CMO Spring Intern Review

Coming from an engineering background, I found the insight to to really be an enthralling experience as it was my first time working in bank. Being able to see trading desks and Citi's trading floor were some unforgettable experiences and I found them to be extremely enjoyable. The experience was all the more enjoyable because the people were genuinely interested to help me (when they weren’t swamped with work) and also the fact that Citi’s insight was all about work shadowing and not about classroom presentations was something that I really valued.

Everyone that had the time to spare was super helpful and super approachable. They really were happy to answer every single stupid question that I had. Although I had to pester my buddy about it, my team (ECM) were really happy to let me give me some actual work and allow me to contribute some valued added service. Also, I could not speak more highly of how close/well bonded my team was. The majority of the conversations that they had were just banter and they were really quick to let me into their 'circle' and include me in their banter. This I thought was really amazing and it made me see for myself why people speak so highly of the culture and camaraderie of the people at Citi.

As mentioned earlier, my buddy and everyone that I had the pleasure of having a sustained conversation with was more than happy to answer any question that I had and guide/support me as required. As spring interns they genuinely don't expect you to know anything about the technicalities and are really happy to be patient with everything. I felt this was really great and went a long way towards giving me the positive experience that I had.

As an engineering student most of the skills and information that I learnt were not really transferable. ECM is quite a niche desk so the knowledge that I learnt was quite specific to that. Hence, I don't see myself using it in my degree or for future non-ECM related internships. However, the soft skills of networking and approaching people are definitely applicable to all contexts.

The insight was reasonably well structured. 80% of the day was dedicated to work shadowing and the rest was for HR related events and talks. However, due to this the experience everyone had was directly dependent on how candid the interns' buddies were in assigning them work and giving them things to do. In my case I was quite fortunate that my buddy was willing to give me stuff to work on but there were others whose buddies were less prepared and hence they spent large parts of the day just meandering through the floors trying to speak with people because they just did not have any assigned tasks to do.

The atmosphere was really lively and upbeat. The Citi culture was something that really infected me and I absolutely loved it. The willingness of everyone to be super approachable and be quirky was quite valuable for me and gave me a great impression of the firm. It was definitely a well deserved 10/10. However, it must be said that this was coming from my side of things, the analysts who I was working for were doing 17 hour days so I am not sure they found the week as enjoyable as I did (I did 8 to 7ish).

As this was a Spring Insight Week we didn't really have any formal training programs. It was really left down to your own accord and how willing you were to approach people and ask them questions. Thus, the amount of development you got was directly proportional to the amount of time you were willing to invest in going out and speaking to the people that were there to help you.

I was able to work directly under the analysts for 4 full days. This gave me a fairly good understanding of the sort of the work that they did, the hours they worked and the responsibilities that they had. Moreover, by being able to speak to VPs, MDs and other senior bankers I was also able to see what sort of work I would be able to do further on in my career.

By being really well involved and immersed with my team I was really able to get a great understanding of the company culture. As I have mentioned previously, I cannot speak more highly of this. The way that people carried themselves and made themselves available when possible was something that I really did not expect. Plus, everyone at the firm just seemed to get along so well with everyone else that it looked like they were friends and not office colleagues.

I went into the internship having never been inside the office of an investment bank so the experience was really eye-opening for me. It also gave me a great overview of what it would be like to work in the industry. However, as I have had previous internship experience in other unrelated industries I have had the privilege of being able to gauge what it is like to work in diverse environments, but this has also left me undecided on what sort of career path that I want to take. In any case, I would still recommend a spring week to anyone who is not from a finance background just to get a feel of what it's like to work in an investment bank and learn about all of the things that they do.

This internship was fundamentally unpaid. However, travelling and food costs were paid for. This included tube travel. Others who were flying in from outside were also given hotel accommodation and flight costs to cover for their expenses. Not being paid however did mean that you were in most cases told to leave around 6.30 or 7 due to compliance reasons.

There were 2 proper networking evenings that were organized. One of which was with senior bankers (held on the 36th floor of the building) and the other was with junior bankers at a bar in Stratford. Aside from this, there were endless networking opportunities that were available during the work shadowing as you were constantly surrounded by both junior and senior bankers who were just there waiting for you to approach them and start a conversation,

The networking evening that was held with the senior bankers was quite average. The conversations that were had there were not that substantial and it had the same vibe as banks' university events have where senior bankers come to your uni to give a talk about what it is that they do. The junior bankers' networking event however was really good because it was a lot more cozy atmosphere and this allowed the bankers to be quite candid about their work and speak freely to the interns about their divisions and even the recruiting process.

There was a talk towards the end of the week that was just dedicated to this. It showed of the different opportunities that they were willing to provide like for example, they have a gym, a Citi choir, volunteering opportunities (1 paid day a year), diversity groups, women's groups etc. This gave a fairly good understanding of what existed should we joined as full time graduate analysts.

Absolutely! The experience at Citi is very unique because it is catered specifically for students who wish to get a work shadowing type of opportunity. I have friends who did the Spring Week at JP Morgan right after this one and said that the experience they had at Citi was a lot better because they actually got to see and work on real deals and projects as opposed to sit in a room all day and listen to other people talk and give presentations.