Investment Banking Summer Analyst Review

The internship provided both a very interesting and diverse range of work, allowing excellent insight into the work completed by my team. As an intern we were given more responsibility than I expected and this was an opportunity to learn more. I was fortunate to work on numerous different sectors, so was able to learn a lot from each of them.

My colleagues were fantastic and very welcoming from day one. Everyone in the team was happy to take the time to explain new concepts and tasks. I felt very valued and appreciated and received very useful feedback on every piece of work I completed which promoted improvement with each subsequent task.

There was a great deal of support provided throughout the internship. We had mid-internship reviews with our line manager and HR, and a final review. We were also given a Buddy who we could go to for absolutely anything which was comforting, and many of them had been interns before and were able to provide a lot of help.

This varied day to day, balancing out overall to a manageable workload. As expected, there were some very long days with a lot of work, and some quieter. This was important as we were also expected to complete a project whilst working over the duration of the internship to present to a panel.

Interns were given a high level of responsibility, including preparing client pitch books and materials.

Although the skills in this internship are not relevant to my degree studies, I certainly learnt a great deal to take forwards into my professional career. As I study a non-financial degree, every day I was learning a great deal of information that I can implement in the future and now have a foundation of knowledge to build upon.

There was a very collegiate atmosphere in the office, with seniors both approachable and readily available to help more junior team members. Even during stressful times, all team members were always willing to take questions and provide details explanations. The general atmosphere was upbeat, friendly and an excellent working culture.

The organisation of the internship was absolutely exceptional, and the graduate HR team should be commended on how well the internship it run. There is general teaching for all interns at the beginning of the 10 weeks, followed by more focussed/specialist teaching later on depending on the department. There were scheduled meetings with HR to discuss how you were performing on the internship and any questions you have, and events for interns to network between themselves and very senior bank employees.

I certainly felt the bank invest in interns as this is a key opportunity for them to hire onto the graduate programme, so it is in their interests. This is evident by the level of teaching we received, materials, and support provided throughout the internship. This is very much a draw factor to return.

HSBC are a very appealing option for my future employment prospects. Organisations are very ware that graduates today have a great deal of choice for their employment prospects, but the investment made into the Banking interns at HSBC and the way everyone provided support from Graduate Recruitment to the team I was assigned to is enough in itself to return to the company. Overall the experience was 10/10.

Colleagues would often take the interns in my division out for lunch/drinks/socials which was a great way to network and get to know each other out of the office.

Canary Wharf is reasonably expensive but manageable, and HSBC kindly offer extra income on top of your salary each week for general living.

The night life in Canary Wharf was pretty good.

There were opportunities to get involved in activities outside of work. For example we were sent on a Corporate Social Responsibility day to volunteer in the local community in Tower Hamlets which I think was an important exercise to get the interns out of the office and give back to those around us. HSBC also promote employees taking time out of work to volunteer in the community, something I resonate with and very much appreciate.