Research Assistant Review

I found working at the Bank extremely valuable. Having very little professional experience beforehand, I learnt a lot in a very short space of time and had a really good experience with all my colleagues I worked closely with. The Bank is a super friendly place to complete a placement and I have been well supported throughout.

I feel like I was definitely valued by my colleagues. My line manager was extremely attentive from the moment I joined and supported me regularly throughout the whole year. I had a good relationship with my whole team. As the placement is 13 months I think full time staff do recognise you as more than just 'work experience' so to speak but I'm sure attitudes do vary across the Bank.

As above, my line manager was extremely attentive and supported me throughout the whole year. They also made sure that I was happy with what I was working on and getting what I wanted out of the placement which I'm sure doesn't happen everywhere. They regularly checked in on life outside of work which was also nice.

I think this can vary significantly depending on where you end up in the Bank. Personally, my workload varied quite a bit throughout the year. However, hours were never too long and some days could be quite slow - others on placement did make the most of overtime but never got the impression they were pressured into longer hours

I think this depends on expectations - I was quite impressed with the amount of responsibility I was given at times and less so at others. As the Bank is a form of public body some elements of the institution can be quite hierarchical but having said this it makes working with senior staff even more rewarding. I think the exposure I received to key staff and meetings was one of the most valuable things on the placement. I would add that the placement is quite long and so I would have definitely been ready to move on to slightly more challenging work with more responsibility had I been there any longer.

I was pleased with the variety of skills I got to develop on this placement. I felt like I had chance to develop analytical, writing, stakeholder management and organisational skills all at some point throughout the year. These should all come in use during my final year and obviously even more so in my future career.

It was extremely friendly and I got on with all my colleagues really well but the office I worked in was fairly small and quiet. I think there was definitely better office atmospheres in other parts of the Bank. Generally, I found the atmosphere in the Bank to be really quite good. There is a strong coffee culture and people from all over the Bank are always happy to discuss anything about their work with you whenever.

Very good. As with most large firms you get the sense the Bank is very well drilled in the conveyor belt of grads, placements, summer interns etc. Communication with HR was good throughout the year and an Early Careers team is there if you need to talk to someone outside your team. The only thing that could be improved perhaps is communication on different areas beforehand. When here you realise people working in different areas can have quite different experiences and so maybe more information could be given prior to applying for a specific stream/before accepting a specific offer on what exactly you will be working on and where in the Bank.

There is a two day induction process when you join which goes over the very basics. After that the Bank has a range of centrally funded courses which you are free to sign up to with your managers permission so it really is up to you to decide how much you want (or need) to get involved in further training.

One of the big positives of the Bank is there is almost an expectation you will transfer onto the grad scheme as long as you perform adequately on placement. Different to previous years, there is no longer any additional interviews/tests in order to receive an offer (bar good performance on placement). HR have done a good job of breaking down what we need to do to get a graduate job offer to come back.

There is a cohort of 30 to 40 placement students who you are thrown in with. The Bank organises induction and drinks at the start so you get to know each other. There was definitely a good social scene throughout the year for those interested and I along with most on placement have made some really good friends from the cohort.

The City is obviously very expensive but it really didn't take long for us to work out where the happy hours and drinks deals are to be had. As long as you're sensible it's not as bad as it's sometimes made out to be and the Bank's salary meant I definitely had enough to socialise fairly regularly.

Plenty of choice for pubs and bars directly outside the Bank. London in general has obviously got plenty to do for whatever you like doing. I think it's a great place to come do a placement year as you get to experience working in the thick of it without being tied down to it.

Formally, not particularly - there is a sports club but its based in Roehampton so pretty far from the Bank. Informally, my team did stuff together every so often in the week and there's plenty of people on placement in the same boat as you to go do stuff with. I think the fact you're in central London means there isn't too much need to have stuff organised for you.