Operations Analyst Review

Hugely enjoyed the placement. The firm has a generally great environment, people are friendly and willing to help interns out with any questions and offer shadowing opportunities. HR organized a number of networking events, socials, focus group sessions to enhance the experience meaning it was easy to meet other interns as well as senior professionals. Everyone I met was willing to give up time to answer my questions and this was something that made the internship very enjoyable.

I felt that the work I was given added value to the team and helped my colleagues most of the time. Some tasks involved research and forecasting for the future which was especially interesting. During these tasks I felt like I was being my most helpful because my colleagues would not usually have time within their jobs to complete tasks such as these, but tasks such as market analysis are extremely important and can really impact the way that the team works. My colleagues definitely made me feel like a valued part of the team and were very welcoming and friendly.

Most of the time, the support and guidance was great with weekly catch ups and feedback sessions. There were also more formal HR - run sessions with managers to ensure that constructive feedback was being given. This process all included the production of objectives and skills sheets which really helped in terms of guidance throughout the internship. Sometimes when work was very busy these meetings slipped slightly but it's really up to the intern to have those conversations and make sure that relevant feedback is being received in order to improve the experience and ensure effectiveness within the team.

2/3 days I was busy with numerous interesting and engaging tasks. About 1/3 of the time the days were slower and perhaps didn't have as much to do, for example when the team got very busy. However, I would often pad these days out with lots of relevant training and research to aid my role and my knowledge of the investment bank so I do not necessarily think that this is a waste of time. However, I could have been busier in hindsight and taken more tasks on. Being an intern it is hard to be involved in every aspect of the team due to the prior knowledge required - sometimes months and months of experience! So this perhaps explains the slight lull in workload sometimes.

I was given a decent amount of responsibility. I was expected to communicate with others within the firm freely in order to get my tasks done, so in that sense yes I was given a lot of responsibility. However, I didn't lead any projects or work on any vitally important tasks to the team. A lot of the work I did was important and occasionally time pressured, although the most important work was often left to my manager and the other senior members on the team.

I developed a number of really important skills such as power point proficiency, excel skills, visio and much more in terms of computing. However, most importantly, the experience of ten weeks working in such a fast-paced, corporate environment and such a huge investment bank is invaluable and something that I will always remember. I learned how to effectively communicate with people within this environment in order to form positive working relationships and also in order to get tasks done efficiently. My interpersonal skills within a working environment have definitely improved hugely, as well as my general commercial acumen/awareness. In such a huge firm with so many different people I learnt how to communicate with people and make them (hopefully) remember me/form bonds in a short amount of time. I learned how to network effectively and professionally. Generally, at JP Morgan I acquired skills that I would never have dreamed of having whilst still completing my undergraduate university degree, and life skills that I am certain I will carry with me throughout the rest of my career. Just for this reason, the ten week internship was entirely worth it!

There was a generally relaxed and friendly atmosphere and people were willing to have a quick chat. Nevertheless, it was also evident that employees had extremely hard work ethics and needed to get their jobs done. The office was never incredibly tense, sometimes it got busier and louder and more hectic, however, it was never unbearably tense and I never once felt uncomfortable or nervous.

The placement was generally well organized with lots of intern social events and networking opportunities. Focus groups were also set up to receive feedback from the internship and to have a chat and check how we were all doing, which was great. My only criticism would be the lack of communication between grad and intern recruitment. Neither group seemed to know what was happening in terms of the other scheme, which seems strange as the schemes are transitional. This led to a lot of initial confusion and questions being asked which could have definitely been avoided had there been greater clarity.

The training that we received was of good quality and the sessions were engaging and interesting. However, it was extremely, extremely general and generally consisted of "soft skills" and presentation training, along with a quick whizz through excel and the financial markets. Operations is obviously such a vast area, therefore it is incredibly difficult to train all the Ops interns because each job requires such different skills, however, I think I could have received more specialized and useful training that would have been more suited to the job I was actually doing. We also received less training compared to other divisions.

Employment prospects are really appealing due to the evident mobility available within the firm. Due to JP Morgan being so huge, there are so many different roles and opportunities to apply for internally. In addition from speaking to colleagues I realized that if you work hard to expand your professional network internally, you can often land yourself great roles. Additionally, it is obvious that excellent, hard work is recognized and it is very important to build yourself a reputation of being extremely hard working and conscientious in order to preserve your reputation within the firm and form those connections. If you do this, then the opportunities are probably endless and your efforts are extremely likely to be recognized.

There was generally a decent social scene, we would go out for drinks after work at least once a week and organized nights out independently from the organized socials and networking. The socials organized by HR were generally really great events where it was good to meet interns from other divisions. There were also networking events organized for particular universities and in those cases it was great to meet lots of people from university, including alumni, who I will definitely stay in touch with during my final year of university. Though, the social scene generally could have been more lively.

The cost of living and socializing in London was a lot, but then again to truly enjoy the experience you had to spend money and go for drinks and enjoy the social side of everything so it is not something I regret! Yes it is expensive, but the opportunities and the options in London are endless. I spent a lot during my internship but I also experienced so much and made some fantastic memories. Overall, even though it is perhaps more expensive, I would not choose a different location as the London experience has been great and prepared me for the future and hopefully years living in London.

The nightlife in Canary Wharf consisted more of after work bars, rather than nightlife/clubs. The bars were generally chains, but nevertheless always very busy, especially on Thursday and Friday nights. Generally, Canary Wharf/the bars are great places to meet people and socialize after work because everyone seems to be relatively like-minded and obviously working in very similar professions. There is also a really exciting after work vibe, especially on a Thursday or Friday when the working week is nearly over, makes after work drinks really fun - there's definitely a buzz!

This was a slightly disappointing side of the internship. I was extremely keen to get involved with sports clubs within the firm, however, the sports clubs seemed very hard to join/get into. This was disappointing as I know this would have been a great opportunity to meet people working in the firms, aside from interns, and expand my network. However, I did participate in a really good corporate responsibility day which involved getting active and building a path in the local community, as well as bonding with interns from numerous other divisions.