Insight week Review

Thoroughly enjoyed the experience, meeting new people and learning more about the bank. The insight week was well organised to gave me the best possible learning outcomes. The pace at which I learnt was impressive and the event was very informative.

Bank of America Merrill Lynch spent a lot of time and effort in organising this insight and this can be seen throughout my time. I can really see the importance of us student to the development of the bank. The employees took their time out of work during busy times to make sure we had the best experience possible.

There was a lot of support in during the insight from the employees, with plenty of opportunities to ask questions and learn about the bank and people who work there. This was very important in helping me understand work and life at the bank.

I had developed my communication skills whilst talking with the employees and networking with fellow peers, able to build relationships in a short amount of time. This is important in helping me to build connections in the future. I have also discovered my own abilities and able to analyse my positives and negatives in order to develop myself as a suitable candidate.

The insight was well structured. Although, it could have been more efficient. There were a few activities where I thought they were unnecessary and I did not find them useful and received no overall benefit from the activities. Overall, the insight was organised in a way to gave us the maximum exposure to the bank which I felt I have received.

The atmosphere inside the bank was great, everyone was happy and the people were very nice. The students around me were all happy to be there and we were able to share experience and knowledge with each other. We all shared contacts with each other and through this insight week, we were able to build a strong connection with everyone else who attended.

In terms of training, we had many skilled sessions which helped us develop our general skillsets. which I found very useful. However, I felt like these skill sessions can be structured more efficiently to develop our skills more. Rather than just presentations, we could have participated in activities to really discover our skills in an enjoyable way.

There were many opportunities to speak t employees to get a chance to learn about life at the bank. However, I felt like the work shadowing can be actually work shadowing, rather than just presentations. In market risks, we were introduced to the division via serious of presentations which weren't as useful in helping us understand the job and life on the role as close interactions with the employees.

I was able to see the culture inside the bank through close interactions with employees and learning about their experiences. However, I felt like we could have gained a better understanding of the culture if we were able to speak them outside of work, participate in activities outside the bank that the employees do on a day to day basis.

The content really gave me a deep understanding of the life at the bank. However, my perception of the work that is done is still unclear. This maybe because the complexity of the work, but it would have been useful to experience the types of work that is involved in the role, for example, case studies.

There were networking opportunities on a daily basis.

I really enjoyed networking during the dinner event. I think it was a good atmosphere and I was able to get to know the employees and their role in a personal way.

Not fully, but I was able to get a glimpse of what main activities are available.

I would definitely recommend this experience to friends whose perceptions of the bank is overshadowed by the general views. This was a very informative event where I was able to gain an insight on what life at the bank was like and the people that make up the bank. I have learnt new knowledge and met plenty of people with similar interest. My overall experience at the insight week has been very positive.