, and university studies. The analytical and systematic mind set that I developed has improved the speed my brain process information, and break the boundaries which I probably could only dream of cracking let alone breaking pre-summer internship. Phenomenal extent, in short.

Very friendly, and team oriented. Interestingly very articulate. A comfortable warm environment which I look forward, and just the right amount of buzz every morning when I step into the office, with people on their headphones speaking to other employees of UBS all over the world. I really love it.

This would probably vary from intern to intern, as each line manager would have an almost similar but different structure set out for their interns. My line manager structured my roles really well week by week, aligned with respective goals and targets to reach. Outside my team, the HR organised good amount of speaker series, networking sessions. I would say the best part of the internship set up was the opportunities to participate in Pride representing UBS, or coffee corners/research presentations - in short many opportunities to meet senior-level executive.

Literally speaking, (in terms of investment - $) a lot. Figuratively (in terms of training hours, attention, care) more than a lot. We were given a one week induction where professional trainers were brought in to develop our soft skills, we had technical sessions introducing the financial markets to us, an Excel training as well. I wouldn't say everything but definitely a great amount to ensure that we start in our respective teams in the right footing.

Very, very appealing. When meeting various people within the company, one can learn about how they came about joining the firm and their passion to work for UBS. It is evident that people here often join and stay for more than 10 years. The reasons are pretty simple - UBS emphasise on the contributions per employee, not on face time (the number of hours you work a day), and UBS cares for their employees. Furthermore, the various programs such as Accent, or Advance allows employees to grow and change paradigms - this strike as appealing to me as I want to commit to a company which supports employees growth.

There was a fantastic social scene amongst fellow interns. People are willing to enjoy, and work hard, which is a great combination that entails lots of fun! We not only establish a UBS network, but actually friends of friends have came to join - an intercompany intern network was built, enabling us to exchange views regarding different work experiences within different companies.

High. I work in Liverpool Street and meals are not cheap unless you get a meal deal from Boo**. Cost of socialising is high because everything here is a notch more expensive, but definitely enjoyable because there are plenty of varieties to pick from. The food may be expensive, but there are many healthy options. You can definitely survive on a budget constraint though. UBS canteen has microwaves and a lot of people bring homecooked food for lunch! Healthy as well! There are a lot of discounts as well. If you are aware of them, socialising and cost of living can be really low, or free actually!

Nightlife is really good, as mentioned previously there are variety of options to pick from for every sort of entertainment (food, drinks, recreational activities) because the area in which I work in has a strong corporate, metropolitan city scene. Shoreditch is just around the corner as well.

A lot. We were sent emails frequently which informs us of volunteering opportunities within the Firm, such as volunteering to help in Sports Days, or student investor challenges. UBS also has a strong employee network and there are activities such as women rugby, choir team, and etc which we interns could participate in as well. I was even encouraged by my line manager to join the gym nearby, and my colleague even offered to bring me along for a trial gym session on Fridays.