First year summer internship Review

HSBC is a proactive and interesting place to work. They company is always changing and adapting and it is a really great place to start your career. The internship has provided me with lots of insight into banking and I feel like I am learning new things all the time. There are also countless opportunities later in your career to change path so there's always something new to learn about at HSBC.

I felt really valued because people here seem to really appreciate a fresh pair of eyes to have a look at things. They give me good feedback on tasks and like me to give feedback too because they value what I have to say and want to improve the business where possible.

I was given support/guidance when I asked for it - they do not spoon feed you information so you can learn at the pace that you want to and ask for help if and when you need to. They also don't expect too much from you it really is just about what you can individually achieve.

I always have something to be getting on with - if you run out of tasks you can just ask for more work to do or do some self lead learning. There's always something new and interesting you could be looking at.

I was given lots of responsibility which I liked - I wrote some risk support statements by myself among other things and I think it enhanced my learning and made me feel like I was being taken seriously.

I think learning a lot of the jargon and what different banking facilities are and different terms has been really useful because there are a lot that I haven't yet heard while in University so it gives you a lot more awareness in that respect.

Friendly and approachable whilst still being professional and focused.

Great - regular one to ones with multiple managers and some pretty concrete projects to work on with a measurable result.

I don't feel like I got a lot of training, but I did get some overviews of different topics and an overview of some of the things that would better understand my projects. These were interesting and insightful and I appreciated people taking time out of their day to help me - but there is perhaps a lack of training in the internship.

Very strong - I want to continue a career with HSBC for the foreseeable future.

I had so much fun meeting the other interns at different events - in the 8 weeks I got to go to canary wharf for a social twice where all the interns were present, and I also visited Birmingham and Sheffield for a night with a smaller group of interns. They are a great chance to network and above all have fun.

I commuted to Edinburgh for placement 2 (1hr30mins each way) and Glasgow for the second placement (20mins each way). The travel was really expensive to Edinburgh (£17 return) but I got a railcard which meant I only paid 2/3 of the normal price. This was still pretty expensive but cheaper than a flat and I got reasonable pay to help with that.

Both are great - Glasgow has more places to go but both cities are great places to unwind after a long day.

I did a volunteering day to raise money for Marie Curie which was a great experience.