Summer Intern Review

I really enjoyed my internship as I got to see 2 areas of the bank, Retail Banking and Commercial Banking. I also got the opportunity to shadow people in head office to see the various roles available at the company. I learnt a lot about the company and met so many people, a few that I am still in touch with.

Even as an intern, I was treated like a full time employee. My colleagues were always willing to help me out and teach me new things. In both my rotations, the teams were amazing and friendly. I didn’t feel out of place at all and they didn’t treat me as just a student. Everyone was very welcoming at the start too.

I was set a project at the start of each rotation by my placement managers. I was told what to do however not exactly how to do it, as this was left up to me to decide. However, if at any point I needed any help, I was able to speak to my managers who would then guide me in the right direction.

During majority of my placement I was kept busy everyday. However, in retail banking, as I did not have access to the systems and was not able to meet customers face to face, there were some days where I didn’t have much to do. The majority was just shadowing and meet and greet. In commercial banking, there was more to do and I was generally busier during this rotation.

I was given quite a lot of responsibility especially during my commercial banking placement. I was in charge of a few current projects and was responsible for making sure the centres KYC remediation was done each week. In retail banking I was responsible for my project and for providing feedback and observations for anyone I shadowed.

I definitely developed a range of skills and learnt new ones as well. This will help me when I go back to uni, for example with organisation, time management and communication. In addition, I will be able to use these skills in the workplace in my future career. I learnt more about retail and commercial banking through my internship and about the different careers at HSBC.

In both the offices I worked in, there was a good atmosphere even though there was a lot of work to be done in a short amount of time. Everyone was friendly and easy to get along with. There was also time to socialise and during the day people still talked to each other and had a laugh.

The internship overall was set up well. We were told from the start the two departments we would be working in and were given a handbook which outlined a few of the things we would be doing. We were also able to sit in on webinars where we learnt more about HSBC and the jobs available. However, I feel the retail banking placement could be given a bit more structure and allow us to have more responsibility.

Through the internship I was able to shadow different people and learn about the company. There was however, no specific training given. We had webinars that we attended which gave us a bit more of an understanding of the bank and some of the roles. There was room for personal development through learning and developing my skill set.

The opportunities are huge! Before joining I didn’t think there would be much to choose from after graduation however even within retail and commercial banking, there are many more sub divisions that you can join. There is a variety of roles to choose from and in the graduate scheme, there is the change to do 4 rotations and get an even better overview of the company. There really is a lot to choose from.

When we all met at induction, we were at a hotel overnight where everyone was able to meet and socialise. There were about 80 of us however, we all spoke to each other at some point. In the evening, we all went to the bar and socialised more. As the internship went on, we had volunteering days where we were all able to meet and go out together after. The last day of the internship was good as well as majority of us went out after work.

As I worked in London, it was generally expensive. There were a range of places to go to however it was more expensive than if I was to go outside of London. However, during my retail banking placement, there were a few less expensive places on the high street that my colleagues took me to.

My two placement were in West London and Croydon were the night life isn’t great at all. However, it is really easy to travel in to Central London with the tube or train where the night life is amazing. There are also days where you go in to Central for volunteering and can then go out after which is more convenient.

There was not much to get involved with outside of work during the internship. There was volunteering days where we spent days in Central London raising money for charity instead of being at the office. However, once you join the graduate scheme, as you are there for longer there is more to be involved in such as sports.