Financial Services Advisory Intern Review

I enjoyed my internship and learnt a huge amount. The people were all very friendly and keen to help me to progress. Social activities were organized within the internship, work teams and departments and I had the opportunity to get involved with a range of tasks and different things.

My team gave me valuable pieces of work to contribute and were very supportive. They were very happy to answer any questions I might have and were open to feedback from my end as to things I'd like to be involved with and my opinions. They were keen to get me involved in all aspects and we really got on.

My managers and all team members were very supportive and have spent time training me, answering any questions and giving me quality tasks that I can learn from. My counsellor was very supportive and met with me regularly to assess my progress and help me build up my skillset as well as providing me with practical guidance and feedback.

I had one week where the whole team was very busy and this meant quite late nights and tasks to a tight time frame. Other than that I have felt I have had a good mix of being busy but not overloaded and have kept a good balance with a range of short deadline and longer deadline tasks.

I was given ownership of individual tasks which I could deliver, I was helped with these and given feedback but ultimate ownership and responsibility rested with me. This meant that I felt I achieved something worthwhile over the internship. I also worked on team tasks where I aided on client facing work.

I have developed my PowerPoint and Excel skills and I have learnt techniques to better format and present information which will be useful in whatever I do going forward. I have also had an invaluable insight into financial services and advisory and have experienced different communication and management techniques which have helped me think about best business practices.

I worked on client site which was very friendly and in the London office which was big and was very well serviced with good amenities and space to take breaks and have meetings. I sat with different people on a regular basis which meant the offices were normally quite quiet but people were always willing to help.

The overall recruitment process was disorganized and very slow, I was moved between departments, had an interview cancelled and had to wait months to hear back at different stages. However once the internship started the organization was very good with lots of opportunities to network and learn about different areas of the company as well as lots of channels of support.

The firm have offered lots of training opportunities and ways to learn more from skype sessions to training sessions to 1-1s. I've felt that they have made a real effort to make sure the intern gets a lot out of the experience and everyone has encouraged me to make the most of all the training opportunities on offer.

The company is very appealing, it has a great training scheme and the people are very friendly and the opportunities to try different things and work abroad are plentiful. The company has a large graduate programme which is also appealing as it seems as if there is a very positive vibe.

There were activities organized to network and meet other people and celebratory drinks and dinner at the end of the internship. People were friendly and willing to chat and socialize, especially around events such as women in technology and sector specific meetings followed by drinks and socials.

Canary Wharf is very expensive for drinks and my daily travel was also expensive. There are plenty of bars and restaurants as well as supermarkets which were cheaper for buying food. This is pretty normal for London though so wasn't unexpected.

I went out for drinks which was very sociable and fun although quite expensive. It was very lively and there were always things going on. In terms of wider London, there are lots of things to do and everywhere has a great atmosphere for going out although it is expensive and for dinner, you have to book in advance.

There were plenty of 'side of desk' opportunities from different business networks to charity work to different projects and organizing events. I got involved in a business network which was a good way to network and meet more people as well as sharing an interest. There was also a network for my university which organized a dinner which was good fun.