Spring Insight Week (Corporate Banking) Review

I thoroughly enjoyed this Spring Week. I came into the process not being sure about IB/CB etc., or even if I had enough knowledge to be able to be of any use to my department (considering I studied a totally non-finance degree), but I was totally wrong. They taught me everything I needed to know and really cared about me making an informed decision about my future.

I felt really valued. The team that I was assigned, Public Sector Group, were amazing and gave me an array of tasks to work on throughout the week, which made me feel like I could actually help. I was able to sit in on calls, look at financial models, and ask as many questions as I wanted through this. Seniors in the firm (MDs, VPs etc.) took the time out to meet us on a one-to-one basis, which was incredible as they really cared about making sure that we chose the division that was right for us.

I received a lot of guidance during the week. I got to speak to a lot of people from all over the bank: corporate banking, investment banking, private banking, and then got to make a decision about which summer program I would like to do, based upon that. Each employee I met or spoke to, gave me as much as advice as they possibly could, which was fantastic.

I think that the exposure that I have received over the last week has been crazy! I came into the job knowing absolutely nothing, and I have been taught so much, that no internet or google search could have taught me. And being able to see theory put into practice is invaluable!

The week was very structured itself and stuck-to on the whole. I didn't receive an email about what time to turn up on the first day (while everyone else had, so must have been a mistake), but other than that everything was very smooth. Perhaps, eating could be separated from talks, but I understand that time-constaints make that difficult.

Thea atmosphere was entirely based on whether or not you were being pro-active. Some interns found their office-shadowing hours "boring", but that's because they weren't scheduling meet-ups with bankers, networking, asking for more work, questions etc. So, there wasn't a single dull moment for me, because I tried my best to do as much of that as possible.

The were a large range of information-sessions that covered everything from CSR and diversity to Assessment Centre and Case-Study Tips. So those were invaluable whether or not one chooses to continue their career at Citi or at another Bank. I think that we learnt a lot of networking skills and that is beneficial in any industry.

Although, due to the lack of compliance commitments as a Spring Intern, we didn't have the ability to look at detailed deals in the private side of the corporate bank, I was given as much work as I was allowed to have access to, which was great, giving me an idea of the kind of work analysts do.

There were quite a few talks about culture and I did slowly realise that that culture seeped through the business into all aspects.

I think that it was invaluable. The fact that we got to network with an array of different bankers from different areas gave us a chance to see exactly what areas of finance we were interested in, which was brilliant especially considering I didn't do a finance-related degree.

They reimburse you for expenses. Hotel was paid for, food is paid for and transport is paid for. They make sure that you don't have to incur any additional costs at all. And even if you go for coffee with an analyst as part of network, it's general practice that the analyst, or whoever you are meeting pays, which is really sweet.

There were ample opportunities to meet people. You had enough shadowing time to just get up and see people on your floor and then enough mixer and networking events to be able to talk to people in other divisions and see if that might be something that you enjoy.

They were really good, I enjoyed the Pizza Social the most.

Yes, we had CSR and Diversity talks which spoke about exactly what you could get involved in.

OFCOURSE! It was honestly fantastic. I think that if you're considering finance, and you want to get a bitesize snippet into the sector, this is a fantastic way of understand Citi, its values and talking to people all over the company about your future, and what I was most surprised about is that people are ready to listen as advise, because not too long ago , they were in your position and spring weeks weren't a thing.So they really want to help you. So go ahead and apply!