Spring Intern Review

Enjoyed it immensely! It was very evident that the HR team took great care to ensure that everything was planned well and would be enjoyable and insightful for the spring interns. The insight ranged from the conventional firm presentations and work shadowing, to quirkier things like a volunteering day which was very well-received by all the interns.

Although I was here for only a spring insight week, something that I keenly felt during my time in Rothschild was the feeling of being valued. During work shadowing sessions, the teams I was attached to always encouraged questions and discussion among the interns. Some of the conversations we had were blunt, straightforward and honest, and I really appreciated their candor.

Rothschild plays a fine line with guidance/support here. On one hand, we have the group project, which you're thrown into after just barely three hours of a banking introduction and it's a lot of independent work from you and your team mates. On the other hand, you get sessions during the week where the HR team, and other bankers at Rothschild, come down to evaluate your interview performance, and give personalised tips for the Rothschild assessment centre. I do find that I like the way Rothschild gives guidance and support - enough so you know where to start, but not enough so you're constantly challenged and can grow with your team.

It was very well-structured. Each day was planned such that you had plenty of time to do your project while being able to focus and put your all in the sessions. The breaks were planned such that you're able to relax just when you've hit the peak of your fatigue, so you can come back to the sessions with a fresh mind. The end result is a week where you felt you've worked really hard and produced something satisfying.

Incredibly friendly and helpful. Everyone I've met were so incredibly nice and personable, and I really loved being at Rothschild and loved meeting the people, every single one of them. It didn't end at just the HR team or the other employees at Rothschild, but the other spring interns generally were so approachable as well.

The spring insight programme had a group project component which was the most realistic group project I had done on a spring week. We were given huge books (called PIBs, or public information books) on two companies, and were required to deliver our recommendations on where an acquisition/merger should take place or otherwise. Cracking open the PIBs and actually crafting the valuation models ourselves, and seeing, during the work shadowing sessions, the analysts doing the same - that was incredibly eye-opening.

On the very first day, we were already given a tour of the Rothschild archives, and learnt about the history of the Rothschild family as well as how the company came to be. This became a very good backdrop to understanding Rothschild's key values, especially that of harmony (teamwork), which is definitely echoed all over the company and in the employees themselves.

We had a networking lunch with analysts and associates, and a tea session (with really good food!) with some really senior people at Rothschild. It is quite evident that the HR team has worked hard in ensuring that we get to meet people from each division (M&A, ECM and DCM) during these networking sessions.

I think the networking opportunities at Rothschild were easily the best that I've encountered. Usually, during a networking session, it is common to see maybe 10 students crowding 1 employee, and everyone trying to snatch the opportunity to ask questions. Here at Rothschild, the ratio is maybe about 2 students to 1 employee which means you get plenty of chances to ask anything you want.

Having done three spring weeks, I think Rothschild's spring insight programme is something extraordinary. You get the conventional elements like firm presentations and work shadowing, then you get the "cultural" aspects of Rothschild like a tour of its archives and a day of volunteering, and finally you get to do almost something similar to what bankers actually do with the group project. My group and I stayed until midnight every day to present the project, and this really gave us a sense of accomplishment when we delivered our presentation on Friday.