Equities Trading Summer Intern Review

Fully. During the rotations we were given the opportunity to learn about many different areas of the bank; whilst focussing on our main desks in great detail meant that we really did understand the workings of those main desks. The projects I was given were insightful from a learning perspective, original, and added value to the bank, and so thoroughly enjoyable.

We were treated very well. There is no doubt that we were worked hard but this was valued to the appropriate degree. We had a lot of exposure to new joiners who had been through the same process very recently so understood what we were going through. This meant that our effort and struggles were understood very well and valued.

We were given clear goals by supervisors and they helped us achieve these goals a lot. Any amount of feedback was available if we asked for it. We have a buddy system and various other schemes are in place (e.g. the women's support network) so that support and guidance is always available. Feedback was also given throughout the internship so we were guided on areas we were doing well in and where we needed to improve.

We had long term projects given to use by our desks, as well as day to day tasks. We also had weekly trading game meetings to discuss an individual trading portfolio we upheld, and weekly markets meetings to talk about what has happened that week. There was also plenty of opportunity to do work for other desks we spent time with. In short, we were kept very busy throughout the internship, but this was only stressful on few occasions.

Whilst on some desks it is very difficult to give an intern responsibility, trading desks for example where for obvious reasons an intern cannot perform certain job functions, the tasks that we were given to us were often actually important. It was possible to add value to your desks on the tasks that we were given, so we had responsibility here.

Whilst the skills that I learnt here will have no bearing on my degree studies, they certainly are skills for life. I took it upon myself to learn how to use VBA, and learnt a lot of useful excel skills that I can make useful in a wide range of careers in the future. It was also a complete introduction to the industry for me, and I learnt here so much about the finance sector, markets knowledge and technical analysis which would be incredibly useful were I to pursue a career in this industry.

Very good, but this did depend on the area of the bank that you worked in. The cash traders were the loudest, the most vocal, which some people really enjoyed getting involved with. However each team was so nice that the atmosphere on each couldn't possibly have been bad. Further, everybody in the office knew about the internship program and made the atmosphere very accepting towards all of the interns.

Very. It is clear that the internship program has been running for a long time and has been refined over a number of years. The mini rotations we had at the beginning for a week gave a great overview of the whole bank, and then we were allowed to specify preferences for where we would like to spend our longer rotations. Further, the internship wide, not desk specific, events that we had running throughout kept us going with constant work. The structure of these events at constant times each week and the structure of the internship as a whole was seamless.

A lot of investment went in to our personal training and development. Our first week was a training week. We had courses in excel, basics in banking and finance but most learning was done at the desks and throughout the internship. We have weekly trading game meetings where we talked about an individual run virtual portfolio, and we have fortnightly stockpitches which we pitched to senior people within the bank. It is clear from how willing many people within the bank were to spend time with the interns how willing they are to invest in their training and development.

Unsure, some desks have explicitly said that they are looking to hire a grad from the internship program, whilst others have given no indication. However as an internship class we were told that headcount numbers 'were looking better than expected' - we have been given no indication of how many people are usually taken on from the internship program. The results on this front remain to be seen...

Yes, towards the beginning of the internship we would often go out as a group for drinks after work. The internship class as a whole are all very nice people -which was a good sign! As the internship went on, things became more competitive and busier so we went out less, but this was to be expected. There were intern social events planned by UBS which provided a great opportunity to socialise both with interns and other colleagues and our buddies etc.

The cost of socialising is quite high in the area that I worked in; as was the cost of living. I commuted in from home for the duration of the internship which helped. Whilst the prices were high, especially in comparison to university, we were compensated well so I don't think this was a factor in people socialising or not. Further, for all of the social events that UBS organised for us, all food and drink was paid for, so these were clearly very low cost!

Good. There is an open circle with many bars just outside the office, where many people went for drinks after work on Thursdays and Fridays. Further there were clubs fairly close to the office too, which many interns went to on Fridays. Availability of the nightlife definitely was not the limiting factor in people going out each week; it was much more about how busy we were or tired from long weeks being busy!

We all participated in a day helping in the community, travelling to a fairly local school and running an event to get students applying to university involved in business related activities and thinking about their life beyond their studies. As well as this, we were invited to client events such as a dodgeball evening, and also charity days where we brought in food and participated in various activities like raffles for charity.