Summer Intern Review

I thoroughly enjoyed my time at the FCA. I felt like I was appreciated and always kept busy and was constantly learning new things throughout my time here. The work itself was thoroughly interesting and non repetitive so I felt like I was never bored or found my self just twiddling my thumbs. I would highly recommend an internship here at the Financial Conduct Authority. . .

My colleagues were great and very supporting. I particularly found it useful having both Graduate and Grad champions at my disposable as it was a more informal way of communicating any issues I had.

My manager was particularly helpful during my time here and made me feel very comfortable. He seemed very focused on my development and wanted me to dictate what I did so I could get the best experience possible. I was also given good support from the graduate on my team and the graduate champions.

I felt that in the department I was in I was particularly busy and found my self working 9-5 the whole time I was hear. I don't think this applied to all departments as I was based in one that was particularly intense at the moment.

I felt that I was given considerable responsibility, being allowed to contact external clients directly and be involved in external meetings made me feel particularly valued. Rather than being given lots of small tasks and constantly asking what next, I was given much larger on-going tasks/projects which required me to 'step up'

I believe that I particularly improved on my analytical skills whilst being in Enforcement. It required me to look at data and information in a different way to what I normally would and I believe that this will be of particular value when going into my final year.

The atmosphere in the office was generally joyful. I felt like that the interaction between different teams within divisions could have been better although it seemed that the department had noted this and were taking steps to improve. Food was always available, it seemed like every day someone in the office had been away or was celebrating an occasion which went down a treat! (Quite Literally). It was a generally good atmosphere and never felt hostile or dim.

The internship itself seemed very well structured. There were opportunities for us to learn about other departments and they were very flexible for us to go off and organise our own work shadowing or attend talks and training etc. We had regular catch up meetings to ensure that we were on track as per our development programme and we were each assigned a graduate buddy who was available whenever we had a query or just fancied a chat! It was particularly helpful that they were from a different department, so again we got to see a bit more of the company.

The Financial Conduct Authority seemed very focus on providing us with training and development opportunities and we were actively encouraged to go on internal and external training courses were we sore appropriate to benefit us. The only downside I would say is that on the two external training courses I booked onto, one of them was cancelled because less then 12 people had signed up to do so. This was disappointing and I felt because I was only here for 10 weeks, other training I would have liked to of done was only scheduled for time that I wasn't here.

I feel like the future employment prospects within the organisation is vast and the graduate programme which seems to be the next step after the internship looks very promising indeed. One thing that has been communicated to me by my colleagues is that progression (well at least in my department) can prove to be very difficult and many seem to go off into industry because of this. This however, isn't a concern of mine as I feel the opportunities they offer will provide me with the skills to progress.

The social scene across the other interns was really great at the start and we were constantly having a good 15 people turn out. As the internship continued it became less and less, often dwindling down to just the 5 of us. I felt this may have been because each of us differed in our interests but it often felt like there were cliques and there are some people who I have not really spoken to since the first week.

I commuted every day so I cannot comment on the cost of living but I can imagine that it is cheaper then other areas like central London. Socialising itself was not over the top considering, however, you would have to go to bars with 2 for 1, happy hours or the Whetherspoons in order to keep costs down.

The nightlife was bars only and no night clubs but they were definitely entertaining enough. The bars themselves could be quite expensive considering we were interns, so we mainly stuck to the bars that did great 2 for 1 cocktail deals, after work happy hours or the weatherspoons across the river.

I felt like there were opportunities to become more engaged with the extra curricular activities after work but the ones that were widely attended were often confined to the people within that department or team. I went on a few 'team building' exercises which involved trips to Stratford, mini golf and the bar as well! There were other events organised and discounted prices for staff like the cinema, climbing the O2 and a boat party.