Summer Intern Review

I thoroughly enjoyed my experience interning at M&G. Coming into the internship I was slightly sceptical about how genuine the flat hierarchy culture I had been told so much about during the application process would manifest itself, but the company truly does implement this very well. My manager sat only a few desks away from me, and his manager sat on the next row of desks away from us. This kind of open and flat structure meant I was able to interact with seniors on a day to day basis, and so the internship really provided me with a lot of exposure to different levels of the business. The work I was given was also appropriately challenging whilst also being varied in nature, so I never felt uncomfortably overworked or hopelessly bored. Coming from a non-finance/economics degree, I was able to learn so much about asset management in such a short time, and though the steep learning curve was a little overwhelming to begin with I know I will be leaving here with a good grounding in business and finance which will inevitably prepare me well for any professional career.

I was assigned meaningful work that was relevant to the team's responsibilities, so I always felt like my work was of significance. I also had the opportunity to present to some colleagues in a few meetings, and was pleasantly surprised by the positive feedback I received. I mainly had work set for me by my main manager, with a few ad hoc tasks set by other members of the team, so overall I wouldn't say I was able to develop a really strong relationship with all the colleagues on my team which I would've liked, but those who I worked directly with were great at letting me know the value my work added to the business.

I was given a lot of guidance by my manager throughout my internship, and we would have regular catch ups about the projects I was working on and would suggest changes I could make, so each project went through many iterations. My manager was incredibly busy during my internship though, and was often in meetings away from his desk so sometimes he wasn't available to answer my questions or I'd have to wait to get feedback, but I never felt as if I didn't have anyone to turn to as the team were really willing to help me in whatever way they could.

I was fairly busy, but the intensity of how busy I was varied a lot throughout the 8 weeks. I came in during a busy period for my team when they were preparing a lot of quarterly documents ready for submission to the relevant committees, so I had quite a lot of ad hoc tasks to get on with as well as making a good start on the project I had been assigned for my entire 8 weeks, and then this was followed by a quieter period in which I didn't have that much to do. I had to be proactive and ask for work sometimes when there wasn't much to do, but I generally did have a sufficient number of tasks to get on with and rarely had nothing to do.

I was given a fair amount of responsibility. I was assigned a project for the 8 weeks while I was there and would independently review relevant reports and information in order to make decisions for the direction of the report. My manager maintained oversight of all my work and guided me on how to review and categorise information correctly and which directions he thought best, so we were able to come to a decision together. I felt I had an appropriate level of input while still being able to make an impact.

The skills I developed will undoubtedly come in use both in my academic studies and in my career. I had never worked in a professional office environment before, so whilst I was able to learn a lot about asset management, I learnt even more about how to build relationships with colleagues, how to present in meetings, how to prepare work in order to influence seniors, and of course I can't forget all the Excel and Powerpoint hacks!

The office was professional but also very relaxed and friendly. Everyone took their responsibility for their work seriously, but that didn't stop people from catching up on how their evenings and weekends were and having friendly conversation. The team meetings were also fairly relaxed, and there were informal networking events or summer team events in order to socialise with the team more. I normally got in to the office at 8:50 and left at 5:15 - 5:30, though sometimes when I had plans in the evening I left at 5 on the dot and that wasn't unusual at all, a lot of my team members left then as well. There is a real emphasis on work life balance at M&G, which I really appreciated as I was still able to enjoy my summer.

The internship was very well organised. In the first few weeks, all the interns had regular insight sessions into different areas of the business, so even though we were all in different teams across the business we were able to get a good introduction to all of M&G's business units. There were also lots of social events organised for the interns, including a welcome lunch, a night at a ping pong bar, a pub quiz and a rounders evening, as well as a few drinks receptions at the office. We were also all given a HR coordinator who we had regular catch ups with throughout the internship, so not only did I have my manager in my team to turn to for support, there was also someone in HR I could turn to with any questions or difficulties.

The insight sessions I mentioned in the previous question were well constructed and delivered so that the interns were able to get a good breadth of understanding of the business. Within my team, I also had specific insight sessions organised with specialists, and the people I worked with were very willing to spend time teaching me how to use different tools or complete different tasks effectively.

Very appealing - the people at M&G really make it a place I would love to work at in the future. The relaxed and friendly atmosphere combined with the professionalism of the business would undoubtedly be a good place to progress my career. There are a lot of people who have been at the company for a very long time, it's not at all unusual to meet someone who's been here for over 8 - 10 years, which is indicative of the wonderful working environment. However, many grads do leave the company after the grad scheme which is surprising. The company is a little slow in terms of its receptiveness to change and is not as challenging an environment as other firms, for example the Big 4 or definitely investment banking, and though the relaxed working environment is lovely, I think graduates are generally more agile and capable of being stretched more than they would at M&G. M&G is therefore a place I would love to return to in the future, though perhaps it is not the best 'training ground' for a grad entering the workplace.

The social scene amongst the interns was fantastic, there were about 20 of us in total and we all got along very well. We got to know each other very well during the insight sessions and socials organised by the company, and then began setting up our own socials. I don't think I made any particularly close long lasting friends, but everyone was genuinely nice and easy to get along with and we were great friends for the duration of our time there.

I was lucky to live at home during my internship, but London is no doubt rather expensive, Other interns who came from smaller cities were surprised at how much basics cost in London - rent isn't the only thing that's (shockingly) expensive, eating out, drinking and transport in the city is costly.

London has an incredibly thriving nightlife, whatever you fancy getting up to you can find a place for it in London.

There were some regular sporting activities some other interns got involved with, but I'm not one for sports so stayed away from those. There were a few different networking events and socials organised by teams as well, for example I went to my team's annual breakfast out of the office and we also had a summer drinks and canapés reception in the office.