Commercial Banking Intern Review

I thoroughly enjoyed my internship at HSBC for several reasons. But the main reason has to be the opportunities that HSBC presented. There are so many different events and talks to attend that the entire 8 weeks are full of learning opportunities. Also, everyone is so eager to help so I always felt as though I was able to achieve a given task regardless of its difficulties.

I felt really valued by my colleagues. A prime example to demonstrate this would be the fact that I had my birthday during the internship. When I walked into the office in the morning, everyone sang happy birthday and I found a signed card from everyone in my team. Everyone appreciates the work that interns do because ultimately, it alleviates their work load. Therefore, as long as you work hard and aim to help out, there is no doubt that you will feel valued.

There was a constant support network available. I had a line manager, a graduate mentor and a programme manager. If I had any queries or needed any help/guidance, it was always available. I never felt as though I had no guidance or support and am really grateful for what was provided for me at HSBC.

Fairly busy. I never sat around twiddling my thumbs, however, I didn't tend to stay in the office past 5:30pm. Perhaps this is because of my placement location and I would say I was certainly lucky in comparison to the other interns who did have to stay late more frequently than me. But the work load is very manageable. A trap that many interns can fall into is not seeking out the opportunity to help. I was always willing and able and volunteered myself to help out wherever I could. Furthermore, throughout the internship, I had a project to work on which kept me very occupied during the first couple of weeks when there was certainly less work.

Perhaps this is ambiguous but enough so that I felt valued, but not too much where I felt overwhelmed. I was given projects where I had strict deadlines as my manager's manager's manager was pushing for the work to be completed. This did lead to some stressful moments. However, overall, the assignments I was asked to complete kept me motivated and focussed as they did carry some weight in terms of responsibility.

Certainly with regards to time management. During the placement, there will be many things that you can be working on at once. However, all have different priorities. My time management skills were developed because I had to work out what was more important than other tasks and balance my time well in order to complete each task in their priority. For example, I was given one project in Week 1 that did not need to be completed until week 8. Furthermore, I learnt to write to-do lists for each day. This helped me stay motivated and manage stress when it seemed as though I had a lot of work to complete.

Mellow, but happy. Unfortunately, when I was placed in my office, there was an abnormal amount of work on each staff member which meant that morale was lower than usual. But despite this, everyone was really friendly and willing to help. I never dreaded coming into the office as the atmosphere was nice.

Very well organised. There were a few problems in terms of organisation. But in comparison to what my friends at other banks/firms told me regarding the organisation of their internships, the internship at HSBC was very well organised. There were countless events and an overall structure which each intern was very well aware of throughout.

A very large amount. I was put up in a hotel for 4 nights out of the 8 weeks that I was at HSBC due to the various different available. There were many online learning experiments and assignments to complete and there were many organised events where there were senior executives as guest speakers.

Very appealing. I would be really keen to work within the organisation. The internship, if successful, can lead to a graduate role which sounds amazing and really well organised. I really hope to begin a career with HSBC due to its culture and its people. I would be remiss if I was not grateful for one of the most exciting summers of my life.

Really good, but its all about what you make of it. Generally speaking, all the interns are really friendly and keen to mingle but sometimes it requires the initiative of a couple of interns to make social events happen. Also, since the interns are based all around the country, it makes social events difficult. However, when all the interns were together, we always had a lot of fun.

I was lucky enough to be placed close enough to my internship that I could live at home. This saved a lot of money. The cost of food places and drinks was fairly standard given the fact that my internship was in London. About £4 for lunch per day if you choose wisely and pick a meal deal from somewhere.

Not sure. I didn't really get the opportunity to experience it. However, there was a really cool complex near by which had themed nights 3 times a week. There was an intern social event held here and it was a success. Overall, I can't complain since I was close by to enough areas where the night life was good.

Absolutely! This is ingrained within the culture of HSBC. One of the days of my internship was actually dedicated to doing charity work for Alzheimer's society. Furthermore, there were development days, charity events, summer barbeques, cricket matches, and even a black tie dinner event. I honestly couldn't ask for much more when it comes to getting involved in activities outside of work.