Asset Management Risk Control - Intern Review

I did not enjoy my internship. I spent most of my time there bored and feeling as if I added little value to the team. I received little support from my manager and spent a lot of time feeling as if I was not wanted or was annoying them. The company jargon seemed at times unnecessarily complex even when describing a relatively simple concept and the number of acronyms made it difficult for a new joiner such as myself to slot in. The culture was hierarchical and political, and I often felt that people higher in rank could get away for things that interns could not.

I often felt more like a liability than an asset in the team. It is difficult to engage with your team when they are all so busy that they cannot be disturbed. I quickly developed a fear of asking them questions in case it hindered them from the role that they were taking on at the time. The working environment I was in was also very quiet and

There were many helpful people on my team but management seemed always very distant and unapproachable. It was hard to get to build a good relationship with LMs because I knew and felt that they were constantly judging me and I felt constantly under pressure to make a good impression. Management gave me practically no support, barely introduced me to any members of the team upon arrival and I spent the first few days unsure of what exactly my role was and what I could do to help. The instructions I received were also sometimes very unclear and left me confused. I was sometimes penalized for not doing something which I had not been told to do. I once received criticism for looking at a spreadsheet for too long which I think was completely unreasonable - I had no urgent tasks on at the time, and this sheet was part of a long term project that I was looking at. However, despite this, the vast majority of people on my team supported and guided me.

I had to actively reach out to find work to do; most of the time there was nothing that my team could apparently gain from my helping out and any tasks that I did manage to secure were tedious and seemed to add little value. I spent a good number of days feeling disillusioned with work here since it was neither captivating nor did I feel like I was learning much. Towards the latter part of my internship I sought out shadowing opportunities with other teams as a way to pass time.

I was given a fair amount of responsibility on the tasks that I had been given. However I feel that as part of the nature of being an intern you are unlikely to be given the chance to lead completely on a task which is understandable. I would have enjoyed being included in more meetings that were related to the tasks that I was taking on. Sitting in meetings would have enabled me to not only see how my project fitted into a greater context but also to meet new people who might work in a similar business area to myself.

I have gained a better understanding of the division of the company in which I spent my internship and this will no doubt be useful in terms of seeking a career in a similar line of work in future. I also gained a better knowledge of the financial markets and banking/asset management system. However I could have gained more from greater inclusion, such as sitting in meetings and more involvement with ongoing projects.

The atmosphere was very quiet. It was difficult to approach people because they were constantly busy. Because I was the only intern in my group, it was hard to build a good relationship with many of the people who I knew were much more senior than myself.

It was largely well-organized although the assessment/review communications from HR were confusing. The induction week was fun and informative with a variety of speakers giving insights into different areas of the organization. I also enjoyed the weekly speaker series which offered a chance to network with people in completely different areas to myself. However information about deadlines for assessments and reviews was confusing, and we were given little guidance on what course of action to take if your line manager was away as happened to me. My line manager also received a confirmation of extension for a review only to be told when he had arrived back from holiday that it was in fact due in the week before. Communication about this needs to improve.

Business-wide events for interns were incredibly useful and taught me a good deal about how the business worked. They also allowed me to reach out to people beyond my team and learn about their area of work. However within my team, I had to largely educate myself since my team was constantly busy. Some members sat me down and talked me through some of the key basics but beyond this I never felt that I received much education and certainly there were very few opportunities to put any of this into practice.

Expensive

Expensive

There were a good number of opportunities advertised online. However we could have been made more aware of the links to volunteer and during the time I was here there weren't many opportunities to sign up for volunteering aside from breakfast/reading clubs at schools and the majority of community outreach projects were all scheduled for dates after I had left.