Summer Analyst Review

I really enjoyed my time here, mainly because the team made such an effort to make the interns feel included. They organised team events for us to get to know each other, and made sure we felt like we were valued members of the group. Overall, the people here really defined my experience in the ten weeks.

The analysts really went out of their way to make sure we felt like our contributions to the team were valuable. We didn't connect as well with the people higher up in the team, such as the managing directors, but in general the team created an environment such that we felt comfortable voicing our opinions in a space where we knew they would be heard.

We were each assigned a buddy to give us advice on the internship, and female interns were assigned a female mentor to meet with mid-way through to touch base about our progress. Sometimes it was more difficult to get support on technical issues, because the team were quite busy and you didn't want to interrupt while they were working, but if someone said they would stop by to help later, they always kept the promise.

This varied a lot across teams and even within teams. I didn't have many late nights, but other members of my team were consistently leaving around 3 or 4am. A lot of it depended on which projects you got staffed on, which we didn't have much input in. Summer is generally quite a quiet period too.

I got to produce some materials that went out to clients, which made me feel like I was really having an impact within the team. Since we didn't have the same level of technical expertise as the analysts, there were some tasks we couldn't help with, such as more complex modelling, but they were always willing to explain what they were working on if we asked.

I really improved my technical skills while I was here, especially working with excel. It also gave me the opportunity to learn more about working in a professional environment and how to best foster team spirit. As I commence the third year of my Economics degree, I hope to put these skills to good use.

Sometimes when we were working really late nights, the atmosphere would dip a bit, but generally the team spirit was great. People were very independent and had their head down in their work most of the time, but there was always someone free to chat to if you needed help, advice or a quick break.

HR did a great job of organising the group. In particular, when everyone sent in forms to request what teams they would like to be on, they did a great job at ensuring people ended up where they wanted. They were easy to get in touch with throughout the course of the internship too when we had HR-related issues.

We had a full week of training when we first joined, and our team did another week of training in week 2. Assigning us buddies and mentors also showed that they were invested in personal development and ensuring we learnt a lot about the job that was less technical. They also hosted various speakers throughout the internship to teach us more about the company and the people who work there.

Instead of setting a limited amount of places available to convert from the summer internship to the graduate programme, they set a threshold in terms of performance and accept everyone who sits above it. This made me confident that as long as I worked hard and showed my interest in the company, I would be given an offer.

We would meet for drinks from time to time on Fridays, but since people had very busy schedules it was hard to met up. However, we made sure we kept up group chats so we could all keep in touch, and connected on LinkedIn so we could maintain these friendships in the long run.

London is very expensive, particularly Canary Wharf. It was hard to find lunch for under £5 so you have to be very cautious with budgeting. For people who lived outside of London, a lot of their pay ended up going towards rent. Definitely not the cheapest place to live and work in the UK!

Canary Wharf has a lot of bars and restaurants, but the nearest clubs are probably those in central London. Since people had quite long hours, it was difficult to explore the Nightlife in the area, but during training week we found good places to relax at the end of the day with our new teammates.

Even in the ten weeks there were various opportunities we could take part in, such as a sponsored run and a volunteering day in Victoria Park. There would often be employees handing out flyers by reception about the upcoming out-of-work events, so we always got to learn about the opportunities available even as interns.