Summer Analyst - Sales Review

I thoroughly enjoyed my internship and got along really well with me team, so the 10 weeks went by really fast!

My team were very welcoming and spent a lot of time teaching me about the role and I felt like I was able to make a valuable contribution.

I received a lot of teaching and guidance about my team's role in particular, and all the people I met were always willing to clarify and explain things whenever they had a spare moment.

Given it was a role which was very client-facing, I felt me team did their best to keep my interested and included in their day to day activities. When it's less busy, I had less to do, but everything was fine as long as you use your initiative well.

I was responsible for quite a few daily tasks, which were simple but integral to their roles, so they were quite big responsibilities! I was also given a longer-term research project into an area they'd like to expand into and that was really interesting because I was able to report on something they didn't have much experience in themselves.

I learnt a lot of transferable skills while I was there, like how focus on your own work by blocking out the background noise on a trading floor and how to approach people with questions when they're busy. Overall, I also gained knowledge on the markets and how to analyse the underlying market drivers which are sometimes much more detailed (or more simple!) than one might expect.

The atmosphere on the trading floor was much more relaxed and easy-going than I imagined beforehand. People were really polite and genuinely keen on making the job more enjoyable for everyone.

My tasks were mainly driven by my team members, but we also had group activities and events for the whole intern class. I felt it was slightly disorganised at the start, but once I got my bearings, it was fine.

The firm gave us a really good training week and the rest were done by individual teams. My desk always ensured I could observe them on their daily tasks and were keen to invest time to teach me even the most mundane things that they do. I think this is a sign that they treat you as someone worth investing their time in and not just another intern who's only here temporarily.

The industry itself isn't doing too great at the moment, which makes a job offer from a top firm all the more valuable!

People did organise drinks within themselves and I also went to several drinks with people on the floor. My team even took me to dinner!

Canary Wharf was never going to be cheap, but it was generally affordable.

Clubs in Central London were great and not too far away.

The firm organised lots of activities for us such as volunteering, networking events and senior speakers.