Associate Review

It was a great opportunity to engage in interesting work and gain a better understanding of what the FCA does. There were opportunities to engage with people across the FCA, and it was good to be part of a group on 20 other interns over the summer. My work required me to think carefully about the applicable regulations and the available evidence about the activities of relevant firms.

I felt that my colleagues treated me like another full time employee for the duration of the internship. I was never excluded from anything, and was able to ask lots of questions about the work that the team do. In general, people in the FCA seem quite willing to give of their time, provided there you are reasonable clear in your expectations. Ten weeks is a good length of time to get established in a team of people and be properly involved in the work that they are doing.

I met with my supervisor on a weekly basis, where I was able to ask for guidance and received direction. I had a clear programme of work for the duration of the summer, and received constructive feedback on the work that I did. One thing I would say is that I feel that I was expected to take more direction in our meetings than I would expect, and wasn't always challenged as much as I might have been. But I was never without the support that I needed.

I had a full programme of work throughout the summer, which kept me busy right through to the end of my internship. This kept me occupied throughout my internship, but I never felt under unreasonable pressure, and was free to do some exploration of the things that I found particularly interesting. There was space for me to engage with others within the FCA outside of my team.

I was trusted to work independently on pieces of work which will make a meaningful difference to the work of the team. I was always supported and guided by a more senior colleague on each project but was very free to manage my own time and influence the direction of the work. I feel that I was given quite a lot of responsibility by my colleagues, and I enjoyed the work that I did.

I think I have gained some valuable experience of working in an office. I have learnt a fair bit about how to plan and work through written work, documenting evidence carefully, and coming to clear and substantiated conclusions. The work I did is not particularly applicable to my degree, but should give me useful experience for life beyond university.

The office environment was really friendly, with a group of people committed to working to do a good job. People were very happy to interact and spend time with colleagues. This is particularly useful when you need some more expert input on a particular piece of work you are doing. People are happy to share their knowledge with others on interesting matters. There also seemed to be a good social vibe, and plenty of cake around.

There were some initial teething problems with IT, which can take a little while to sort out. But generally, the internship was well organised, with an effective programme of learning lunches, allowing us to get a good sense of the work of the FCA. More information could probably have been communicated in advance of starting, but once we were there, everything seemed to work pretty well.

The FCA commissioned a personal development report for all of us on the basis of the assessment centre, which provided a useful basis to begin development work. We were free to take advantage of the various opportunities that the FCA has to attend talks and learning events, although summer seems to be a slightly quieter time, especially August. There is a good culture within the FCA around personal training and development and people investing in each other. My only criticism would be that I feel my manager could have given a little more direction from a development perspective, although they were generally very supportive.

I've enjoyed my job, am optimistic about receiving a job offer, and would very much like to return for the grad scheme. It's a good opportunity in an organisation that does interesting work. Particularly with the external secondment within the grad scheme, and the opportunity to work in different parts of the FCA, a job here would offer good opportunities for a future career within the FCA or related organisations.

It was good to have a group of us who could interact with each other. Unfortunately, 20 is quite a big group of people and at times it was quite difficult for us to get together consistently. That said, other on the internship were friendly, as were the people in my team, and I enjoyed my time. I was able to see other people reasonably regularly and get to know them. I'm sure I will stay in touch with some people into the future.

It's London. But living in East London where the FCA are based is not too expensive and we were paid a salary which certainly covered our costs.

I didn't explore the Nightlife so don't feel qualified to comment.

There is a social club who organise various activities that I know some of the other interns enjoyed. In general, there seems to be a reasonable range of activities on offer, with a good work-life balance very much encouraged.