Spring Week Review

The Spring Week gave an excellent overall insight into the operations and culture of the firm as a whole. Rothschild put a lot of effort into the Spring Week - to make sure we are exposed to all the divisions within Rothschild, but also gave us enough information to be prepared for the interview a few weeks down the line. The company also gave us plenty of opportunities to network with employees ranging from analyst to directors. We also had the opportunity to work with Body&Soul (a charitable organisation) for two hours decorating a nursery area, using our creativity. By far the best placement I have had the pleasure to be on, out of the 8 I have experienced so far.

I am lead to believe that over 2000 students applied for the 2017 Spring Week - and 25 places were give. I believe those numbers help to show how selective the process was and consequently how valued we were at the spring week, but also - on a more general note - every analyst, HR and Director I had the please of speaking to were extremely friendly and catering to our needs/any questions we had about the industry.

The guidance/support was excellent. HR were always there to answer any general questions about the spring week, interview process, or about the structure of the firm. The allocated project was the only activity that involved little/no support - however that was with intentions for us to show off our technical and presenting skills for the given case study.

I would say that the project that was run throughout the week (proposed merger/acquisition) was the most rewarding, since we got to work in small teams of 5 to value and analyse two companies, and evaluate whether the merger was worth it or not. This not only built our general knowledge and technical skills, it also helped us to improve our communication skills - whilst we were involved in communicating effectively within a team but also to the Directors who were observing us and asked questions during the panel. These transferable skills will be highly valuable for university life but also our future careers.

The structure of the insight day was perfect, jam-packed with a range of activities and talks given by Rothschild employees. The activities ranged from case studies given by existing employees at the firm (including the triple coca cola merger), (speed dating) afternoon tea in the sky room with Directors and an interactive 'surprise' on the first evening to break the ice with your fellow spring weeker's. The Spring Week also included summaries of each division within Global Advisory - Debt, Equity, Wealth Management, M&A, along with two 1.5h shadowing sessions with first year analysts.

The general atmosphere totally reflected Rothschild's history of being family focused (togetherness and approachability), this also included a naturally high retention of employees/low employee turnover as the firm encourages long term (internal) growth. For example, I came in contact with many senior members who had been there since entering at Spring Week/Summer Internship level. Rothschild clearly make a large investment in juniors and their future. Similarly with the volunteering thrown into the Spring Week, it is transparent that Rothschild like to give back to the community and offer a range of volunteering opportunities each year.

During the Spring Week, we were given the opportunity to get into random groups and practise competency and technical based questions with analysts and HR. After each question we were given feedback on our answers, by the mock interviewer but also the other interns. This I felt was an investment into our futures, since all of us will most likely be interviewed again at some point in the future. Alongside this, we were given a 'personal branding' video to watch - which educated us on how to present ourselves in a unique but approachable way that will help us stand out to employers, and an IT training session on how to produce high quality slides for presentations.

As mentioned, we were able to speak to a number of employees, from a range of industries and positions within the firm on a day-to-day basis, but the greatest exposure (of what it would be like to have a full time role within the firm) came from shadowing analysts. This not only provided us with the opportunity to see the trading floors etc, but also ask more technical questions such as how pitch books are produced and how key financials are calculated. Being able to stay in contact with the analysts is also a great way to understand the firm more since any follow up questions are likely to be answered.

At the beginning of the week, we were fortunate enough to visit the companies' archives - and gain an in depth insight into the firm and families' history. Learning from this, I am a strong believer that this family based culture is translated throughout the whole firm - with the attitude of support each-other and being approachable.

Getting to know the people working at Rothschild, along with the likeminded and equally motivated students on the spring week only reaffirmed my interest in the finance industry, and more specifically working at Rothschild. Whilst giving us an insight into all the divisions in Rothschild Global Advisory, I now feel more able to make an informed decision as to which team I would most like to join.

We were given £5 to go out and get our own food for each lunch that wasn't provided by the bank. A travel expensive form is also provided by the bank to cover travel expenses to and from the bank (Rail, flights and TFL). If accommodation was unavailable to you, the bank would fund £100 per day towards hotel expenses.

There were plenty of opportunities to network with existing employees at the firm, including a networking lunch session on the first day with analysts, afternoon tea with several Directors, work shadowing (analysts) and a farewell networking session at the end of the Spring Week with a range of Rothschild's workers. Networking was heavily integrated throughout the whole of the spring programme.

On the first evening, the programme was organises such that the students on the spring week were able to get to know each other a bit better by visiting a local bar which had a theme of banking and vaults. There involved a surprise activity where we had to work in teams to follow clues and eventually win a prize. During the afternoon tea, we were served a range of cakes and drinks on the 10th floor, which allowed us to informally get to know some Directors at Rothschild in a speed dating manner, such that you were able to ask questions to all the Directors in the room at some point/on rotation.

We were given a talk by the Charity department at Rothschild about the (volunteering) activities that take part throughout the year at Rothschild - including fun runs and mentoring/ teaching. In addition, teams often meet up at the end of the week to socialise together and to get to know each other better, wether it be through eating out or mini golf!

Absolutely, as I mentioned, the best programme I have been on since expressing my interest within the banking industry. Everyone was very friendly and hard working. I have definitely made long term friends since being on this programme that I would like to stay in contact with in the future.