Summer Analyst Review

I mostly didn't enjoy my internship. Although my colleagues were generally friendly and intelligent they were generally disinterested in my development. Any work I received was normally thought up on the spur of the moment and not much use in testing my abilities nor helping me find out whether I would enjoy working on the desk. I felt that the skills required to succeed in this internship were different to what I hoped. Networking and knowing the right people are much more important than getting along well with your team or being smart.

My colleagues generally were kind and friendly (with some exceptions). They at times gave me interesting valuable work. However fore the most part I was not pushed or given responsibility and I think it would have been hard to do so. It does depend on what desk you rotate on, with certain desks giving more responsibility than others. But overall I would not come on this internship or any in this industry expecting to be valued by your colleagues.

I was not given a great deal of support from management/supervisors. This follows a similar thought process to my other comments, but my colleagues were too busy to give support and guidance or were not bothered/disinterested in helping. Some people did help but these were the exceptions rather than the rule.

Not very busy at all. This was probably something which was my doing to some extent. If I had been more interested I could have pushed myself and got more work or shadowing people more. Some people were busy on certain desks. I would imagine most people are either too busy or doing nothing.

Again I was not given as much responsibility as I would have liked. I give this a rating of 6 as on a trading desk it is very hard to give anyone any real responsibility and the work I was given was actually useful to the team and of some value.

The training was comprehensive, detailed and useful. I interned at another bank last year and so could directly compare the training. The training here is of higher quality. You learn more about the financial products and the teachers assume the class know very little so everyone is brought to the same level. The only criticism I would have is that there was no excel training which I did have at my previous bank and which I believe is the most useful thing.

The atmosphere in the office was generally good. A trading floor is an exciting and busy place to work in and I enjoyed that. My colleagues at times were outgoing and sociable and made working here a fun and an enjoyable experience. However sometimes they could be a bit too focused on their work and Mondays-Wednesdays they would be quite quiet, which is why I have only scored a 7.

HR were very good in organise this internship. Training went as planned with no hitches. We had a volunteering day which again was fun and well organised. The desk rotations were well organised with a desk fair set up to allow us to explore the different desks on offer. On top of this there are lots of opportunities to network and talk to colleagues on other desks throughout the internship.

Of the 10 weeks I interned at BAML, we were given the first week specifically for training and then the Monday and Tuesday after that as well. We had two further training sessions in the remaining 8 weeks and lots of speaker sessions with senior figures in the bank. I felt the bank cared about my development and I found the opportunities to be very useful.

There are a ton of different roles in the bank and I feel that if you are personable, smart and interested in markets there is a role that would suit you. I do not know how many roles are on offer and I feel that a lot of people who do take jobs at the bank, do not last very long. The average age in the bank is 35+ and I feel that especially recently, juniors are going to do other more fulfilling things.

As I said, I interned at another bank last year and the social scene was much better amongst the interns. There were events specifically for interns to bond which I felt made a massive difference as it is very useful to know people in different areas across the bank. Colleagues did go to the pub after work and you could go if you wanted.

It goes without saying that the cost of living and socialising was very high, we are paid more than enough to not have to worry about it, but it is still difficult spending the money if you aren't used to it. Housing is especially expensive and requires a lot of effort. Expect to pay a minimum of £170 pw (the average I imagine would be 250 pw) and this is when you flatshare with other people. Lunch is also expensive and I would budget £10-15 a day for expenses while at work.

The nightlife in the city is poor and expensive with a lot of after work events but nearby you can find good clubs which suit all tastes, again it is quite expensive, but London is clearly one of the best cities in the world for nightlife. Plenty of opportunities for nightlife

There was rugby sevens and a fun run but that was it.