Intern Review

It was a very enjoyable eight weeks. We were given real experience of what it would be like to work in one of the teams at M&G as well as being given training sessions to get to see other areas across the business. There were also social events arranged so we could get to know the other interns. Moreover the culture at M&G is exceptional, everyone I interacted was friendly and helpful no matter how senior they were.

I was given real work to do throughout the internship and felt like I was genuinely making a contribution. My team were very busy so might not always have time to be praising my work but they certainly made me feel like a real and valued member of the team.

This varies team by team. My team are very hard working and had an exceptionally busy period while I was on the internship so did not have lots of time to help me but would always provide help if I asked. My advice would be don't wait for help and support to be offered, you do have to ask but they are more than happy to help when you do.

I generally worked eight thirty to six each day which I think is very reasonable, particularly for a placement in the financial industry. I always had something to be working on but wasn't generally stressed to meet deadlines, I only stayed later than seven once or twice to meet deadlines for that day.

I was given real tasks and felt that I added value to the team pretty much from day one. I think the best way to learn is on the job and I was given the opportunity to do this.

With regards to assisting my degree, I am completing a BSc Mathematics degree and I did get to complete some statistical and stochastic modelling which will aid in some of the modules I am taking next year. Next I have learnt a huge amount about the fund management industry. Naturally I learnt a lot about what my team do but we were also provided training sessions about other areas of the business and I personally organised coffee meetings with people in roles/teams I was interested in. Finally I developed many soft skills like time management, team work, communication skills and general confidence. All of this will aid my future career in fund management or elsewhere.

The atmosphere was fantastic. Everyone was friendly, helpful and approachable. At M&G there generally a flat hierarchy and I found that everyone I asked was willing to give up there time to have a quick coffee meeting with me so I could ask them about their role. While people do work hard there is also a social atmosphere and employees would often go to sporting events/clubs together, not to mention all the sponsored charity events.

Generally it was run really well. Training sessions were arranged for us to see different areas of the company which was great as we learned about how are teams fit into the overall business and we got to see other teams we might want to work in in the future. We also had social events arranged for us so that we could get to know the other interns.

We were given many training sessions to get to see how the business worked overall and also get to know other teams we my want to work in. We were also given the opportunity to be assessed for the graduate scheme. If you do go onto the graduate scheme there are also opportunities to gain professional qualifications like the CFA.

On the internship scheme you have the opportunity to be assessed for the graduate scheme, both throughout the internship and there is also a one day assessment centre. You are therefore at a great advantage to get onto the graduate scheme and continue a career at M&G having done the internship.

Social events were arranged for us so that we could get to know the other interns, like a treasure hunt, a ping pong evening, and drinks with the graduate students. Generally there was a great atmosphere among the interns and we would also go out on our own accord as a group around once a week.

Being London based naturally living and socializing is fairly expensive, however there were certainly plenty of cheap places to go out for a drink and socialize with the other interns. Living wise I commuted from home, with the commute from outside of London costing about seven hundred pounds in total.

I did not go out too much as I live quite far out but working in central London means there are a huge range of places to visit from roof top bars to underground ping pong bars. There were also various social events arranged for the interns like a treasure hunt and networking drinks.

There were lots of social events you could get involved in including those arranged for interns, team events, and also for groups within the company like women in fund management events and events with the LGBT society. There were also societies and clubs you could join to meet like minded people, for example I joined the Python Club. We were also able to do a paid volunteering day, and as a full time employee M&G offers two of these a year.