Corporate Client Solutions (IBD) Summer Analyst Review

The internship was a huge learning curve and a challenge both technically and personally - the enjoyment and satisfaction are in abundance when you learn a lot of new things each day and test yourself to the limit. A huge part of the enjoyment of the internship comes from the friendships you make with the other interns because they become the people you see most often. Overall I'd say I've enjoyed the internship.

Reflecting upon the hours interns commit to the job, it is critical to feel valued. I found that whenever I completed a task I was thanked, and any good feedback was circulated to my line manager. It was certainly noted if work was completed to a high level or we went above and beyond to get the work done on time. In this way I did feel valued by the colleagues.

The support that has been in place has been brilliant in my team - they have made a special effort to distinguish between who is the staffer, who is our line manager and who the buddy is. Our manager has always made the time to help us, even offering his help on a Saturday evening when we were preparing our assessment. Also he was very considerate and supportive of personal situations that affected our work - the support I have experienced has been above and beyond.

You can't expect to be busy from day 1, but certainly by the end of the first week I had enough to be doing to fill the day, and by the end of two weeks there were regular tasks that I had to do that people relied on me for. I can't remember not being busy since joining my desk, but I think being thrown in at the deep end is the best way to experience the job.

From the start you are given a lot of responsibility not just with the work distributed in the team, but also you are expected to be proactive and be responsible of any self-driven areas of learning/development. By the end of week 3 I was responsible for a daily update that gets sent to a FTSE 100 company which involved collaborating with another bank as well as providing information that was faultless. At first this was daunting but you do very quickly become so engrossed in the team that you forget that you have responsibilities attached to some of the biggest companies in the UK.

I think my organisation skills and ability to understand my own capabilities and priorities improved significantly which will enable me to be more efficient when returning back to university for my final year and balancing my studies with sport. I also learnt a lot of new excel skills which will prove useful and my attention to detail has improved massively.

The general atmosphere in the office is good and positive - there is obviously a difference coming here compared to being at university but I think its a good reflection of the atmosphere in the corporate world. In the evenings is when the real bonds are made because you eat together and make sure that you enjoy the time you're spending in the office as much as possible.

The programme was run faultlessly throughout - the training week was great and really useful and relevant, and that set the tone for the duration of my experience. The recruitment team hosted some great social events that were always well attended and organised, then we also had speaker sessions which meant we could learn a lot more about products wider than our direct team. Also, the external speaker series was brilliant and really well organised.

The firm invest massively in our training and development through speaker series, workshops, induction training etc. What's more important I think however is that our team appreciate that value in these events and will always let us prioritise them and make sure we attend. similarly, I have found that people in my team take the time to explain the mechanics behind why we are doing certain work rather than just needing us to do it as a matter of completing the task.

The grad scheme is very well thought of, and the analysts here seem to be progressing rapidly and enjoying their experience. There is also the option to work at other UBS offices which was a key theme with everyone I met. The great thing I think is that everyone here is ambitious and feels they have a purpose, nobody has fallen into this job so there is an atmosphere of determination to progress which is a great prospect.

Yes - although the hours were long we made the effort to always eat together in the evening, would try and go for drinks every Friday night, go for a coffee if we had time. There's a real sense of 'we're all in this together' and the experience is enhanced by the fact I've made some great friends and been able to laugh with my peers as I proceed through it. The induction week was also very sociable and we made the effort to go for drinks or dinner most evenings.

I was very lucky to be able to rent a room off a friend at a good price in a great location only 20 minutes walk from work. I think it is key that you are not too far away because the hours you will be working, having a 40 minute commute for example really makes a difference. Cost of living wise, I ate most days in the office through 'dineatmydesk' so I was only ever really paying for lunch. Outside the office, Broadgate Circle has some great bars which are always busy and have a good atmosphere to them.

The office is very close to Shoreditch so there were always bars and clubs to go to. This however would only happen on a Friday because during the working week the normal hours meant that you wouldn't be going out. Having said that there are lots of good bars to go for drinks in nearby so there is always that option.

There are lots of opportunities to get involved in extra activities, particularly through the diversity communities. This is great, but I think it is more relevant for permanent members of staff because the focus during the internship is immersing yourself in the work to learn as much as possible from the team. I know a friend of mine was also able to run the JPM corporate challenge race with her team so events like that are encouraged too.