Summer Intern Review

I really enjoyed the internship programme - my team were super friendly and the whole programme was organised extremely well by HR. We had the opportunity to meet many people from different divisions of the bank, especially during the training, and were assigned several mentors/meetings with seniors from different teams in the bank.

I felt more valued by my colleagues as the internship progressed and I was given more responsibility as my abilities improved. Several colleagues told me that the work I was doing was important and explained exactly what it would be used for, which helped me to see the significance of what I was doing.

We were given a lot of support - we had a meeting at the beginning of the internship where we set goals, then a mid-way review and feedback after our assessed presentations, as well as an exit interview at the end of the internship. My manager was very friendly and approachable.

My days varied - some were very busy while others didn't have much to do. August is a quiet month generally as employees and clients tend to go on holiday, so some days weren't very busy. However this was only natural due to the time of the year and there were very busy days too.

I was given increasingly more responsibility as the internship progressed. By the end I was doing work where I could be slightly more creative and put in my own opinion. The analysts were very helpful and supportive but also gave us enough responsibility to do important work and feel that we were having an influence.

I developed a lot of excellent skills during the internship. I learned how to use excel, a useful skill that I did not previously have at all, and also time management and networking skills. All of these skills are important generally in life and will help me in the future in whatever career I choose to follow.

The atmosphere was very friendly and fun. All of the analysts and associates were very willing to help us and provide support and advice. The seniors were also friendly and made an effort to introduce themselves, although sometimes they were very busy and out of the office attending client meetings.

The internship was very well organised, we used an app to receive our schedule, as well as weekly emails from HR and the calendar function on Outlook to set reminders of meetings and appointments. Everything was scheduled far enough in advance and well organised so we knew where to be and when.

We had a lot of training at the start of the internship but I learned the most when I was at the desk doing the work myself. My colleagues helped me and taught me a lot about their job and also the work I was doing. Overall I felt valued by the company.

Future employment prospects with the organisation are very appealing - the working hours are very long but the work is interesting and my team were fun and friendly so overall I think it would be a great place to work, albeit challenging at times, and I would learn a lot.

There was a good social scene amongst some interns - others who lived in London anyway would see other friends and also we only had 2 days a week (the weekend) when we really had spare time for socialising but I have made some excellent friends and memories with the interns during the internship.

The cost of living was high in London, particularly for accommodation but the company paid us extra for relocation costs which helped a lot. The cost of socialising was also high as it was London but there were lots of things to do and my colleagues told me the best places to go to get good value for money.

There were lots of opportunities to get involved in activities outside of work - my team went to play football several times and had lots of dinners and drinks events.